The internet has become an integral part of the society to connect people worldwide. It has been known as one of the most significant technological advancements of the 21st century with its roots deep in the 1960s.
Let’s talk about the history of the Internet and its evolution.
1. ARPANET
From 1960 to 1970 a project founded by the US Department of Defence was established to allow researchers to communicate with securities and share data. This led to the development of ARPANET which we know as the internet in the modern days. The Advanced Research Project Agency network (ARPANET) was revolutionary as it shared information by individually breaking data into smaller packages and sending them independently across the network with more efficiency and reliability. The first message that was successfully sent through this technology was on October 29 1969 between UCLA and the Sandford Research Institute.
2. TCP ICP protocol
In the 1970s fill, there was a need to have standard protocols to transmit data across various networks. This led to the development of a crucial set of communication protocols by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn known as transmission control protocol (TCP) and internet protocol (IP). This standardized protocol was officially adopted in 1983 by ARPANET.
3. World Wide Web
After the introduction of the protocols, the internet caught a speed of growth. Though the Internet was expanding in academies and government institutions, it was fairly unknown to the general public.
In 1989 a British scientist invented the World Wide Web through which people could access information on the internet through hyperlinked text documents. The same scientist Tim Berner Lee also developed the HTML (hypertext mark of language), HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol), and the first web browser; other web browsers were later introduced in the mid-1990s making the internet more accessible. This made navigating through the internet easier for the general public when the first website went live in 1991.
4. Commercialisation and.com
As the accessibility to the internet grew so did the commercialization of the internet. Businesses saw the potential of the web, to expand to reach more people which led to the launch of thousands of websites like Amazon, eBay, and Google in 1990. With the rapid investment in internet-based companies, emails became widely used to revolutionize communication making this period known as the dot-com boom. This was the period when Internet service providers began offering dial access to the public.
5. Social media and web 2.0
During the early 2000s internet became a space for interactive website users to put out user-generated content and social networking platforms. During this time my space became the first social networking site, it was then followed by Facebook in 2004, YouTube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006. This period was known to be Web 2.0 when new tools for collaboration and sharing were introduced and services like Wikipedia and Blog were introduced.
6. Mobile internet and the cloud
The introduction of smartphones and mobile technology in the late 2000s and early 2010 brought the internet to everyone’s fingertips.
The launch of the iPhone in 2007 and Android devices helped to bring revolution to the internet. Along with this, the rise of cloud computing also allowed people to store data and access it on the internet. Dropbox, Amazon Web services, and many more help users store massive data and make it accessible whenever required.
7. Future of the internet
The Internet has continued its evolution through and through with technology like 5G Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, internet has continued to be great. With more than 5 billion users worldwide internet has become an integral part of everyone’s life. Web 3.0 is on its way with even more decentralization of the internet with advancements like cryptocurrency.
The Internet has shaped lives playing an important part from advanced smartphones, and vehicles to healthcare.