Here is one of the articles I found on the history of Ubuntu it does a pretty good job of giving some background on the key players in GNU/Linux Torvalds, Stallman, and Shuttleworth. It also shows some of the Ubuntu releases with the crazy names and explanations of what they were trying to accomplish with each release.
https://fahmirahman.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/the-history-of-ubuntu-linux/