Python is a high-level programming language created by Guido van Rossum in 1991. It is an interpreted and general-purpose dynamic programming language with a focus on code readability. Companies prefer Python due to its versatile features that allow for fewer lines of code and its characteristics like being interactive, modular, dynamic, object-oriented, portable, and extensible in C and C++. Popular integrated development environments for Python include IDLE, Spyder, Jupyter, PyCharm, and Visual Studio Code.