While Symbolics.com is the oldest registered .com domain, it’s not the oldest domain. That title goes to NORDU.net, registered on January 1, 1985.
Swedish-operated NORDUnet was the first European network to embrace the TCP/IP technology and to connect to the National Science Foundation Network in the United States, providing open access for university students in member countries.
Then how is it possible that even that date is beaten by the Swedish domain ENEA.se?
According to the WHOIS, ENEA.se was registered on April 7, 1983, predating NORDU.net by almost two years. Could it be that ENEA.se is the oldest domain in the world?
Swedish domains – Photo by Jonathan Brinkhorst on Unsplash
Apparently, that’s not the case. According to Wikipedia:
During the early days of the European Internet-like connections, Enea employee Björn Eriksen connected Sweden to EUnet using UUCP, and registered enea as the first Swedish domain in April 1983. The domain was later converted to the internet domain enea.se when the network was switched over to TCP and the Swedish top domain .se was created in 1986.
In other words, ENEA existed as a node on the Swedish network operating over UUCP, and the actual registration of it occurred in 1986. Why the Swedes chose to backdate this domain, is not known. That means, however, that Symbolics.com is older than ENEA.se.
Sorry, Swedes. You should have registered ABBA.se in the 1970s. 😀
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