What is Gopher? (in an internet context )

Gopher is a protocol system, which in advance of the World Wide Web, allowed server based text files to be hierarchically 
organised and easily viewed by end users who accessed the server using Gopher applications on remote computers.
Initially Gopher browsers could only display text-based files before developments such as HyperGopher, which were able
to handle simple graphic formats though they were never used on a widespread basis as by this time the World Wide Web and its Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) were gaining in popularity, and had similar and more extensive functions.