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# THE HISTORY
OF THE INTERNET

From four computers to billions of devices — a cinematic timeline of the network that changed how we live, work, and think.

Scroll to explore
1950s — 1960s

## The Idea

The Cold War drove the need for networks that could survive nuclear attack. J.C.R. Licklider imagined an "Intergalactic Computer Network." Packet switching was born — splitting data into small packets that find their own route.

Licklider Intergalactic Computer Network
Packet Switching Split data → find routes → reassemble
Cold War Survivable military networks
Baran & Davies Independently invented packet switching
1969

## ARPANET

ARPANET became the first real packet-switched network. Four computers linked UCLA, Stanford, UCSB, and Utah. The first message ever sent was supposed to be "LOGIN" — but the system crashed after "LO."

ARPANET INITIALIZATION v1.0
> CONNECTING TO UCLA...
> CONNECTING TO SRI...
> CONNECTING TO UCSB...
> CONNECTING TO UTAH...
> SENDING: LOG_
! SYSTEM CRASH - SEGMENTATION FAULT
First message ever: "LO"
_
1970s

## Building the Foundation

Email, file transfer, and remote login made networks useful beyond research. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn then defined TCP/IP, the language that lets different networks speak to each other. The "internetwork" was born.

TCP/IP — connecting networks across the globe
January 1, 1983

## The Birthday of the Internet

ARPANET officially switched to TCP/IP. Every modern internet connection still uses descendants of this protocol today. This is the day the Internet truly became the Internet.

01.01.83
ARPANET → TCP/IP → The Internet
The 1980s

## Command Line Days

The early Internet lived in universities and labs. There were no websites yet — only email, FTP, bulletin boards, and command-line interfaces. Users typed commands into glowing green terminal screens.

[user@localhost ~]$
1980s

## Domain Names

Instead of memorizing IP numbers like 192.168.1.45, people could type easy names like example.com. The Domain Name System (DNS) became the web's directory service, translating names into addresses. .com, .org, .edu, and .gov became familiar online neighborhoods.

.comcommercial
For businesses
.orgorganization
Non-profits
.edueducation
Universities
.govgovernment
U.S. agencies
.netnetwork
Providers
.milmilitary
U.S. defense
example.com → 93.184.216.34
1989 — 1991

## The World Wide Web

Tim Berners-Lee invented HTML, HTTP, URLs, and the first browser. The Web is a service on top of the Internet, but its launch made linked documents easy to read and share. Everything changed.

# World Wide Web

The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents.

Everything there is online about W3 is linked directly or indirectly to this document.

This is the first website ever — recreated here as it appeared in 1991.

Recreation of info.cern.ch — the first web page in history
Early 1990s

## The First Websites

Black text, blue links, white background. No images, no CSS, no JavaScript — just HTML. Simple and raw, these first homepages proved that anyone could publish on the Web.

# Welcome to My Website!

This is a very cool early 90s style page. Check out my links:

→ About Me
→ My Favorite Links
→ Guestbook (sign it!)

This site was made with HTML 1.0.
Best viewed in Netscape Navigator at 640×480.

HTML NO CSS NO JS NO IMAGES

1990s

## Browsers Arrive

Mosaic made the Web visual. Netscape Navigator turned browsing into an everyday activity. Suddenly anyone could explore the Web — not just researchers with command lines.

🌐

### Mosaic (1993)

The first popular graphical browser. Made images appear inline with text instead of in a separate window. Changed everything.

🦊

### Netscape Navigator (1994)

The dominant browser of the 90s. 90% market share at its peak. Spawned JavaScript and SSL. Legendary.

Netscape Navigator — □ ×
Netscape
Mid 1990s

## The Dot-com Boom

Businesses realized the Internet could make money. Amazon, Yahoo, eBay launched. .com was the hottest thing you could put after a name. Money flowed like water.

.com
Amazon (1994) · Yahoo (1994) · eBay (1995)
1990s

## Search Engines

As the Web exploded, finding useful pages became the hardest part. AltaVista, Lycos, and Ask Jeeves helped users search, but Google arrived in 1998 with smarter ranking and a cleaner experience. Search became the Web's front door.

AltaVista
Lycos
Ask Jeeves
Google
Late 1990s

## JavaScript

Web pages stopped being passive. JavaScript turned browsers into platforms for forms, games, animation, and interactive apps. The Web came alive.

