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Domain name extensions or TLD's (Top Level Domains) were originally created primarily to give a human understandable tag to what would normally be a string of numbers e.g. 82.200.101.020. Though the truth is today, these tags are read and resolved by your browser, back into those numbers before even leaving your computer.

The DNS or Domain Name System was created in 1983 as a giant worldwide address book and started with the major Global Domain Names or gTLD's (Generic Top Level Domains) and a multitude of local TLD's in a strict hierarchical pyramid. When you read an http address like e.g. ww.goldinger.com, the gTLD will be on the far right; in this case it is .com, easily the most common tag used internationally. When you see a longer tag e.g. ww.golfinger.co.uk or ww.goltinger.org.za this is now read with the top level domain at second place on the right, and then the local level domain afterwards. So the gTLD is always directly after the web site name, with the local TLD's following if there are any.

Theses are the current 2007; gTLD's and their uses, in alphabetical order:

.aero - air-transport industry (requires verification for registration; only those in various categories of air-travel-related entities may register).

.asia - AsiaPacific region (companies, organizations, and individuals based in the region of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific).

.biz - business (an open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register; however, registrations may be challenged later if they are not by commercial entities in accordance with the domain's charter).

.cat - Catalan (for websites in the Catalan language or related to Catalan culture).

.com - commercial (open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register).

.coop - cooperatives (limited to cooperatives as defined by the Rochdale Principles).

.edu - educational (limited to institutions of learning (mostly U.S.), such as 2 and 4-year colleges and universities).

.gov - governmental (limited to U.S. governmental entities and agencies (commonly at a federal-level)).

.info - information (open TLD; any person or entity is permitted to register).

.int - international organizations (strictly limited to organizations, offices, and programs which are endorsed by a treaty between two or more nations).

.jobs - companies (designed to be added after the names of established companies with jobs to advertise, owners of a "company.jobs" domain are not permitted to post jobs of third party employers).

.mil - United States Military (limited

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