LINQ allows querying of data from various sources using C# syntax. It was developed by Anders Hejlsberg at Microsoft in 2005. LINQ provides a unified programming model and common data access model for querying data sources. It is included in the .NET Framework 3.5 and brings query capabilities directly into the C# language using keywords, expressions, and extension methods. Traditionally, separate query languages were needed for different data sources, but LINQ allows using C# to query SQL databases, XML documents, and .NET collections.