# World's earliest website

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 13, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194 "2001-11-13T21:57:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lemmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@lemmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lemmer)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194/1 "2001-11-13T21:57:29Z")

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Hi.

Stop me if this has been asked before or there’s no definite answer, but what and where is the world’s earliest website out there?

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194/2 "2001-11-13T22:03:06Z")

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The HTTP protocol was invented by Tim Berners-Lee while working at [CERN](http://www.cern.ch), so it is probably something that has to do with them.

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**Author:** ![45ACP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/e5b9ba/32.png) [@45ACP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/45ACP)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194/3 "2001-11-13T22:15:42Z")

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Here is a timeline of ARPAnet and Internet history  
[http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/](http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/)  
I’m not sure what definition you want to use for “website,” but the first domain name was assigned in March 1985 to [Symbolics.com](http://Symbolics.com). The World Wide Web was started in 1991 by CERN.

(I’m surprised no one has mentioned Al Gore. Yet…)

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**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2001, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194/4 "2001-11-13T22:16:15Z")

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friedo was correct. The first “website” was internal documentation for CERN. You can read all about it [here](http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/ACHIEVEMENTS/WEB/history.html).

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**Author:** ![samboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@samboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samboy)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-earliest-website/93194/5 "2001-11-14T00:14:42Z")

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No doubt followed shortly by [hotteensluts.com](http://hotteensluts.com)