How the Protected Area Idea Spread, From Yellowstone to the Sundarbans

The starting point. Established in 1872, it was the first area a national government formally set aside as a national park, and it later became the model for the US National Park Service and for park systems elsewhere. It sits atop an active volcanic caldera with Old Faithful and large populations of grizzly bears, wolves, bison and elk.

Created in 1925 under Belgian colonial administration as Africa's first national park, originally to protect the mountain gorilla. It runs from active volcanoes and glaciated peaks to savanna and lowland forest, and it has been on the World Heritage in Danger list since 1994 because of armed conflict and poaching.

Established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, India's first national park and one of the earliest in Asia. It was renamed in 1957 for the conservationist Jim Corbett, and it became the founding site of Project Tiger, the national tiger conservation program launched in 1973.

Established in 1947 to protect the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades. It shifts the story from scenery to ecosystem: a mosaic of sawgrass marsh, mangrove and estuary, holding a rare triple designation as a World Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve and a Ramsar wetland.

First given partial protection in 1940 and established in its modern form in 1951. It covers roughly 14,763 square kilometres and protects the largest terrestrial mammal migration on Earth, with more than a million wildebeest following the rains. It is managed by the Tanzania National Parks Authority.

Separated administratively from the Serengeti in 1959, it shows a different model. Unlike a strict national park, it follows a multiple land-use approach that lets the Maasai graze livestock among dense wildlife, centered on the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest intact, unfilled volcanic caldera.

Nepal's first national park, established in 1973 in the Terai lowlands as Royal Chitwan National Park. It protects one of the last significant populations of the greater one-horned rhinoceros along with Bengal tigers and gharial crocodiles, and it became a World Heritage Site in 1984.

Established by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act of 1975 after pressure from oil drilling proposals and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks. Protection moves to the sea here, with zones from strict no-entry sanctuaries to general-use areas that allow regulated fishing and tourism.

Given wilderness protection by Congress in 1978 after decades of more limited designations. It covers more than a million acres of lakes and boreal forest in northeastern Minnesota where motorized watercraft and logging are prohibited, so visitors travel mainly by canoe.

Established in 1980 in the Lesser Sunda Islands to protect the Komodo dragon, the world's largest living lizard, found nowhere else on Earth. Protection later widened to the surrounding marine environment, including rich coral reef ecosystems in the Coral Triangle. It became a World Heritage Site in 1991.

Established in 1981 to protect a core section of the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland, home to jaguar, capybara, giant otter and hyacinth macaw. It is a Ramsar wetland of international importance and lies within a World Heritage Site, managed by ICMBio.

Declared in 1984 in West Bengal, India, as the core zone of a tiger reserve and a biosphere reserve within the world's largest mangrove forest, shared with Bangladesh. It protects Bengal tigers adapted to a tidal mangrove environment, and it was designated a Ramsar wetland in 2019.