Java is a popular, object-oriented programming language created by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems in 1995. It is known for its platform independence, meaning programs written in Java can run on any system with a Java Virtual Machine installed. Java uses object-oriented programming principles like encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. It has a wide range of development tools and is widely used for web development, mobile apps, and enterprise software due to its ease of use and large community of developers.