--- title: "Which came first? Dates side by side" description: "Google or Facebook, the fax machine or the telephone, Nintendo or Ford. Founding dates side by side, with the ones that are genuinely disputed marked." url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/ site: "At One Place" --- # Which came first? 435 comparisons drawn from 89 dated things. The interesting ones are where the obvious answer is wrong — the fax machine predates the telephone by thirty years, and Nintendo is older than the Ford Motor Company. ## The ones that surprise people - Nintendo (1889) is older than the Ford Motor Company (1903). It began making playing cards. - The fax machine was patented in 1843, more than thirty years before the telephone in 1876. - Oxford was teaching by about 1096, well before the Aztec Empire was founded in 1428. - Sharks predate trees. Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid. ## Everything, oldest first | Year | What | Category | | --- | --- | --- | | 450 million years ago | sharks | nature | | 385 million years ago | trees | nature | | 68 million years ago | Tyrannosaurus rex | nature | | 300,000 BCE | Homo sapiens | nature | | 12,400 BCE | bread | food | | 7,000 BCE | beer | food | | 6,000 BCE | wine | food | | 3,000 BCE | Stonehenge | landmark | | 2,560 BCE | the Great Pyramid of Giza | landmark | | 1,900 BCE | chocolate | food | | 1,650 BCE | the last woolly mammoths | nature | | 221 BCE | the Great Wall of China | landmark | | 59 BCE | tea | food | | 80 | the Colosseum | landmark | | 600 | chess | media | | 1096 | Oxford University | institution | | 1428 | the Aztec Empire | country | | 1440 | the printing press | invention | | 1450 | coffee | food | | 1653 | the Taj Mahal | landmark | | 1707 | the United Kingdom | country | | 1712 | the steam engine | invention | | 1762 | the sandwich | food | | 1776 | the United States | country | | 1780 | pizza | food | | 1804 | the railway locomotive | invention | | 1817 | the bicycle | invention | | 1826 | photography | invention | | 1843 | the fax machine | invention | | 1859 | Big Ben | landmark | | 1861 | Italy | country | | 1867 | Canada | country | | 1871 | Germany | country | | 1876 | the telephone | invention | | 1879 | the lightbulb | invention | | 1882 | electricity as a public supply | invention | | 1886 | Coca-Cola | company | | 1886 | the car | invention | | 1886 | the Statue of Liberty | landmark | | 1889 | Nintendo | company | | 1889 | the Eiffel Tower | landmark | | 1896 | the modern Olympic Games | institution | | 1900 | the hamburger | food | | 1903 | the aeroplane | invention | | 1903 | the Ford Motor Company | company | | 1904 | Monopoly | media | | 1911 | IBM | company | | 1925 | television | invention | | 1928 | Mickey Mouse | media | | 1931 | the Empire State Building | landmark | | 1932 | LEGO | company | | 1938 | Samsung | company | | 1940 | Fanta | food | | 1940 | McDonald's | company | | 1946 | Sony | company | | 1947 | India | country | | 1947 | Pakistan | country | | 1961 | Sprite | food | | 1966 | Star Trek | media | | 1969 | the internet (ARPANET) | technology | | 1969 | Unix | technology | | 1971 | email | technology | | 1972 | C | technology | | 1975 | Microsoft | company | | 1976 | Apple | company | | 1977 | Star Wars | media | | 1981 | Mario | media | | 1984 | Tetris | media | | 1984 | the Macintosh | technology | | 1985 | Windows | technology | | 1989 | the World Wide Web | technology | | 1991 | Linux | technology | | 1991 | Python | technology | | 1994 | Amazon | technology | | 1995 | eBay | technology | | 1995 | Java | technology | | 1995 | JavaScript | technology | | 1997 | Harry Potter | media | | 1997 | Netflix | technology | | 1998 | Google | technology | | 2001 | Wikipedia | technology | | 2004 | Facebook | technology | | 2005 | YouTube | technology | | 2006 | Spotify | technology | | 2006 | Twitter | technology | | 2007 | the iPhone | technology | | 2008 | Android | technology | | 2010 | Instagram | technology | | 2016 | TikTok | technology | ## Popular comparisons - [sharks or Tyrannosaurus rex?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/sharks-vs-t-rex/) — sharks - [sharks or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/sharks-vs-united-states/) — sharks - [Tyrannosaurus rex or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/t-rex-vs-united-states/) — Tyrannosaurus rex - [the Great Pyramid of Giza or sharks?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-sharks/) — sharks - [the Great Pyramid of Giza or Tyrannosaurus rex?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-t-rex/) — Tyrannosaurus rex - [the Great Pyramid of Giza or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-united-states/) — the Great Pyramid of Giza - [the Great Pyramid of Giza or pizza?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-pizza/) — the Great Pyramid of Giza - [the Great Pyramid of Giza or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-nintendo/) — the Great Pyramid of Giza - [the Great Pyramid of Giza or the iPhone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/great-pyramid-vs-iphone/) — the Great Pyramid of Giza - [Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-statue-of-liberty/) — Big Ben - [Big Ben or the Eiffel Tower?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-eiffel-tower/) — Big Ben - [Big Ben or Germany?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-germany/) — Big Ben - [Big Ben or the fax machine?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-fax-machine/) — the fax machine - [Big Ben or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-telephone/) — Big Ben - [Big Ben or the lightbulb?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/big-ben-vs-lightbulb/) — Big Ben - [the Statue of Liberty or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/statue-of-liberty-vs-telephone/) — the telephone - [the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-statue-of-liberty/) — the Statue of Liberty - [the Eiffel Tower or Germany?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-germany/) — Germany - [the Eiffel Tower or the hamburger?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-hamburger/) — the Eiffel Tower - [the Eiffel Tower or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-telephone/) — the telephone - [the Eiffel Tower or the lightbulb?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-lightbulb/) — the lightbulb - [the Eiffel Tower or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-nintendo/) — the Eiffel Tower - [the Eiffel Tower or the Ford Motor Company?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-ford/) — the Eiffel Tower - [the Eiffel Tower or Monopoly?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-monopoly/) — the Eiffel Tower - [Germany or the Statue of Liberty?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-statue-of-liberty/) — Germany - [Germany or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-united-states/) — the United States - [Germany or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-pakistan/) — Germany - [Germany or India?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-india/) — Germany - [Germany or the telephone?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-telephone/) — Germany - [Germany or the lightbulb?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-lightbulb/) — Germany - [Germany or Nintendo?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-nintendo/) — Germany - [Pakistan or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-united-states/) — the United States - [Pakistan or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-television/) — television - [Pakistan or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-samsung/) — Samsung - [India or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-united-states/) — the United States - [India or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-pakistan/) — India - [India or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-television/) — television - [India or LEGO?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-lego/) — LEGO - [India or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-samsung/) — Samsung - [India or McDonald's?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-mcdonalds/) — McDonald's ## Common questions ### Which came first, Google or Facebook? Google, by six years — incorporated 1998 against Facebook in 2004. ### Why do founding dates differ between sources? Because companies have several candidate dates — incorporation, first product, public launch — and different sources pick different ones. Where a date is genuinely contested, the page says which reading it uses and what the alternatives are.