How many ships were involved in the Portolà expedition?

On February 15, Gálvez dispatched the "San Antonio", captained by Juan Pérez, from Cabo San Lucas; Franciscan friars Juan Vizcaíno and Francisco Gómez served as chaplains. With sailors plus cooks, carpenters and blacksmiths, the "San Antonio" carried a total of around 30 men. These ships left ahead of the land groups. The "San Carlos" and "San Antonio" were followed by an additional supply ship, the "San José", which was named after the patron saint of the Portolá expedition, Saint Joseph. The "San José" never reached San Diego and was presumed lost at sea.

Portolà expedition

The Portolà expedition () was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European land entry and exploration of the interior of the present-day U.S. state of California. It was led by Gaspar de Portolà, governor of "Las Californias", the Spanish colonial province that included California, Baja California and other parts of present-day Mexico and the United States. The expedition led to the founding of Alta California and contributed to the legitimacy of Spanish territorial claims in the disputed and unexplored regions along the Pacific coast of North America.

Although it was already inhabited by Native Americans, the territory that is now California was claimed by the Spanish Empire in 1542 by right of discovery when Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific Coast. Cabrillo's exploration laid claim to the coastline as far north as forty-two degrees north latitude. This northern limit was later confirmed by the United States in the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty.

A competing claim was established for England in 1579 by the privateer Francis Drake, who followed the trans-Pacific route from the Philippines established by the Manila Galleons and reached the California coast near Cape Mendocino, from which he then sailed south along the coast at least as far as Point Reyes. In 1596, a Portuguese captain sailing for Spain, Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho (Spanish: Cermeño) explored some of the same coastline, leaving a description of coastal features. The Portolá expedition carried a copy of Cermeño's writings to guide them along the coast.

Cermeño was followed in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno, whose coastal explorations in 1602 surveyed several California locations for future colonization, including San Diego, the California Channel Islands and Monterey. Vizcaíno sailed north from Mexico (as Cabrillo had done), a much more difficult undertaking because of the prevailing winds and ocean currents. After Vizcaíno, however, the Spanish Empire did little to protect or settle this region for the next 160 years, and accomplished almost no exploration by land. Affairs in Europe took precedence, keeping all of the maritime powers occupied. The little settlement that did occur included the establishment of several missions on the Baja California Peninsula by Spanish Jesuit missionaries.
Then, in 1767, Charles III of Spain expelled the Jesuit order from the Spanish kingdom. Gaspar de Portolá, a Catalan military officer and colonial administrator, was appointed governor of the new province of "Las Californias" and sent to dispossess the Jesuits and replace them with Franciscans, who would set up their own network of missions in the colony. Gaspar came from a military background and had served as a captain of the dragoons of the Regiment of Spain immediately before being appointed governor. When he first sailed to Baja California as the new governor he brought with him 25 dragoons and 25 infantrymen in order to help him with his expulsion of the Jesuits and, eventually, the further exploration of the rest of California. His military background would prove very helpful during the expedition.

By the late 1760s, the Spanish king and a handful of other European rulers began to realize the importance the Pacific coast of North America would have in maritime trade and activity. The Russians had been advancing south from their strongholds in present-day Alaska, and the British had been pushing west in Canada and were approaching the Pacific coast. In order to secure Spain’s claims in California, Charles III wanted to explore and settle the coastline so that he could create a buffer zone to protect Spain's territories from the threat of invasion.

Upon hearing about the king’s desire to explore Alta California, New Spain's "visitador" (inspector general) José de Gálvez organized an exploratory expedition and placed Governor Portolá in overall command. The plan called for a joint land-sea movement up the Pacific coast. The job of the ships was to keep the land contingent supplied with provisions and to carry communications between them and New Spain. Portolá decided to travel by land.

The expedition's original assignment was to travel to the "port of Monterey" described by Vizcaíno and establish a settlement there. After that, the explorers were to continue north to locate Cermeño's "Bay of San Francisco", chase away any Russians encountered, claim the area for Spain and determine whether the bay would make a good port.

The first leg of the expedition consisted of five groups all departing from Baja California and heading north for San Diego. Three groups traveled by sea while two others traveled by land in mule trains. Three galleons, hastily built in San Blas, set sail for San Diego in early 1769: the "San Carlos", captained by Vicente Vila, a lieutenant of the royal navy (whose diary survives); the "San Antonio", captained by Juan Pérez, a native of Palma de Majorca; and the "San José". All three ships, crossing the Gulf of California from San Blas, arrived leaking on the east coast of Baja, requiring repairs there.

