Emails stand for electronic mail and they were invented by Ray Tomlinson in 1971! They are like online letters which you send through the internet. They are easy to send, and they are free to use!

To send an email you need two things:

• An email client - this is a piece of software that acts as your inbox and outbox. It is where you will compose, send and receive all of your emails. Most are free and we will be using Gmail here.
• An email address - like your real address, this is a unique way of identifying your email inbox, so people know where to send their emails to :)