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+---
+title: History
+parent: About
+layout: default_with_title
+has_children: true
+nav_order: 1
+---
+
+Although, fortunately, GAP is not yet part of history,
+we have kept a few documents marking steps of its development.
+In particular, the prefaces of the manuals of the various releases
+sketch the respective progress. We present here links to (relevant
+extracts from) these prefaces as well as to some 'interim reports'
+that appeared in the GAP Forum. (For recent developments see the
+[Release history](https://github.com/gap-system/gap/blob/master/CHANGES.md).)
+
+- Preface for
+  [GAP 2.4](preface_2.4.html), the first publically
+  released version of GAP  (JN, December 1988)
+- Preface for [GAP 3.1](preface_3.1.html)  (JN, March 1991)
+- From the preface for [GAP 3.2](preface_3.2.html)
+  (JN, January 1993)
+- Preface for [GAP 3.4.3](preface_3.4.3.html), the last
+  GAP 3 release from Aachen  (JN, June 1994)
+- Interim Report
+  [GAP, 1997, me and all that]({{ site.baseurl }}/ForumArchive/Neubuese.1/Joachim.1/GAP,_199.1/1.html)
+  (JN, June 1995)
+- Interim Report
+  [Organizing GAP]({{ site.baseurl }}/ForumArchive/Neubuese.1/Joachim.1/Interim_.1/1.html)  (JN, December 1995)
+- Interim Report
+  [A European summer of CGT '97]({{ site.baseurl }}/ForumArchive/Neubuese.1/Joachim.1/interim_.1/1.html)
+  (JN, July 1996)
+- Interim Report
+  [WWW pages and refereeing]({{ site.baseurl }}/ForumArchive/Neubuese.1/Joachim.1/Interim_.2/1.html)
+  (SL + JN, September 1996)
+- From the preface for [GAP 3.4.4](preface_3.4.4.html)
+  (SL, April 1997)
+- Interim Report
+  [Move of GAP addresses]({{ site.baseurl }}/ForumArchive/Neubuese.1/Joachim.1/INTERIM_.1/1.html)
+  (JN, June 1997)
+- Forum letter
+  [Contributions to GAP]({{ site.baseurl }}/ForumArchive/Wright.1/Charles.1/Contribu.2/1.html)  (CW, July 1997)
+- From the preface for [GAP 4.B.1](preface_4.B.1.html), the first beta
+  release of GAP 4  (JN, July 1997)
+- From the preface for [GAP 4.1](preface_4.1.html)  (SL, July 1999)
+- Preface for [GAP 4.3](preface_4.3.html)  (SL, May 2002)
+- Preface for [GAP 4.4](preface_4.4.html)  (AH, March 2004)
+- Preface for {% include ref.html label="Preface" text="GAP 4.5" %}  (June 2012)
+
+### GAP Council
+The [GAP Council]({{ site.baseurl }}/council/) was formed in 1995 to provide broad
+policy advice for the future development of GAP.
+It served as an editorial board for GAP packages until 2024, but its interests extend more broadly, to include
+enhancing recognition not only of GAP itself but also of
+the whole field of computational group theory.
+
+### GAP Centres
+In March 2005 the GAP Council and the GAP developers have agreed that status and responsibilities of "GAP Headquarters" should be passed to
+an equal collaboration of a number of [GAP Centres]({{ site.baseurl}}/centres/), where there is
+permanent staff involvement and an element of collective or organisational commitment, while fully recognising the vital
+contributions of many individuals outside those Centres.