The history of development for gallium-nitride-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is reviewed. We identify two broad developments in GaN-based LED technology: first, the key breakthroughs that enabled the development of GaN-based devices on foreign substrates like sapphire (first-generation LEDs), and, second, a new wave of devices benefiting from developments in GaN substrate manufacturing, which has led to native bulk-GaN-based LEDs with unprecedented performance characteristics that portend a disruptive shift in LED output power density and the corresponding cost of generating light.