When was the internet invented? January 1st, 1983 is considered the official birthday of the internet, although it was not for another decade that the internet began emerging as the revolutionary force we know it as today. That is when OG websites like AOL, Yahoo!, and GeoCities dominated internet traffic. Before we dive into the history of the internet, let’s take a look at this simple but effective infographic created by web hosting experts A2 Hosting that explores the top ten most-visited websites every year since 1995:
The first functional prototype of the Internet emerged in the late 1960s with the creation of ARPAnet, or Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. It was spearheaded by the U.S. government as a facet of defense against nuclear attacks during the Cold War. At first, only computers in the same network could communicate. On October 29th, 1969, ARPAnet managed to exchange messages with two computers in different academic research labs. This technology evolved until scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf developed Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, which was a communication model that created standards for how data could be transmitted between multiple networks. ARPAnet adopted TCP/IP on what has become the internet’s official birthday, and from there the “network of networks” grew into the web we know today. When did Google become popular? While the Google.com domain was purchased in 1997, it did not appear on this chart (in 9th place) until 2001. Its rise to supremacy was rapid, reaching the top spot by 2006 where it has remained strong ever since.
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