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HISTORY OF THE INTERNET |
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The history of the Internet dates back to the early development of communication networks. The idea of a computer network intended to allow general communication between users of various computers has developed through a large number of stages.
The melting pot of developments brought together the network of networks that we know as the Internet. This included both technological developments, as well as the merging together of existing network infrastructure and telecommunication systems. |
The earliest versions of these ideas appeared in the late 1950s. Practical implementations of the concepts began during the late 1960s and 1970s. By the 1980s, technologies we would now recognize as the basis of the modern Internet began to spread over the globe. In the 1990s the introduction of the World Wide Web saw its use become commonplace.
The infrastructure of the Internet would spread across the globe, to create the modern world wide network of computers we know today. It spread throughout the western nations, and then begged a penetration into the developing countries, thus creating both unprecedented worldwide access to information and communications and a digital divide in access to this new infrastructure. The Internet would also go on to fundamentally alter and affect the economy of the world, including the economic implications of the dot-com bubble.
Before the Internet
Prior to the widespread inter-networking that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications between the stations on the network. Some networks would have gateways or bridges between them, but these bridges were often limited or built specifically for a single use. One prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe method, simply allowing its terminals to be connected via long leased lines. This method was used in the 1950s by Project RAND to support researchers such as Herbert Simon, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when collaborating across the continent with researchers in Santa Monica, California, on automated theorem proving and artificial intelligence.
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