Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Master System was first released in Japan as the Mark III on the 20th of October 1985. This console was engineered by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa to overcome the limitations of the Texas Instruments TMS9918A graphics chip found in the SG-1000.
The Master System failed in North America due to Nintendo's aggressive licensing practices that required third-party developers to publish games exclusively on the Famicom. This policy left Sega with only two American publishers, Activision and Parker Brothers, whose agreements ended in 1989.
The Master System achieved its greatest commercial success in Brazil where it captured 80% of the market after launching in September 1989. Distributed by Tectoy, the console sold 8 million units in Brazil by 2016, making it the longest-lived console in video game history.
The Master System featured an 8-bit Zilog Z80A CPU running at 3.58 MHz and offered four times the system memory and eight times the video memory of the base NES. It also supported two formats for games including ROM cartridges and credit card-sized Sega Cards.
The Master System sold between 10 million and 13 million units worldwide despite failing to capture the North American market. In North America specifically, the console sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units before production ceased in early 1992.