An idea for the internet started in the 1960's. People wanted to share information between computers, mainly for military use. In the late 60's, a minicomputer was created as a base for building the internet.
It was a physical network that linked together The University of California, L.A., SRI located in Stanford, The University of California, Santa Barbara, and The University of Utah.

In the early 1970's, the first email program was created. Both the network and the email program were created by BBN, Bolt Beranek and Newman. Also in the 70's the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used NCP which was Network Control Protocol, to connect with others also using the same thing. Later on it was updated and worked on as a project. It would then feature a way for different networks to connect with each other.

No one called this network the internet until 1974, when Vint Cerf and Bob Klan, from the NCP project stated the new name on paper in the TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol. In 1976 the "Ethernet" was created. This was a cable that moved data from one place to another very fast. It helped create LANs, Local Area Network. In 1979, IBM created a network called BITNET otherwise known as, "Because It's Time Network". This was used for email. This was spread around educational areas, and the email started in 1981. Listservs were also offered and this expanded communication. Gateway computers were created to connect to this network, so they could also use email. The internet became widespread and easier to use as more people wanted to use it. Though, it still wasn't extremely simple to operate, people could still learn to use it. The internet was mainly used in the workforce.

In the late 80's, a stronger base for the internet was used, allowing it to go to other countries. By the end of the 80's archives were created to keep track of sites and an easier way to find them. Not many sites were yet created for the internet. A Wide Area Information Server was also invented, by Thinking Machines Inc. With this searches could be done to find sites.

At the beginning of the 1990's Peter Scott created Hytelnet, which took all information and put it into one place. In 1991 a much more simple system was being designed at the University of Minnesota. A demonstration program was created; they called this a "gopher". It became popular just a few years later. In 1992 the number of hosts rose above one million. In the same year, World Bank became a part of the internet craze. In the next year several other things came to the internet. The Whitehouse website was created, along with emails for the President and Vice President. The United Nations also joined in. Several country leaders added their own sites to the internet, including the Prime Minister of Japan. It was then, that many businesses were finding out more about the internet and considering creating sites. It wasn't until 1994, that shopping became a part of the internet. People could now go to the mall without ever leaving home.

In 1999, there was a scare that all computers would not operate beginning in the year 2000. This was because these computers were not programmed for the new decade. After all the scare and worrying, there was no problem when it became the new millennium.

Today, so much is possible on the internet. We can do anything from an instant message to using webcams and viewing movies. All of this was possible thanks to the early ideas of the 60's.