This is the first fully-fledged and technically accurate history of the Web. This book draws a coherent picture of the architecture of the Web and replaces the various genealogies of the web by a careful analysis of its specific standards and its makers’ work. From the so-called Web of document to the current applicative and Semantic Web, the distance seems immense. Yet, the same principles seem to hold, what Tim-Berners Lee called its “philosophical engineering”. This book is an introduction to the technical and philosophical dimensions of the Web, not just an object but as an ongoing project, central to the future of mankind.