History of Internet in Timeline

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computer networks utilizing TCP/IP for communication. It's a network of networks comprising private, public, academic, business, and governmental networks, connected via electronic, wireless, and optical technologies. It supports various information resources and services, including the World Wide Web, email, internet telephony, and file sharing, facilitating widespread communication and access to information.

1945: The word Internet used in a manual

In 1945, the word "Internet" was used by the United States War Department in a radio operator's manual.

1965: Donald Davies Research into Packet Switching

In 1965, Donald Davies at the United Kingdom's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) independently started research into packet switching.

1967: Symposium on Operating Systems Principles

After the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles in 1967, packet switching from the proposed NPL network and routing concepts proposed by Baran were incorporated into the design of the ARPANET, an experimental resource sharing network proposed by ARPA.

October 1969: ARPANET Development Began

On October 29, 1969, ARPANET development began with two interconnected network nodes between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International).

1971: 15 Sites Connected to ARPANET

By the end of 1971, 15 sites were connected to the young ARPANET.

1972: Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing

In 1972, the early years of the ARPANET were documented in the film "Computer Networks: The Heralds of Resource Sharing".

Loading Video...

1973: ARPANET International Connections

In 1973, early international collaborations for the ARPANET were made to Norway (NORSAR and NDRE), and to Peter Kirstein's research group at University College London (UCL), which provided a gateway to British academic networks.

1974: Publication of "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication"

In 1974, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn published a proposal for "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication", using the term 'internet' as a shorthand for internetwork.

1974: Internet as shorthand for Internetwork

In 1974, the word "Internet" was used as the shorthand form of Internetwork.

1981: IPv4 Design

In 1981, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) was designed to address up to approximately 4.3 billion hosts.

1981: Expansion of ARPANET Access

In 1981, access to the ARPANET was expanded when the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Computer Science Network (CSNET).

1982: Standardization of TCP/IP

In 1982, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized, which facilitated worldwide proliferation of interconnected networks.

1986: NSFNet Provided Access to Supercomputer Sites

In 1986, the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States for researchers.

1988: NSFNet Expanded into Academic and Research Organizations

In 1988, the NSFNet expanded into academic and research organizations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

1989: Emergence of Commercial Internet Service Providers

In 1989, Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) emerged in the United States and Australia.

1989: MCI Mail and Compuserve connections to the Internet

In mid-1989, MCI Mail and Compuserve established connections to the Internet, delivering email and public access products to the half million users of the Internet.

January 1990: PSInet Launched

On January 1, 1990, PSInet launched an alternate Internet backbone for commercial use.

March 1990: First High-Speed Link Between NSFNET and Europe

In March 1990, the first high-speed T1 (1.5 Mbit/s) link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN.

1990: Berners-Lee Developed First Web Browser

Later in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee began writing WorldWideWeb, the first web browser, after two years of lobbying CERN management. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 0.9, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the first Web browser (which was also an HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files), the first HTTP server software (later known as CERN httpd), the first web server, and the first Web pages that described the project itself.

1990: ARPANET Decommissioned

The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990.

1991: Commercial Internet eXchange Founded

In 1991 the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded, allowing PSInet to communicate with the other commercial networks CERFnet and Alternet.

1992: Internet Society Founded

In 1992, the Internet Society (ISOC) was founded with a mission to "assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world".

1993: Internet carried 1% of telecommunication information

It is estimated that in 1993 the Internet carried only 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunication.

October 1994: Stanford Federal Credit Union offered Internet banking services

Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first financial institution to offer online Internet banking services to all of its members in October 1994.

1995: Internet Fully Commercialized in the U.S.

By 1995, the Internet was fully commercialized in the U.S. when the NSFNet was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic.

1995: Impact of Internet on Culture and Commerce

Since 1995, the Internet has tremendously impacted culture and commerce, including the rise of near-instant communication.

1996: OP Financial Group Became Second Online Bank in the World

In 1996, OP Financial Group, also a cooperative bank, became the second online bank in the world and the first in Europe.

1998: IPv6 Standardized

In 1998, IPv6, a new version of IP with vastly larger addressing capabilities, was standardized.

2000: Internet carried 51% of telecommunication information

By 2000 this figure had grown to 51%, and by 2007 more than 97% of all telecommunicated information was carried over the Internet.

2000: Global Internet Users Reach 390 Million

In 2000, the number of Internet users globally rose to 390 million.

2001: IPv6 address specification

In 2001, the IPv6 address specification 2001:db8::/32 was mentioned as a large address block with 2 addresses, having a 32-bit routing prefix.

2003: Cyberslacking study

According to a 2003 study by Peninsula Business Services, the average UK employee spent 57 minutes a day surfing the Web while at work.

2004: Internet's Role in Howard Dean's Campaign

In 2004, the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in the United States was notable for its success in soliciting donations via the Internet.

February 2005: YouTube Founded

On February 15, 2005, YouTube was founded and became the leading website for free streaming video.

November 2005: Internet Governance Forum Established

On November 16, 2005, the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss Internet-related issues.

2005: Kiva Founded

In 2005, Kiva pioneered the concept of peer-to-peer lending for charitable purposes, offering the first web-based service to publish individual loan profiles for funding.

2005: Internet usage study

In a US study in 2005, the percentage of men using the Internet was slightly ahead of the percentage of women, although this reversed in those under 30. Men logged on more often, spent more time online, and were more likely to be broadband users, whereas women tended to make more use of opportunities to communicate (such as email).

November 2006: Internet included on USA Today's list of New Seven Wonders

In November 2006, the Internet was included on USA Today's list of the New Seven Wonders.

2007: Internet carried 97% of telecommunication information

By 2007 more than 97% of all telecommunicated information was carried over the Internet.

