Wikipedia
Apache CouchDB, commonly referred to as CouchDB, is open source database software that focuses on ease of use and having an architecture that "completely embraces the Web". It has a document-oriented NoSQL database architecture and is implemented in the concurrency-oriented language Erlang; it uses JSON to store data, JavaScript as its query language using MapReduce, and HTTP for an API.
CouchDB was first released in 2005 and later became an Apache project in 2008.
Unlike a relational database, a CouchDB database does not store data and relationships in tables. Instead, each database is a collection of independent documents. Each document maintains its own data and self-contained schema. An application may access multiple databases, such as one stored on a user's mobile phone and another on a server. Document metadata contains revision information, making it possible to merge any differences that may have occurred while the databases were disconnected.
CouchDB implements a form of Multi-Version Concurrency Control ( MVCC) so it doesn't have to lock the database file during writes. Conflicts are left to the application to resolve. Resolving a conflict generally involves first merging data into one of the documents, then deleting the stale one.
Other features include document-level ACID semantics with eventual consistency, (incremental) MapReduce, and (incremental) replication. One of CouchDB's distinguishing features is multi-master replication, which allows it to scale across machines to build high performance systems. A built-in Web application called Futon helps with administration.