Database systems can be summarized in 3 sentences:
A database system consists of a database, database management system (DBMS), and users. The database contains organized data, the DBMS manages access to the data and provides utilities for querying and updating it, and users interact with the system for data entry, retrieval, and administration. Over time, database models have evolved from hierarchical and network models to the prevalent relational model to better support data sharing and querying across systems.