2008: Submarine cable disruption

In 2008, disruptions of submarine communications cables caused blackouts or slowdowns to large areas.

2008: Gender Differences on Social Networks

In 2008, women significantly outnumbered men on most social networking services, such as Facebook and Myspace, although the ratios varied with age.

2009: Global Internet Users Reach 1.9 Billion

By 2009, the number of Internet users globally had risen from 390 million to 1.9 billion.

2010: Internet usage statistics

By 2010, 22% of the world's population had access to computers, with 1 billion Google searches every day, 300 million Internet users reading blogs, and 2 billion videos viewed daily on YouTube.

March 2011: Estimated Number of Internet Users

As of March 2011, the estimated total number of Internet users was 2.095 billion (30% of world population).

2011: Internet advertising revenues surpass cable TV

In 2011, Internet advertising revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television.

2011: Academic researchers estimate the overall energy used by the Internet

In 2011, academic researchers estimated that the Internet's overall energy consumption was between 170 and 307 GW, which is less than two percent of the energy used by humanity. This includes the energy used by 750 million laptops, a billion smartphones, and 100 million servers, as well as the energy used by routers, cell towers, optical switches, Wi-Fi transmitters and cloud storage devices when transmitting Internet traffic.

2011: IPv4 address exhaustion

In 2011, the global IPv4 address allocation pool was exhausted, marking the final stage of IPv4 address exhaustion.

2011: Internet Blackout in Egypt

In 2011, the government of Egypt blocked the Internet in an attempt to stop mobilization for anti-government protests, resulting in approximately 93% of networks being without access.

2012: Increase in mobile cellular subscriptions

In 2012, the number of unique mobile cellular subscriptions increased to 3.9 billion globally.

2013: Worldwide E-commerce Size

According to International Data Corporation, the size of worldwide e-commerce, when global business-to-business and -consumer transactions are combined, equated to $16 trillion in 2013.

2013: Economic effects of Internet business consolidation

In 2013, Andrew Keen cited a report stating that brick-and-mortar retailers employ 47 people for every $10 million in sales, while Amazon employs only 14.

2014: Controversy over Internet's electricity usage estimates

In 2014, a peer-reviewed research paper highlighted the controversy surrounding estimates of the Internet's electricity usage, noting that claims in the literature varied by a factor of 20,000. The discrepancies were attributed to the year of reference and whether end devices were included in the analysis.

2014: Valuation of Internet Businesses

In 2014, the 700-employee room rental start-up Airbnb was valued at $10 billion, about half as much as Hilton Worldwide, which employs 152,000 people. At that time, Uber employed 1,000 full-time employees and was valued at $18.2 billion.

2014: Global Internet users surpass 3 billion

In 2014, the world's Internet users surpassed 3 billion, which was 44 percent of the world population.

October 2016: Mobile and Tablet Internet Usage Exceeded Desktop

Internet usage by mobile and tablet devices exceeded desktop worldwide for the first time in October 2016.

October 2016: IANA Stewardship Transition

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration had final approval over changes to the DNS root zone until the IANA stewardship transition on 1 October 2016.

2016: Increase in Malware variants

According to Symantec's 2018 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), malware variants number has increased to 669,947,865 in 2017, which is twice as many malware variants as in 2016.

2016: Mobile subscriptions reach 4.8 billion

By 2016, the number of unique mobile cellular subscriptions had increased to 4.8 billion, representing two-thirds of the world's population.

2016: AP Stylebook recommends lowercase internet

In 2016, the AP Stylebook recommended the lowercase form of "internet" in every case. Also in 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary found that, based on a study of around 2.5 billion printed and online sources, "Internet" was capitalized in 54% of cases.

2017: Internet's impact on mental health

A 2017 book claimed that the Internet consolidates most aspects of human endeavor into singular arenas of which all of humanity are potential members and competitors, with fundamentally negative impacts on mental health as a result.

2017: Increase in Malware variants

According to Symantec's 2018 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), malware variants number has increased to 669,947,865 in 2017, which is twice as many malware variants as in 2016.

2017: Internet user statistics

In 2017, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) estimated that 48% of individual users regularly connect to the Internet.

2018: Malware variants increased

According to Symantec's 2018 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), malware variants number has increased to 669,947,865 in 2017, which is twice as many malware variants as in 2016.

2018: 4G network coverage

As of 2018, 80% of the world's population was covered by a 4G network.

2018: Asia accounts for 51% of Internet users

By 2018, Asia alone accounted for 51% of all Internet users, with 2.2 billion out of the 4.3 billion Internet users in the world. Also in 2018, China's Internet users surpassed 802 million.

2018: The Shift Project publishes a study on global CO2 emissions attributed to global data transfer

In 2018, a study by The Shift Project estimated that nearly 4% of global CO2 emissions could be attributed to global data transfer and necessary infrastructure. The study mentioned that online video streaming alone accounted for 60% of this data transfer, contributing to over 300 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, and proposed new regulations restricting video file use and size.

2019: Highest Internet penetration

In 2019, Kuwait, Qatar, the Falkland Islands, Bermuda and Iceland had the highest Internet penetration by the number of users, with 93% or more of the population with access.

2020: Subscription Prediction

It was predicted that the number of mobile cellular subscriptions would rise to 5.7 billion users in 2020.

2021: Cost of cybercrime

Cybercrime, which includes malware attacks as well as other crimes committed by computer, was predicted to cost the world economy US$6 trillion in 2021.

2022: Global Internet Usage Statistics

In 2022, 54% of the world's Internet users were based in Asia, and it was estimated that 5.4 billion people use the Internet, more than two-thirds of the world's population.