A park is a protected area of land and water, usually in its natural or semi-natural (landscaped) state and set aside for some purpose, often to do with human recreation. The natural state consists of various interdependent elements, compounds, minerals, rocks, soil types, microbes, oxygen producing plants, water bodies, and animal species.

Wilderness parks are intact and undeveloped areas used mainly by wild species. Many parks are legally protected by law, with enforcement agencies to ensure the laws are followed.

Large protected wilderness zones are required for some wild species to survive. Some protected parks focus mainly on the survival of a few threatened species, such as gorillas or chimpanzees. Before many areas are over developed by human activity, new parks are made to protect some of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth. Many new parks are currently being planned and legally passed through Parliaments and Legislatures.

History

The first parks were deer parks, land set aside for hunting by the aristocracy in medieval times. They would have walls or thick hedges around them to keep game in and other people out.

These game preserves evolved into the landscaped parks set around aristocratic houses from the sixteenth century onwards. These may have served as hunting grounds but they also proclaimed the owner's wealth and status. An aesthetic of landscape design began in these parks where the natural landscape was enhanced by landscape architects such as Capability Brown. As cities became crowded, the private hunting grounds became places for the public.

With the Industrial revolution parks took on a new meaning as areas set aside to preserve a sense of nature in the large industrial cities. Sporting activity came to be a major use for these urban parks. Areas of outstanding natural beauty were also set aside as national parks to prevent their being spoilt by uncontrolled development.

In the twentieth century a number of meanings arose which associated the "designed" landscape of a park with other uses such as business parks, theme parks and parkways.

National parks

main: National park A national park is a reserve of land, usually, but not always declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution. National parks are a protected area of IUCN category II. The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in 1974.