On the shore of La Paz on January 9, 1769, friar Junípero Serra blessed the flagship "San Carlos" and its chaplain, friar Fernando Parrón. José de Gálvez, addressing the men waiting to board, declared their final destination as Monterey and their mission to plant the holy cross among the Indians. Friar Parrón boarded the "San Carlos" along with captain Vicente Vila, followed by lieutenant Pedro Fages with his 25 Catalan volunteers; cartographer Miguel Costansó, who made maps and drawings to describe the journey; surgeon Pedro Prat; and a crew of 23 sailors, plus two blacksmiths, two boys, four cooks, and mate Jorge Estorace — a crew of 62 in all. Weighing anchor, the "San Carlos" headed south down the Gulf of California to round Cabo San Lucas and then head north along the Pacific coast.

Captain Fernando Rivera, moving north through Baja California, gathered horses and mules from the fragile chain of Catholic missions to supply his overland expedition. José de Gálvez had ordered Rivera to requisition horses and mules from the missions without endangering their survival and to give the friars receipts for the number of animals taken; those missions would later get restocked with animals brought over from the Mexican mainland. Friar Juan Crespí, selected as chaplain for the Rivera party and diarist for the Franciscan missionaries, traveled for 24 days from Mission La Purísima, approximately north to Velicatá (near present-day Ramona, California), then the northern frontier of Spanish settlement in Baja California. There Crespí met up with the Rivera party, which set out from Velicatá on March 24. Their mule and horse train, tended by three muleteers, carried 25 leather-jacket soldiers and 42 Baja California Christian Indians (all men).

Portolá himself led the second land group, which set out from Loreto on March 9. Junípero Serra, assigned by José de Gálvez to head the Franciscan missionary team into Alta California, joined the Portolá party as chaplain and diarist. The 55-year-old Serra suffered a chronic infection of his left foot and leg, which Portolá believed had now become cancerous. He tried to dissuade Serra from joining the expedition, but Serra refused to withdraw; he told Portolá to go ahead, saying he would follow and meet up with Portolá on the frontier. Meanwhile, Serra assigned friar Miguel de la Campa from Mission San Ignacio to join the Portolá party. The party, driving a supply train and food animals, included 25 leather-jacket soldiers under sergeant José Francisco Ortega; muleteers; artisans; and 44 Christian Indians from Baja California, acting as servants and interpreters to communicate with Indians along the way. This group traveled slower than the Rivera party. Serra, trekking much of the way on a broken-down mule, finally caught up with Portolá, De la Campa and the other members of their party on May 5, just south of Velicatá. Following the trail blazed by the Rivera party, and less burdened by livestock, the Portolá party moved somewhat faster. Even so, they had an arduous trek over deserts and through ravines.

The ships arrived in San Diego first: the "San Antonio" on April 11 and the "San Carlos" on April 29, 1769. Many crew members on both ships had fallen ill — especially from scurvy — during their voyages. On May 1, lieutenant Pedro Fages, engineer Miguel Costansó, and mate Jorge Estorace came ashore from their anchorage in San Diego Bay, along with 25 soldiers and sailors still healthy enough to work. Searching for a source of fresh water and helped by Indians they encountered, they found a suitable river about nine miles northeast. Moving their ships as close as possible, they set up a camp on the beach, surrounding it with an earthen parapet with two cannons mounted. From their ships' sails and awnings they made two large hospital tents, as well as tents for the officers and friars. Then they moved the sick men to shore and settled them into the camp. The number of men engaged in those arduous labors diminished daily due to illness. Nearly all medicines and stored food had been consumed on the long voyages. Doctor Pedro Prat — himself weakened by scurvy — gathered medicinal herbs in the fields and desperately tried to cure the ill men. Heat scorched them by day, cold stung them by night. Two or three men died every day, until the combined sea expedition — which had started with over 90 men — had shrunk to eight soldiers and eight sailors.

Captain Rivera's column arrived on May 14, having trekked 300 miles (480 km) in 50 days from Velicatá without losing a single man or having a sick one — although with their food rations drastically reduced. Rivera's men moved the camp slightly inland near the San Diego River, building the new camp on a hill now known as Old Town. They erected a stockade and mounted a cannon on land that later became the Presidio of San Diego.

The commanding officers prepared to dispatch the "San Antonio" back to Lower California New Spain, to report to viceroy De Croix and "visitador" Gálvez about the expedition. On July 1, just as the ship was about to sail, the Portolá/Serra party arrived in San Diego in good health, with 163 mules loaded with supplies. Desiring to push the sea expedition north to Monterey — as Gálvez had instructed — Portolá offered captain Vicente Vila of the "San Carlos" 16 of his own men to work the ship on its voyage to Monterey. But Vila had lost all his ship's officers, his boatswain, coxswain of the launch and storekeeper — and none of the men offered by Portolá had experience as sailors. Vila refused to sail under such conditions. So Portolá decided to place all available sailors aboard the "San Antonio", which set out for San Blas on July 9, with a very small crew. Carrying important letters from Serra, Portolá and others, the "San Antonio" reached San Blas in just three weeks. On that voyage, several more sailors died.

