History:
The BackTrack allotment originated from the integration of two formerly competing allotment which focused on piercing testing:

WHAX: a Slax-based Linux distribution developed by Mati Aharoni, a security consultant. Earlier versions of WHAX were called Whoppix[6] and were based on Knoppix.
Auditor Security Collection: a Live CD based on Knoppix developed by Max Moser which included over 300 supplies organized in a user-friendly hierarchy.
The overlap with Auditor and WHAX in intention and in their collection of tools partly led to the merger.

Tools:
BackTrack provided users with easy access to a comprehensive and large mixture of security-related gear ranging from port scanners to Security Audit. Support for Live CD and Live USB appropriateness allowed exploiter to boot BackTrack directly from portable media without requiring installation, though permanent installation to hard disk and network was also an option.

BackTrack included dozens well known security tools including:

Metasploit for integration
Wi-Fi drivers fostering monitor manner (rfmon mode) and packet injection
Aircrack-ng
Gerix Wifi Cracker
Kismet
Nmap
Ophcrack
Ettercap
Wireshark (formerly known as Ethereal)
BeEF (Browser Exploitation Framework)
Hydra
OWASP Mantra Security Framework, a collection of hacking tools, add-ons and manuscript based on Firefox
Cisco OCS Mass Scanner, a very reliable and fast scanner for Cisco routers with telnet and enabling of a default password.
A large assortment of exploits as well as more commonplace software such as browsers.
BackTrack arranged clothes into 12 categories:

Information gathering
Vulnerability assessment
Exploitation tools
Privilege escalation
Maintaining access
Reverse engineering
RFID tools
Stress testing
Forensics
Reporting tools
Services
Miscellaneous