Freebase was a large collaborative knowledge base that aimed to structure and organize information from various sources. It allowed users to contribute and edit data, creating a vast repository of interconnected facts about people, places, and things. Launched in 2007, Freebase was developed by Metaweb Technologies and later acquired by Google in 2010. It served as a foundation for Google's Knowledge Graph, enhancing search results by providing more relevant and contextual information. Freebase was officially shut down in 2015, but its data continues to influence various applications and services.