After the four groups had reunited in San Diego, friars Juan Vizcaíno and Fernando Parrón stayed there with Junípero Serra to head the new mission San Diego. Friars Juan Crespí and Francisco Gómez continued north with Portolá. Serra's group aimed to establish Catholic missions to convert the natives of Alta California to Christianity. Crespí was the only one who traveled with the land expedition throughout its travels, so he became the official diarist for the missionaries (Portolá and Costansó also kept diaries). The Franciscans ultimately founded twenty-one missions at or near the Pacific Coast of what is now the state of California, in addition to one mission in Baja California. The string of California missions began at San Diego.

After two weeks of recuperation, Portolá resumed the northward march to rediscover Vizcaíno's port of Monterey by land, with a party of 74 men: lieutenant Pedro Fages with his Catalan volunteers; leather-jacket soldiers; captain Fernando Rivera; sergeant José Francisco Ortega leading the scouts; engineer and cartographer Miguel Costansó; Baja California Christian Indians; and friars Juan Crespí and Francisco Gómez; the Franciscan missionary college of San Fernando had appointed Crespí official diarist of the expedition. On July 14, 1769, after the friars held a Mass in honor of saint Joseph — patron saint of the Portolá expedition — the Portolá party pulled out of San Diego. Serra stayed behind, as did captain Vicente Vila and the few sailors who remained on the "San Carlos". Serra founded mission San Diego in a humble building just two days after the expedition’s departure. While Portolá moved north, more men died in San Diego: Eight soldiers, four sailors, eight Christian Indians, and one servant perished by the time the Portolá party returned six months later.

On July 28, the Portolá party reached a major southern California river, which the soldiers called the Santa Ana River. That afternoon they felt a strong earthquake, with aftershocks jolting them over the next few days. On August 2 they traveled west out of San Gabriel Valley, through the hills to a river Crespí named "El Río de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula" — site of the future pueblo of Los Angeles. They continued moving northwest along a route that would become El Camino Real (royal path or road) in Alta California.

On September 30, as the party camped by a river just south of today's Salinas, scouts ranged west to the coast. They reached Monterey Bay but failed to recognize it as the port described by Vizcaíno 167 years earlier. The rest of the party reached Monterey Bay on October 1 — but still failed to recognize it as their destination, because it did not seem to match the grand scale described by Vizcaíno. Also, Portolá and his hungry men had hoped to find the supply ship "San José" waiting for them at anchor in their destination harbor of Monterey. They never saw the "San José", apparently lost at sea.

Its morale waning, the party resumed its march on October 7, reaching the area of Espinosa Lake east of today's Castroville. By then, at least ten of the party were being carried on litters, due to the effects of scurvy.

Portolá and his men continued north along the coast, hoping to find the great port they had now left behind. On October 30, they reached the headlands near today's Moss Beach. Looking into the Pacific Ocean, they could see the Farallon Islands due west — and Drakes Bay curving broadly to Point Reyes across 40 miles (65 km) of open water to the northwest. They mistook Drakes Bay for the bay named by previous naval explorers the "port of San Francisco." The sight convinced some, but not all of them that they had indeed bypassed the port of Monterey.

Sergeant Ortega, contacting a group of Indians, thought they were trying to notify him of a ship anchored somewhere up north; for weeks, the men of the expedition had sought desperately for a harbor with a ship laden with food supplies. Heading a party of scouts up and over Montara Mountain, Ortega reached the area now known as Devil's Slide. They found their northward advance blocked by the mouth of a vast bay they could not identify — known today as San Francisco Bay. Ortega and his scouts turned back south along the west shore of the bay, around the southern end and back up the east side. However, they only got as far as present-day Hayward before turning back — because their allotted three days were up. When the scouts returned and described what they had seen, Portolá led the entire party up into the hills, to a place where the entire San Francisco Bay was visible. Only friar Crespí seemed to grasp the importance of the bay, describing it in his diary as "a very large and fine harbor, such that not only all the navy of our Most Catholic Majesty but those of all Europe could take shelter in it."

On November 11, Portolá convened an officers' council, which agreed unanimously that 1) they must have passed Monterey, 2) it was time to turn around and retrace their steps back to San Diego, and 3) no one would be left behind hoping for a supply ship to arrive. The entire party headed back south.

