Mageia is a Linux-based operating system, distributed as free and open-source software.

[5][6] The Greek term mageía (μαγεία) means enchantment, fascination, glamour, wizardry.

On September 2, 2010, Edge IT, one of the subsidiaries of Mandriva, was placed under liquidation process by the Tribunal de commerce in Paris;[11][12] effective September 17, all assets were liquidated and employees were let go.

The next day, on September 18, 2010, some of these former employees, who were mostly responsible for the development and maintenance of the Mandriva Linux distribution, and several community members announced the creation of Mageia, with the support of many members of the community of developers, users and employees of Mandriva Linux.

As was the case with Mandrake and Mandriva Linux, KDE is the main and the most used environment.