Tim Berners-Lee: Father of the web

1980: Tim Berners-Lee, at particle research station Cern, devises rules to start world wide web, and allow easy travel around the internet.

1982, 12 August: US bear market ends, with Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) at 776.92 points, and Nasdaq at 159.84.

1990: In an article in the Washington Post, Al Gore introduces phrase "superinformation highway" to politics.

1992: America Online, which had been launched as a distributor of online games, floated, raising $23m.

1993, January: First issue of Wired magazine published.

Launch of web browser Mosaic, forerunner to Netscape Navigator.

1995, July: Amazon launched.

Yahoo incorporated

1996, 12 April: Yahoo shares nearly triple in price on first day of trading.

Alan Greenspan: Share warning

1998, October: Inaugural First Tuesday meeting.

November: Aol reveals plans to buy Netscape for $4.21bn.

1999, February: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with a fortune estimated at $10.1bn, reaches number 19 on Forbes' global rich list.

March: US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warns the elderly against investing in dot.com firms.

Sept: UK Prime Minister Tony Blair warns companies: "If you're not exploiting the opportunities of e-commerce, you could go bankrupt."

November: Fashion e-tailer Boo.com launches.

December 31: FTSE 100 peaks at 6.930.20.

2000, January 10: AOL and Time Warner announce merger

January 14: DJIA hits all-time closing high of 11,722.98.

January 30: More than 20 dot.coms. including Pets.com and Epidemic.com, pay up to $3m each for 30-second TV advertising spots at American football Super Bowl match.

March 2: Tony Dye quits Phillips & Drew, after forecasts of share crash fail to materialise.

March 6: FTSE Techmark index reaches record closing high of 5,743.40.

Andy Mitchell: Unfulfilled promises

March 8: Tech firms including Freeserve, Psion, Thus and Baltimore Technologies promoted to FTSE 100 elite of top London listed firms.

March 10: Nasdaq reaches all-time closing high of 5.048.62.

March 14: Lastminute.com shares soar 28% on first day of trading.

May: Boo.com collapses, after spending $135m.

June: Psion, Baltimore Technologies, Kingston Communications and Thus ejected from FTSE 100.

August: Altavista UK chief Andy Mitchell resigns over unmetred net access package which was never launched.

November: Pets.com become first listed US dot.com to collapse. Other notable failures that month included Garden.com and Furniture.com.

December: UK internet service provider Freeserve bought by French rival Wanadoo.

2001, March: EToys fails.

Mary Meeker: Influential analyst

April: Monthly statistics for US dot.com lay-offs peak at 17,554.

May: Monthly statistics for US dot.com closures peak at 64.

August: Case bought by Amazon investor against leading dot.com analyst Mary Meeker, over "overoptimism" claims, fails.

September 21: Nasdaq hits 1,423.19. FTSE Techmark hits record low of 1,064.98.

September 23: DJIA hits 8,235.81.

November: Sportal, UK sports site which France's Canal Plus nearly bought for �275m in 2000, sold for �1 to UKbetting.

Henry Blodget, a bank analyst whose bullishness helped fuel dot.com mania, steps down

2002, January: Amazon announces first quarter in profit.

Lastminute.com's Australian operation becomes the firm's first division to report a profit.

February: Entertainment site E-District settles case with former boss Steve Laitman sacked over claims of inflated traffic figures.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos, with fortune down to $1.5bn, ranked 293 on Forbes global rich list. Yahoo founders David Filo and Jerry Yang no longer rated billionaires.

British Telecom says is to cut the price of broadband, following widespread concerns about low take-up.

March: Sportal relaunched.