On November 28, the party crossed the Monterey Peninsula south to Carmel Bay. A week later, while waiting for two Baja Christian Indians who got separated from Rivera's group, the expedition leaders discussed their next moves. They still did not believe they had found Vizcaíno's port of Monterey. On December 7, they decided to return to San Diego without waiting any longer for the missing men, or for a supply ship. On December 10, Portolá ordered his men to plant a large wooden cross where passing ships could see it, with a letter describing the expedition's travels buried at its foot. Crespí quoted part of the letter: "The cross was planted on a hill on the edge of the beach of the little bay which lies to the south of Point Pinos (pine-covered headland)."

Frustrated in their hunting and fishing efforts, men of the expedition had to eat seagulls and pelicans. On November 30, about a dozen Indians from the interior — apparently Rumsen people — visited, bringing pinole and seeds. The next day the party slaughtered a mule, but not everyone would eat it. The weather turned cold, and snow began to cover the hills.

The exhausted men reached San Diego on January 24, 1770 "smelling frightfully of mules," but warmly welcomed by their fellow soldiers and friars. Apart from five men who had apparently deserted, every member of the party had survived their six-month journey. They told of large numbers of friendly Indians who lived along the coast, waiting to receive the Catholic gospel. In total they had traveled around 1,200 miles (1,900 km) and become the first Europeans to survey San Francisco Bay and many other important strategic locations. Yet friar Junípero Serra, who welcomed them back to San Diego, felt dismayed and incredulous that they had not found Monterey Bay. "You come from Rome without having seen the pope," Serra told Portolá.

A second expedition to find Monterey Bay and establish a permanent settlement there took place in 1770. Portolá mustered a new overland party in San Diego, consisting of less than half the number of men he had taken on his first trip to find Monterey. The new party included Pedro Fages with twelve Catalan volunteers, seven leather-jacket soldiers, two muleteers, five Baja Christian Indians, Portolá's servant, and friar Crespí. Rivera had traveled back to Baja California to get supplies. On April 17, the Portolá party left San Diego. Following the same route they had taken the year before, they traveled five weeks with only two days of rest, arriving at Monterey Bay on May 24. They did not lose a single man or suffer any illnesses, except for an eye infection that afflicted Fages and Crespí.

That afternoon, Portolá, Crespí and a guard walked over the hills to Point Pinos on the northern tip of the Monterey peninsula, then just south to a hill by the beach where their party had planted a large cross the previous December. They found the cross surrounded by feathers and broken arrows driven into the ground, with fresh sardines and meat laid out before the cross. No Indians were in sight. In the bay waters, hundreds of seals and sea otters splashed and basked in the sun. Crespí wrote: "This is the port of Monterey without the slightest doubt." The three men then walked along the rocky coast south to Carmel Bay. Several Indians approached them, and the two groups exchanged gifts.

Meanwhile, on April 16, the "San Antonio", captained by Juan Pérez, set sail from San Diego to Monterey. On board were friar Junípero Serra, cartographer Miguel Costansó, and doctor Pedro Prat — along with a stock of supplies for the new mission in Monterey. Buffeted by unfavorable winds, the "San Antonio" retreated back south to Baja California, then swung as far north as the Farallon Islands, 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Monterey. Several sailors fell sick with scurvy. The "San Antonio" finally sailed into Monterey Bay on May 31, welcomed by the Portolá party which had arrived a week earlier.

They returned to the wooden cross left on a hill the year before, and this time (perhaps on a clearer day) realized that the site did indeed overlook the place Vizcaíno had described. Portolá founded the Presidio of Monterey on that hill, and Serra founded the Mission San Carlos Borromeo (moved to Carmel the next year, a little ways to the south). On July 9, 1770, Portolá and Costansó boarded the "San Antonio" and sailed out of Monterey Bay, headed back to Baja California New Spain.

For the most part, it was reported that interactions with Native American tribes in Alta California were peaceful and not too much conflict arose. Many were described as welcoming and helpful, as they offered guidance and supplies to the Spanish explorers. Friendly encounters with the native people had been a goal from the onset of the expedition. The Spanish brought many items and trinkets with which they traded for supplies and used to create peaceful relations. The fact that they used space to carry so many glass beads and other items, rather than food or more crucial supplies, in order to pacify the Native Americans shows how committed they were to creating peaceful relationships with the native people. The long-term goal was to create settlements, introduce farming, and convert the inhabitants to Christianity, so it was important that they had peaceful coexistence during the expedition.

The Portolá expedition was the first land-based exploration by Europeans of what is now California. The expedition's most notable discovery was San Francisco Bay, but nearly every stop along the route was a first. It is also important in that it, along with the later de Anza expedition, established the overland route north to San Francisco which became the Camino Real. That route was integral to the settlement of Alta California by the Spanish Empire, and made it possible for the Franciscan friars to establish a string of twenty-one missions, which served as the nuclei of permanent settlements, established a cattle ranching economy and converted thousands of Native Americans to Christianity.

