In 19th century America a movement began to take areas of exceptional natural beauty and preserve them.

This idea of setting aside land for the purpose of preservation is something that was never really taken seriously before.

These areas became known as National. that was never really taken seriously before.

These areas became known as National Parks,

and they spawned a movement of land preservation

that spread around the world and continues to this day.

Learn more about National Parks, America's Best Idea on this day. Learn more about National Parks, America's Best Idea, on this episode of Everything Everywhere

Daily. The idea of a national park is something that was a new world phenomenon and quite frankly really only could have come from the new world.

Back in the old world, that being the massive Afro-Eurasion landmass, people had lived pretty much everywhere

all the time.

There really weren't any areas which were considered to be untouched or unspoiled. There were just places that people

didn't live, and if people didn't live there, no one was probably aware of it,

given the difficulties in transportation and communication. When Europeans arrived

in the New World, they found a land unlike where they came from.

In some parts of the New World, such as Mexico and Central America, there were advanced civilizations

with agriculture.

However, other parts of the new world were populated by nomadic

peoples who didn't have as much of an impact on the land. The first Europeans in North America

settled on the east coast of the continent. They started farms and towns, different but not too dissimilar from what they had back in Europe.

As in Europe, there was really no movement to protect and preserve land in the east.

It was only when explorers started to go west in the 19th century

that they found something unlike what they had seen before, and the seeds were planted for what

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