0
Interactive Counter
Last click: never
2000

## Dot-com Crash

The bubble burst. Thousands of companies failed. Billions of dollars evaporated. Amazon, eBay, and Google survived to become giants. The survivors learned to build real businesses.

-78%
NASDAQ Composite · 2000 — 2002
Early 2000s

## Always Connected

Broadband replaced dial-up. 56 kbps became DSL and cable internet. No more tying up the phone line. The Internet was always on, always fast — a permanent part of daily life.

56kDial-up
56 kbps Dial-up
1.5 Mbps DSL
10 Mbps Cable
100+ Mbps Fiber
2000s

## Web 2.0

The web stopped being read-only. Blogs, wikis, forums, and comments turned everyone into a creator. The Internet began to listen as well as speak.

📝

### Blogs

Anyone could publish their thoughts to the world. Self-expression exploded.

📚

### Wikis

Collaborative knowledge. Wikipedia proved a million editors could build something incredible.

💬

### Forums

Communities formed around every topic imaginable. The original social networks.

⭐

### Comments

Every article, video, and photo had a place for your voice.

2000s

## Social Media

LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter turned the web into a social space. The Internet became personal, shared, and always connected.

💼LinkedIn2003
👤Facebook2004
▶️YouTube2005
🐦X (Twitter)2006
📷Instagram2010
💬Discord2015
2007

## The Internet in Your Pocket

The iPhone made the Internet personal, portable, and always available. Apps exploded, and mobile browsing moved from desktop to pocket almost overnight.

9:41📶 🔋
🌐 📧 📞 🎵 📸 🗺️ 📺 📱 ⚙️
iPhone · 2007
2000s

## Cloud Computing

Infrastructure became a service you could rent by the hour. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud let startups launch without buying servers, and made massive computing power available to everyone.

AWS EC2 · S3
Azure Compute
GCP Cloud Run
Vercel Edge
Cloudflare Workers
2000s — 2010s

## The Streaming Revolution

Downloads gave way to streaming. Netflix rewrote television, Spotify remade music, and the Internet became the place where movies, shows, and songs played instantly.

🎵
Streaming Changed Everything
The Internet
⏮️ ▶️ ⏭️
Netflix · Spotify♩ · Hulu · HBO
2010s

## The Web Became Apps

Modern websites began to feel like desktop software. Gmail, Discord, Figma, and Google Docs ran in the browser but behaved like full applications. The browser became a powerful workspace.

📧GmailEmail
💬DiscordChat
🎨FigmaDesign
📄Google DocsOffice
📹ZoomVideo
📝NotionNotes
💻VS CodeCode
🎮GeForce NowGaming
2010s

## Decade of Acceleration

HTTPS became standard. Cloud services went mainstream. AI moved from research into products. Smartphones, 4G, and IoT made the Internet part of everyday life.

2010iPad launches. The tablet era begins.
2012Internet users reach 2.5 billion.
2014HTTPS becomes the standard for all websites.
2016Mobile traffic surpasses desktop worldwide.
2018GDPR reshapes privacy rules globally.
2020Pandemic drives everything online.
2020s

## The AI Era

AI became the defining story of the decade. Generative models, assistants, code generation, and image creation made the Internet more creative, more responsive, and more intelligent than ever.

Generative AI · LLMs · WebAssembly · Edge Computing
Privacy · Cybersecurity · Remote Work · Cloud Gaming
Under the Hood

## How the Internet Actually Works

You type a URL and the page appears almost instantly. Here's the journey that happens behind the scenes.

YOU
↓
Wi-Fi
↓
Router
↓
ISP
↓
DNS Lookup
↓
Fiber
↓
CDN
↓
Data Center
↓
Server
↓
HTML · CSS · JS
→ 🖥️
1. DNS translates the URL to an IP address · 2. TCP/IP establishes a connection · 3. TLS/HTTPS encrypts everything · 4. HTTP request fetches the page · 5. The browser renders HTML, CSS, JS into pixels.
All of this happens in under a second.
secret protocol: AB←→←→↓↓↑↑
The Building Blocks

## Biggest Inventions

The technologies that made the Internet what it is today.

Packet Switching
TCP/IP
DNS
Ethernet
Fiber Optics
HTTP
HTML
URLs
Web Browsers
JavaScript
Search Engines
Wi-Fi
Smartphones
Cloud Computing
CDNs
HTTPS/TLS
WebAssembly
AI / LLMs
A B ← → ← → ↓ ↓ ↑ ↑