Three diaries written by members of the expedition survive, giving unusually complete insight into the daily movements and experiences: One by Portolá himself, a record by Miguel Costansó, and a diary by Juan Crespí which is the most complete and detailed of the three. The website of the Pacifica Historical Society features a day-by-day account of the expedition, with daily entries from all three diaries.

When Portolá returned to New Spain in 1770, Pedro Fages (now promoted to captain) was appointed lieutenant governor of Alta California, with headquarters at the Presidio of Monterey. Fages led further exploratory trips to the east side of San Francisco Bay, and left his own diaries.

Gálvez placed Gaspar de Portolá, recently appointed governor of Las Californias, in overall command of the expedition. Second in command was Captain Fernando Rivera y Moncada, commander of the Presidio at Loreto. Serra headed the Franciscan missionary contingent. Three ships were also assigned: two to follow the land march up the coast and keep the expedition supplied from the naval depot at La Paz (on the Baja peninsula), and another ship to connect La Paz with the mainland at San Blas.

Timeline of the Portolá expedition

This Timeline of the Portolá expedition tracks the progress during 1769 and 1770 of the first European exploration of the Spanish possession of Alta California, present-day California, United States. Missionary Juan Crespi kept a diary detailing the group's daily progress and detailed descriptions of their location, allowing modern researchers to reconstruct their journey. Portions of other diaries by Gaspar de Portolá, engineer Miguel Costansó, missionary Junípero Serra, army officer Jose de Canizares, and Sergeant José Ortega also survived. When analyzed as a whole, they provide detailed daily information on the route traveled and camping locations, as well as descriptions of the country and its native inhabitants.

The Portolá expedition was the brainchild of José de Gálvez, "visitador" (inspector general, a personal representative of the king) in New Spain. On his recommendation, King Charles III of Spain authorized Gálvez to explore Alta California and establish the first permanent Spanish presence there. Gálvez was supported in the planning of an expedition by Carlos Francisco de Croix (Viceroy of New Spain), and Father Junípero Serra (head of the Franciscan mission to the Californias).

Gálvez and Serra met in November, 1768, to plan the expedition. The goals set were to establish two Presidios and nearby missions – at San Diego and Monterrey (one "r" has since been dropped). These places had been described and given names 166 years before by the maritime explorations of Sebastián Vizcaíno. In addition, the name San Carlos Borromeo was chosen for the mission at Monterrey.

The expedition set out in 1769 and marched from Baja California to San Diego; then from San Diego to the San Francisco Peninsula and back. Rivera led the first group, consisting mainly of soldiers, scouts and engineers to prepare the road and deal with hostile natives. Portolá and Serra followed in a second group with the civilians, livestock and baggage. Serra stayed with the new mission in San Diego while Portolá and Rivera took a smaller group north.

Led by Rivera's scouts, the road followed established native paths as much as possible (the southern and central California coastal areas were found to have the densest native population of any region north of central Mexico), and blazing new trails where necessary. The two main requirements for a camping place were an adequate supply of drinkable fresh water and forage for the livestock. For that reason, most of the campsites were near creeks, ponds or springs. All three of the main land expedition diaries give daily distances traveled in "leagues". As used at that time, one Spanish league equaled about 2.6 miles. A typical day's march covered 2–4 leagues, with frequent rest days.

The following year (1770), Portolá returned north as far as Monterrey to establish the second Presidio there and to establish a new provincial seat. Serra came north by sea to make the Mission San Carlos Borromeo del rio Carmelo (moved a few miles south from its original Monterrey location) his headquarters. Portolá's successor as governor, Pedro Fages, found an easier inland route later in 1770 from Monterrey to San Francisco Bay, and further explored the eastern side of the bay in 1772 (accompanied again by padre Juan Crespí, who again kept a diary).

The 1776 expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza used the official Portolá expedition report (drawn from the diaries) to follow mostly in the footsteps of Portolá from Mission San Gabriel to Monterrey, taking the Fages route from Monterrey to San Francisco Bay. Much of today's Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail in coastal California was previously the Portolá trail. Sixteen of the twenty-one Spanish Missions of California were established along the Portolá route.

The Crespí diary is the most complete of the three land expedition accounts, because Crespí was the only diarist present during the entire expedition. It includes nearly all of the information found in the other two, plus many extra details about the country and the native peoples. Herbert Bolton translated Crespi's diary to English and annotated it with modern references. Bolton added information about the modern campsite locations, as shown below. Bolton also included maps with his "best guess" of the expedition's march routes, superimposed on modern California maps.

