Amazon.com originally sold books when Jeff Bezos launched the company in 1994.
Bezos incorporated the business in Washington state in 1994 under the name Cadabra, Inc., and it began operating online in 1995. He chose books because a bookstore could never physically stock every title, while an online catalog could offer customers a much broader selection. The company was renamed Amazon after the Amazon River.
Amazon's first book sale was Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies. The business initially operated from Bezos's garage in Bellevue, Washington, before expanding into music, video, electronics, and many other categories.
A common misconception is that Amazon began as a general online marketplace. Its marketplace model and broad retail catalog developed later; books were the company's original retail category and remained central to its early identity.