History of Internet and WWW Lesson
Lesson Overview
- What Is the Internet?
- What Is the World Wide Web (WWW)?
- The Birth of the Internet: ARPANET
- What Is Packet Switching?
- Important People in Internet History
- The Creation of Email
- The First Chat Rooms
- The World Wide Web Begins
- The First Web Browser: Mosaic
- What Is a URL?
- What Is a Protocol?
- Search Engines and Finding Information
The internet is something we use every day. We go online to do schoolwork, watch videos, play games, send emails, and look up information. But have you ever wondered where the internet came from or who invented the web? Let's get on a journey through time to discover how the internet began, how it works, and the people who made it all possible.
Understanding the history of the internet helps us see how far technology has come-and how it keeps changing the way we learn, communicate, and explore the world.
What Is the Internet?
The internet is a huge network that connects computers all around the world. It lets us send messages, share files, and visit websites.
The internet is not one single machine-it's made up of millions of smaller networks and devices that can "talk" to each other using special rules called protocols.
What Is the World Wide Web (WWW)?
The World Wide Web, or WWW, is a part of the internet that lets us view websites, web pages, and online content using web browsers.
Think of the internet as a road system, and the World Wide Web as the cars and signs that travel on those roads.
- The internet connects computers
- The web is what you see and use-like websites, photos, and videos
The web uses things like URLs, HTTP, and browsers to help us find and read information.
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The Birth of the Internet: ARPANET
The idea of the internet began in the 1960s with a project called ARPANET.
ARPANET is known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (USA). It was created by the U.S. Department of Defense to let computers send information to each other, even during emergencies.
It used a technology called packet switching, which splits information into small pieces called packets and sends them across a network. This idea became the foundation of the internet we use today.
What Is Packet Switching?
Packet switching is a way to send data by breaking it into small chunks (packets). These packets travel separately and are reassembled at the destination.
Why It's Important:
- It makes the internet faster
- It keeps information moving even if one route is busy
- It's used in every email, video, or message you send today
Packet switching was a major step in building the modern internet.
Important People in Internet History
Several inventors played key roles in building the internet and the World Wide Web. Let's meet them:
| Person | What They Did |
| Ray Tomlinson | Invented email in 1971 |
| Tim Berners-Lee | Created the World Wide Web in 1990 |
| Jarkko Oikarinen | Invented the first chat rooms in 1988 (IRC) |
Each of these people added something important that helped shape the way we use the internet today.
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The Creation of Email
Email was one of the first tools used on the internet.
- Invented by Ray Tomlinson in 1971
- Let people send text messages from one computer to another
- Became one of the most used features of the internet
Ray used the @ symbol to separate the user from the computer's address-something we still use in emails today.
The First Chat Rooms
Before social media and texting, people used chat rooms to talk online.
- In 1988, Jarkko Oikarinen invented Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
- Chat rooms allowed people to type and send messages in real time
- They helped form online communities for the first time
Chat rooms helped the internet become a place to connect and communicate instantly.
The World Wide Web Begins
The World Wide Web was created in 1990–1991 by Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN in Switzerland.
He built the first:
- Web browser
- Web server
- Website
His idea was to link documents and pages using hyperlinks-clickable text or images that take you to another page.
This changed the internet from a tool for scientists into something everyone could use.
The First Web Browser: Mosaic
In 1993, the first popular web browser was created. It was called Mosaic.
| Browser | Why It Was Important |
| Mosaic | First browser with pictures and text on one page |
| Allowed users | To click, scroll, and interact with websites |
Mosaic made the World Wide Web easier to use and more popular with regular people.
Later browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome followed.
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What Is a URL?
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a web page. It tells your browser where to find a page on the web.
Example:
| Part of URL | What It Means |
| https:// | The protocol used (secure connection) |
| www.example.com | The domain name (website name) |
URLs help us visit websites by typing just one line of text.
What Is a Protocol?
A protocol is a set of rules that computers follow to share information online.
Some important internet protocols are:
| Protocol | What It Does |
| HTTP | Helps web browsers get and show websites |
| TCP/IP | Helps send data between computers over the internet |
| FTP | Allows users to send and download files |
Without protocols, computers couldn't "talk" to each other properly.
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Search Engines and Finding Information
As the web grew, it became harder to find what you were looking for. That's when search engines were created.
Some early search engines:
- Archie
- Yahoo
- Excite
Today, we use powerful engines like:
- Google
- Bing
- DuckDuckGo
Search engines use keywords to help you find web pages that match what you're looking for.
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