---
title: "Which came first, Amazon or Python?"
description: "Amazon vs Python: Python came first, by 3 years — 1991 against 1994. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/amazon-vs-python/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Amazon or Python?

**Which came first, Amazon or Python?: Python**

1991 — 3 years before Amazon

Python came first, by 3 years. Guido van Rossum released version 0.9.0 publicly.

## Side by side

|  | Amazon | Python |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1994 | 1991 |
| Date | 1994-07-05 | 1991-02-20 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | Jeff Bezos incorporated the company in Washington state. | Guido van Rossum released version 0.9.0 publicly. |

## Amazon

Amazon was incorporated on 5 July 1994, originally as Cadabra, and the website opened in July 1995 selling only books. The 1994 incorporation date is used here because it is the company's own founding date; if you mean the shop, 1995 is the answer. Either way it predates Google by three or four years and eBay by about a year.

## Python

Python was started as a hobby project over Christmas 1989 and first released publicly in February 1991 — four years before Java, JavaScript, PHP and Ruby, all of which arrived in 1995. Most people assume it is much newer because its popularity arrived twenty years after it did. It is named after Monty Python, not the snake.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Amazon or Python?

Python, by 3 years — 1991 against 1994.

### When did Amazon start?

1994. Jeff Bezos incorporated the company in Washington state.

### When did Python start?

1991. Guido van Rossum released version 0.9.0 publicly.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]