The Internet’s origins date back to the 1960’s! Here’s a brief timeline of the development of the Internet.

 

 

1969- ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) goes online in December, connecting four major U.S. universities by computer networks.

1972- Electronic mail (Email) is introduced by Ray Tomlinson, computer scientist.

1976- Queen Elizabeth sends her first email. She’s the first state leader to do so.

1982- The word “Internet” is used for the first time.

1984- Domain names are introduced along with extensions like .com, .net, .org etc. Writer William Gibson coins the term “cyberspace.”

1988- A virus called the Internet Worm temporarily shuts down about 10% of the world’s Internet servers.

1989- The first dial-up access for the public is launched by TheWorld.com. Tim Berners-Lee develops a new technique for distributing information on the Internet. He calls it the World Wide Web.

1994- First spam Emails appear.

1996- Approximately 45 million people are using the Internet.

2001- Approximately 9.8 billion emails are sent daily.

2002- Worldwide there are 544.2 million Internet users.

2004- Online spending reaches $117 billion.

2006- Number of people using the Internet world wide exceeds 1 billion.