The internet grew from research networks designed to connect computers across universities, laboratories, government agencies, and later commercial and public institutions.
Early networking
In the 1960s, packet switching research showed that messages could be split into smaller units and routed across a network. This made communication more resilient than a single fixed circuit.
ARPANET and TCP/IP
ARPANET connected early research sites in the United States. TCP/IP later became the shared protocol suite that allowed separate networks to communicate as one internetwork.
The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web made the internet easier to use by introducing linked documents, URLs, browsers, and web servers. The web helped move online publishing from specialist networks into everyday public life.
Modern internet
Today the internet includes fiber backbones, mobile networks, cloud platforms, content delivery networks, search engines, online collaboration tools, and billions of connected devices.