In 2001, a new edition of the Crespí diary was published, with side-by-side Spanish and English text - both of Crespí's original field notes, and also his expanded rewrite for the later official version.

Vicente Vila, captain of the "San Carlos" — one of three ships supporting the expedition — also kept a diary that has survived, but he only sailed as far as San Diego, and never joined the expedition on land. Free online translations of both Vila's and Costansó's diaries are available. Fages also wrote, in 1775, an after-the fact account of the 1769–70 expedition.

The official report of the expedition is also available online. Written later by Carlos Francisco de Croix, marqués de Croix, the brief document drew on the diaries kept by the expedition participants.


When did the WWW become publicly available?

The World Wide Web Worm (WWWW) was one of the earliest search engines for the World Wide Web (WWW). It is claimed by some to be the first search engine, though it was not released until March 1994, by which time a number of other search engines had been made publicly available. It was developed in September 1993 by Oliver McBryan at the University of Colorado as a research project.

World Wide Web Worm

The worm created a database of 300,000 multimedia objects which could be obtained or searched for keywords via the WWW. It indexed about 110,000 webpages as of 1994. In contrast to present-day search engines, the WWWW featured support for Perl regular expressions.

The website, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/home/mcbryan/WWWW.html, is no longer accessible, and redirects to Goto.com, which purchased WWWW's technology circa 1997. McBryan stated in a 2016 podcast that WWWW was an educational project and he never thought of commercializing it like Excite or Yahoo! did, partly because the University did not have a department that dealt specifically with such computer technology.

The World Wide Web became publicly accessible in 1991, which had been available only to government and universities. In 1993 Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina introduced Mosaic, the first web browser capable of displaying inline images and the basis for later browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first financial institution to offer online internet banking services to all of its members in October 1994.. In 1996 OP Financial Group, also a cooperative bank, became the second online bank in the world and the first in Europe. The Internet expanded quickly, and by 1996, it was part of mass culture and many businesses listed websites in their ads. By 1999 almost every country had a connection, and nearly half of Americans and people in several other countries used the Internet on a regular basis. However throughout the 1990s, "getting online" entailed complicated configuration, and dial-up was the only connection type affordable by individual users; the present day mass Internet culture was not possible.

Digital Revolution

The Digital Revolution, also known as the Third Industrial Revolution, is the shift from mechanical and analogue electronic technology to digital electronics which began anywhere from the late 1950s to the late 1970s with the adoption and proliferation of digital computers and digital record keeping that continues to the present day. Implicitly, the term also refers to the sweeping changes brought about by digital computing and communication technology during (and after) the latter half of the 20th century. Analogous to the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution marked the beginning of the Information Age.

Central to this revolution is the mass production and widespread use of digital logic circuits, and its derived technologies, including the computer, digital cellular phone, and the Internet. These technological innovations have transformed traditional production and business techniques.

The underlying technology was invented in the later half of the 19th century, including Babbage's analytical engine and the telegraph. Digital communication became economical for widespread adoption after the invention of the personal computer. Claude Shannon, a Bell Labs mathematician, is credited for having laid out the foundations of digitalization in his pioneering 1948 article, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication". The digital revolution converted technology that had been analog into a digital format. By doing this, it became possible to make copies that were identical to the original. In digital communications, for example, repeating hardware was able to amplify the digital signal and pass it on with no loss of information in the signal. Of equal importance to the revolution was the ability to easily move the digital information between media, and to access or distribute it remotely.

The turning point of the revolution was the change from analogue to digitally recorded music. During the 1980s the digital format of optical compact discs gradually replaced analog formats, such as vinyl records and cassette tapes, as the popular medium of choice.

In 1947, the transistor was invented, leading the way to more advanced digital computers. From the late 1940s, Universities, the Military, and Business developed computer systems, to digitally replicate and automate previously manually performed mathematical calculations, with the LEO (computer) being the first commercially available general purpose computer.

A key step toward mass commercialization was the advent of the planar process in 1959 by Jean Hoerni, an employee of Fairchild Semiconductor. This enabled integrated circuits to be mass produced using the techniques of photolithography.

From 1969 to 1971, Intel developed the Intel 4004, an early microprocessor that laid the foundations for the microcomputer revolution that began in the 1970s.

The public was first introduced to the concepts that would lead to the Internet when a message was sent over the ARPANET in 1969. Packet switched networks such as ARPANET, Mark I, CYCLADES, Merit Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of protocols. The ARPANET in particular led to the development of protocols for internetworking, in which multiple separate networks could be joined together into a network of networks.

The Whole Earth movement of the 1960s advocated the use of new technology.

