What's a Domain?

Did you ever wonder what those funny endings are in Internet addresses-like "dot com"? They're part of the domain. The domain is the name of a network or computer that is linked to the Internet.

You can find the domain in an email address after an @ sign. The email address for the First Lady, for example, is first.lady@whitehouse.gov. You can see that "whitehouse.gov" is the domain.

The ending of a domain tells you what type it is:

.com = commercial
.gov = government
.org = organization
.edu = educational institution

Many countries have an official extension or country code that appears at the end of a URL (website address) or email address. The extension identifies where the host website or network is located. For example, the web address for the Nobel e-Museum is http://www.nobel.se . The extension ".se" indicates that the information on the Nobel site originates in Sweden. These are some other examples

.fr = France
.in = India
.it = Italy
.jp = Japan
.pe = Peru
.zr = Zaire

Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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