Camping

**Camping is about re-connecting with our primordial selves. The reason that cooking humble food around a campfire, surrounded by family and friends, feels so good is that for eons that was the definition of life in the tribe. It is woven into our very DNA.”** - Anonymous

**Camping** is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a bivy or tarp, or no shelter at all. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors, in pursuit of activities providing them enjoyment or an educational experience. Spending the night away from home distinguishes camping from day-tripping, picnicking, and other outdoor activities. Tent camping in Turkey]]
Camping as a recreational activity became popular among elites in the early 20th century. With time, it grew in popularity among other socioeconomic classes. Modern campers frequent publicly owned natural resources such as national and state parks, wilderness areas, and commercial campgrounds. In a few countries, such as Sweden and Scotland, public camping is legal on privately held land as well. Camping is a key part of many youth organizations around the world, such as Scouting, which use it to teach both self-reliance and teamwork. School camping trips also have numerous benefits and can play an essential role in the personal growth and development of students.

The history of recreational camping is often traced back to Thomas Hiram Holding, a British traveling tailor, but it was first popularised in the UK on the River Thames. By the 1880s, large numbers of visitors took part in the pastime, which was connected to the late Victorian craze for pleasure boating. Although Thomas Hiram Holding is often seen as the father of modern camping in the UK, he was responsible for popularising a different type of camping in the early twentieth century. He experienced the activity in his youth when he had spent much time with his parents traveling across the American prairies. Later he embarked on a cycling and camping tour with some friends across Ireland. His book on his Ireland experience, *Cycle and Camp in Connemara* led to the formation of the first camping group in 1901, the Association of Cycle Campers, later to become the Camping and Caravanning Club. He wrote *The Campers Handbook* in 1908, so that he could share his enthusiasm for the great outdoors with the world.

Possibly the first commercial camping ground in the world was Cunningham's camp, near Douglas, Isle of Man, which opened in 1894. In 1906, the Association of Cycle Campers opened its first own camping site, in Weybridge. By that time the organization had several hundred members. In 1910 the Association was merged into the National Camping Club. Although the First World War was responsible for a certain hiatus in camping activity, the association received a new lease of life after the war when Sir Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts movement) became its president in 1919.

In the US, camping may be traced to William Henry Harrison Murray's 1869 publication of *Camp-Life in the Adirondacks* resulting in a flood of visitors to the Adirondacks that summer.

During the early twentieth century, the popularity of camping in the United States grew as a result of the publicity created by The Vagabonds: Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John Burroughs, and Harvey S. Firestone. This group of famous American businessmen, inventors, and authors traveled for ten years to different states where their trips were highly documented by press from across the country. Oftentimes "...these rough and tumble pioneers would drive toward the Adirondacks and essentially live off the land, camping at farms and buying food along the way just like ordinary Americans out for a holiday on the road."

The International Federation of Camping Clubs (Fédération Internationale de Camping et de Caravanning) was founded in 1932, with national clubs from many countries affiliating with it. By the 1960s, camping had become an established family holiday standard, and today campsites are widespread across Europe and North America.