In the 1970s, the home computer was introduced, time-sharing computers, the video game console, the first coin-op video games, and the golden age of arcade video games began with Space Invaders. As digital technology proliferated, and the switch from analog to digital record keeping became the new standard in business, a relatively new job description was popularized, the data entry clerk. Culled from the ranks of secretaries and typists from earlier decades, the data entry clerk's job was to convert analog data (customer records, invoices, etc.) into digital data.

In developed nations, computers achieved semi-ubiquity during the 1980s as they made their way into schools, homes, business, and industry. Automated teller machines, industrial robots, CGI in film and television, electronic music, bulletin board systems, and video games all fueled what became the zeitgeist of the 1980s. Millions of people purchased home computers, making household names of early personal computer manufacturers such as Apple, Commodore, and Tandy. To this day the Commodore 64 is often cited as the best selling computer of all time, having sold 17 million units (by some accounts) between 1982 and 1994.

In 1984, the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting data on computer and Internet use in the United States; their first survey showed that 8.2% of all U.S. households owned a personal computer in 1984, and that households with children under the age of 18 were nearly twice as likely to own one at 15.3% (middle and upper middle class households were the most likely to own one, at 22.9%). By 1989, 15% of all U.S. households owned a computer, and nearly 30% of households with children under the age of 18 owned one. By the late 1980s, many businesses were dependent on computers and digital technology.

Motorola created the first mobile phone, Motorola DynaTac, in 1983. However, this device used analog communication - digital cell phones were not sold commercially until 1991 when the 2G network started to be opened in Finland to accommodate the unexpected demand for cell phones that was becoming apparent in the late 1980s.

Compute! magazine predicted that CD-ROM would be the centerpiece of the revolution, with multiple household devices reading the discs.

The first true digital camera was created in 1988, and the first were marketed in December 1989 in Japan and in 1990 in the United States. By the mid-2000s, they would eclipse traditional film in popularity.

Digital ink was also invented in the late 1980s. Disney's CAPS system (created 1988) was used for a scene in 1989's The Little Mermaid and for all their animation films between 1990's The Rescuers Down Under and 2004's Home On The Range.

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989.

The first public digital HDTV broadcast was of the 1990 World Cup that June; it was played in 10 theaters in Spain and Italy. However HDTV did not become a standard until the mid-2000s outside Japan.

In 1989 about 15% of all households in the United States owned a personal computer, by 2000, this was up to 51%; for households with children nearly 30% owned a computer in 1989, and in 2000 65% owned one.

Cell phones became as ubiquitous as computers by the early 2000s, with movie theaters beginning to show ads telling people to silence their phones. They also became much more advanced than phones of the 1990s, most of which only took calls or at most allowed for the playing of simple games.

Text messaging existed in the 1990s but was not widely used until the early 2000s, when it became a cultural phenomenon.

The digital revolution became truly global in this time as well - after revolutionizing society in the developed world in the 1990s, the digital revolution spread to the masses in the developing world in the 2000s.

In late 2005 the population of the Internet reached 1 billion, and 3 billion people worldwide used cell phones by the end of the decade. HDTV became the standard television broadcasting format in many countries by the end of the decade.

By 2012, over 2 billion people used the Internet, twice the number using it in 2007. Cloud computing had entered the mainstream by the early 2010s. By 2015, tablet computers and smartphones were expected to exceed personal computers in Internet usage. By 2016, half of the world's population was connected.

In the late 1980s, less than 1% of the world's technologically stored information was in digital format, while it was 94% in 2007, with more than 99% by 2014. The year 2002 is estimated to be the year when human kind was able to store more information in digital, than in analog format (the "beginning of the digital age").

It is estimated that the world's capacity to store information has increased from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986, to some 5,000 exabytes in 2014 (5 zettabytes).

Conversion of below analog technologies to digital. (The decade indicated is the period when digital became dominant form.)Decline or disappearance of below analog technologies:

Disappearance of other technologies also attributed to digital revolution. (Analog–digital classification doesn't apply to these.)Improvements in digital technologies.

Underlying the digital revolution was the development of the digital electronic computer, the personal computer, and particularly the microprocessor with its steadily increasing performance (as described by Moore's law), which enabled computer technology to be embedded into a huge range of objects from cameras to personal music players. Equally important was the development of transmission technologies including computer networking, the Internet and digital broadcasting. 3G phones, whose social penetration grew exponentially in the 2000s, also played a very large role in the digital revolution as they simultaneously provide ubiquitous entertainment, communications, and online connectivity.

