Internet, a 20th century history that continues

Internet: The history of a network that has become the heart of the digital world

The Internet is a global network of computer network interconnections, based on the TCP/IP protocol suite, which allows the exchange of information on a global scale. Today it is one of the most significant technological innovations in modern history, linking billions of computers, servers and connected objects around the world.

From military origins to scientific collaboration

The origins of the Internet date back to the late 1960s, at the heart of the Cold War. The ARPANET project, launched in 1969 by the US government's DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), aimed to create a decentralized communications network capable of resisting a nuclear attack. This pioneering network initially linked four American universities: UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara and UTah.

ARPANET quickly became a scientific research tool. In 1973, researchers Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn developed the TCP/IP protocol, which will become the basic standard for Internet communications. On 1 January 1983, ARPANET officially adopted TCP/IP, marking the birth of the modern Internet.

Open to the public and the birth of the Web

In the 1980s, the network extended to new academic and governmental institutions. In 1991, British researcher Tim Berners-Lee at CERN invented the World Wide Web (WWW) — a system of hyperlinks and pages available through a browser — making the Internet accessible to the general public. The Web transformed the Internet from an academic tool into an unprecedented platform for communication, sharing and creation.

The era of democratization and mobility

During the 1990s and 2000, the Internet experienced exponential growth with the popularization of access providers, search engines (such as Yahoo!, then Google), online commerce (Amazon, eBay), and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube...). The arrival of broadband, then fibre optics, allowed a massive use of multimedia and streaming.

Starting in the 2010s, the rise of smartphones and connected objects (IoT) made the Internet ubiquitous in everyday life. Today, it links not only computers, but also phones, vehicles, sensors, watches and even smart homes.

A pillar of the modern world

The Internet has become the essential infrastructure of the digital society: it supports global communication, economy, research, education, entertainment, and public services.
Every day billions of data pass through it, and its evolution continues to shape the digital transformation of the planet.

Despite the challenges posed by cybersecurity, the protection of personal data or the digital divide, the Internet remains a universal symbol of connection, freedom and innovation — a network without frontiers that continues to evolve in the rhythm of humanity.