The Internet
A global network of networks that lets billions of devices exchange information using shared rules called protocols.
- First long-distance link
- ARPANET, 1969
- Shared protocol adopted
- TCP/IP, 1983
- World Wide Web
- Proposed 1989, public 1991
From ARPANET to the Internet
ARPANET connected a handful of US research computers in 1969. When networks adopted the TCP/IP protocols in 1983, separate networks could join together, and the modern Internet took shape.
The Web
Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web in 1989 while working at CERN. Pages linked by hyperlinks and opened in a browser made the Internet usable for non-specialists.
Reach and gaps
More than five billion people are now online, but access is uneven. Cost, coverage and electricity still limit connectivity in many rural regions.