Positive aspects include greater interconnectedness, easier communication, and the exposure of information that in the past could have more easily been suppressed by totalitarian regimes. Michio Kaku wrote in his books Physics of the Future that the failure of the Soviet coup of 1991 was due largely to the existence of technology such as the fax machine and computers that exposed classified information.

The Revolutions of 2011 were enabled by social networking and smartphone technology; however these revolutions in hindsight largely failed to reach their goals as hardcore Islamist governments and in Syria a civil war have formed in the absence of the dictatorships that were toppled.

The economic impact of the digital revolution has been large. Without the World Wide Web (WWW), for example, globalization and outsourcing would not be nearly as feasible as they are today. The digital revolution radically changed the way individuals and companies interact. Small regional companies were suddenly given access to much larger markets. Concepts such as On-demand services and manufacturing and rapidly dropping technology costs made possible innovations in all aspects of industry and everyday life.

After initial concerns of an IT productivity paradox, evidence is mounting that digital technologies have significantly increased the productivity and performance of businesses.

Negative effects include information overload, Internet predators, forms of social isolation, and media saturation. In a poll of prominent members of the national news media, 65 percent said the Internet is hurting journalism more than it is helping by allowing anyone no matter how amateur and unskilled to become a journalist; causing information to be muddier and the rise of conspiracy theory in a way it didn't exist in the past.

In some cases, company employees' pervasive use of portable digital devices and work related computers for personal use—email, instant messaging, computer games—were often found to, or perceived to, reduce those companies' productivity. Personal computing and other non-work related digital activities in the workplace thus helped lead to stronger forms of privacy invasion, such as keystroke recording and information filtering applications (spyware and content-control software).

Privacy in general became a concern during the digital revolution. The ability to store and utilize such large amounts of diverse information opened possibilities for tracking of individual activities and interests. Libertarians and privacy rights advocates feared the possibility of an Orwellian future where centralized power structures control the populace via automatic surveillance and monitoring of personal information in such programs as the CIA's Information Awareness Office. Consumer and labor advocates opposed the ability to direct market to individuals, discriminate in hiring and lending decisions, invasively monitor employee behavior and communications and generally profit from involuntarily shared personal information.

The Internet, especially the WWW in the 1990s, opened whole new avenues for communication and information sharing. The ability to easily and rapidly share information on a global scale brought with it a whole new level of freedom of speech. Individuals and organizations were suddenly given the ability to publish on any topic, to a global audience, at a negligible cost, particularly in comparison to any previous communication technology.

Large cooperative projects could be endeavored (e.g. Open-source software projects, SETI@home). Communities of like-minded individuals were formed (e.g. MySpace, Tribe.net). Small regional companies were suddenly given access to a larger marketplace.

In other cases, special interest groups as well as social and religious institutions found much of the content objectionable, even dangerous. Many parents and religious organizations, especially in the United States, became alarmed by pornography being more readily available to minors. In other circumstances the proliferation of information on such topics as child pornography, building bombs, committing acts of terrorism, and other violent activities were alarming to many different groups of people. Such concerns contributed to arguments for censorship and regulation on the WWW.

Copyright and trademark issues also found new life in the digital revolution. The widespread ability of consumers to produce and distribute exact reproductions of protected works dramatically changed the intellectual property landscape, especially in the music, film, and television industries.

The digital revolution, especially regarding privacy, copyright, censorship and information sharing, remains a controversial topic. As the digital revolution progresses it remains unclear to what extent society has been impacted and will be altered in the future.

While there have been huge benefits to society from the digital revolution, especially in terms of the accessibility of information, there are a number of concerns. Expanded powers of communication and information sharing, increased capabilities for existing technologies, and the advent of new technology brought with it many potential opportunities for exploitation. The digital revolution helped usher in a new age of mass surveillance, generating a range of new civil and human rights issues. Reliability of data became an issue as information could easily be replicated, but not easily verified. The digital revolution made it possible to store and track facts, articles, statistics, as well as minutiae hitherto unfeasible.

From the perspective of the historian, a large part of human history is known through physical objects from the past that have been found or preserved, particularly in written documents. Digital records are easy to create but also easy to delete and modify. Changes in storage formats can make recovery of data difficult or near impossible, as can the storage of information on obsolete media for which reproduction equipment is unavailable, and even identifying what such data is and whether it is of interest can be near impossible if it is no longer easily readable, or if there is a large number of such files to identify. Information passed off as authentic research or study must be scrutinized and verified.

These problems are further compounded by the use of digital rights management and other copy prevention technologies which, being designed to only allow the data to be read on specific machines, may well make future data recovery impossible. The Voyager Golden Record, which is intended to be read by an intelligent extraterrestrial (perhaps a suitable parallel to a human from the distant future), is recorded in analog rather than digital format specifically for easy interpretation and analysis.