1975: ARPANET project begins
October 23rd, 1980: First connection over the ARPANET, 3 hosts total.
1981: APRANET reaches 10 hosts by the end of the year. Electronic mail first used.
1982: ARPANET reaches 20 hosts by the end of the year.
1983: ARPANET reaches 50 hosts by the end of the year.
1984: APRANET reaches 100 hosts by the end of the year. FTP introduced.
1985: Work begins on the new "Internet Protocol", ARPANET reaches 200 hosts by the end of the year.
1986: ARPANET reaches 375 hosts by the end of the year.
1987: ARPANET reaches 650 hosts by the end of the year.
Janurary 1st, 1988: Internet Protocol adopted by ARPANET.
1988: ARPANET reaches 1200 hosts by the end of the year. Creation of newsgroups.
1989: Plans announced for a new network using the Internet Protocol, NSFNET. ARPANET reaches 3000 hosts by the end of the year.
1990: ARPANET reaches 9500 hosts by the end of the year.
1991: NSFNET launched in Janurary. The DoD announces ARPANET will be shut down at the end of 1993. ARPANET reaches its peak of 14000 hosts mid-year.
1992: NSFNET reaches 40000 hosts by the end of the year.
1993: ARPANET shuts down, with 2500 hosts remaining connected until the end. NSFNET reaches 150000 hosts by the end of the year.
1994: World Wide Web created at MIT, NSFNET reaches 360000 hosts by the end of the year.
1995: First plans for the privitization of NSFNET drafted, 20 websites by the end of the year, Internet reaches 980000 hosts by the end of the year, first commerical ISP.
1996: Great Internet Debate over privitization, 110 websites by the end of the year, Internet reaches 1.76 million hosts by the end of the year.
1997: Plan for NSFNET privitization by 2007 approved, 2900 websites by the end of the year, Internet reaches 3.8 million hosts by the end of the year.
1998: 33000 websites by the end of the year, Internet reaches 6.44 million hosts by the end of the year.
1999: Present Day