Creating the First Web: The 19th-Century Expansion of Telegraphy

The Internet is the result of scientific and technological developments that have occurred in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) in the last 50 years. It has greatly changed not only our way of accessing and exchanging information but also, more generally, our way of life in various aspects and at many different levels. This change has occurred to such an extent that several authors regard it as the fourth big leap in humankind’s communication, after complex language (about 70,000 years ago), writing (approximately 5,000 years ago), and printing (more than 1,000 years ago in China and more than 550 years ago in Europe).