The Lego company was founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark. His business struggled through the Great Depression, and he began to create wooden toys. Christiansen changed the company’s name to “Lego,” which is an abbreviation for leg godt (which https://lego-x.com/2020/08/05/why-play-with-lego is “play well” in Danish).
In 1934, Lego began using plastic bricks in its production. The first Lego sets were also promoted. The company also launched Dakta, a new division Dakta, that would focus on educational products.
In the latter half of the 20th century Lego continued to expand its product line and marketing efforts. In 1971 Lego introduced furniture pieces and dollhouses. Then in 1974 the first Lego human figures appeared. Later, these minifigures developed into the design we have today. Lego also began to develop more sophisticated building sets targeted to older children. This would later grow into Lego Technic.
Lego introduced the World Cup Lego Building Contest in 1987 for kids to take part. The event was held in Billund and 38 children from 17 countries participated. Lego started creating themes in the same year, which were seen as systems inside an overall system. These included Lego Space, Lego Castle and Lego Town (later changed to Lego City) as well as Lego FabuLand. In 1988, Lego released a new line of pirate Legos with various facial features and expressions.
In 1999, Lego changed the way it licensed characters from franchises. It began to offer Lego versions of famous characters such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and numerous others. This move was met with mixed reactions from critics and fans alike.