---
title: "Which came first, email or India?"
description: "email vs India: India came first, by 24 years — 1947 against 1971. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/email-vs-india/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, email or India?

**Which came first, email or India?: India**

1947 — 24 years before email

India came first, by 24 years. India became independent from British rule.

## Side by side

|  | email | India |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1971 | 1947 |
| Date | — | 1947-08-15 |
| Category | technology | country |
| What happened | Ray Tomlinson sent the first message between two computers and chose the @ sign. | India became independent from British rule. |

## email

Messages had been left for other users of the same machine since the mid-1960s. What Tomlinson did in 1971 was send one between two different computers on ARPANET, and pick @ to separate the user from the host because it was the only preposition on the keyboard that could not appear in a name. He did not record the first message and later said it was probably "QWERTYUIOP" or similar. Email is eighteen years older than the Web.

## India

India became independent on 15 August 1947 and a republic on 26 January 1950, when the constitution took effect — which is why the country has two national days. It remained a dominion with the British monarch as head of state for those two and a half years. India as a civilisation is thousands of years older; India as a state with its present borders is younger than the ballpoint pen.

## Common questions

### Which came first, email or India?

India, by 24 years — 1947 against 1971.

### When did email start?

1971. Ray Tomlinson sent the first message between two computers and chose the @ sign.

### When did India start?

1947. India became independent from British rule.

## Related pages

- [Germany or India?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-india/)
- [India or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-united-states/)
- [India or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-pakistan/)
- [India or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-television/)
- [India or LEGO?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-lego/)
- [India or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-samsung/)
- [India or McDonald's?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-mcdonalds/)
- [Fanta or India?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-india/)
- [Apple or email?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/apple-vs-email/)
- [the internet (ARPANET) or India?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/arpanet-vs-india/)
- [the internet (ARPANET) or email?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/arpanet-vs-email/)
- [email or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/email-vs-pakistan/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]