112-522: The Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness is a wilderness area located in northwestern Arizona and southwestern Utah , USA , within the arid Colorado Plateau region. The jagged mountains and gently sloping alluvial plain of the Beaver Dam Mountains straddle the border between the two states. The Wilderness contains some of the lowest elevation land in Utah, and includes a 13 miles (21 km) section of
224-536: A Kashmiri king Ashoka of Gonandiya dynasty who built several stupas : some scholars, such as Aurel Stein , have identified this king with the Maurya emperor Ashoka; others, such as Ananda W. P. Guruge dismiss this identification as inaccurate. For Christopher I. Beckwith , Ashoka, whose name only appears in the Minor Rock Edicts , is not the same as king Piyadasi , or Devanampiya Piyadasi (i.e. "Beloved of
336-470: A viceroy in Gandhara (where Takshashila was located), not Ujjain. The Ashokavadana states that Bindusara provided Ashoka with a fourfold-army (comprising cavalry, elephants , chariots and infantry) but refused to provide any weapons for this army. Ashoka declared that weapons would appear before him if he was worthy of being an emperor, and then, the deities emerged from the earth and provided weapons to
448-577: A "primeval character", meaning that it had not suffered from human habitation or development, the Eastern Wilderness Act of 1975 extended the protection of the NWPS to areas in the eastern states that were not initially considered for inclusion in the Wilderness Act. This act allowed lands that did not meet the constraints of size, roadlessness, or human impact to be designated as wilderness areas under
560-592: A Buddhist in her later years but do not describe her conversion to Buddhism. Therefore, it is likely that she was already a Buddhist when she met Ashoka. The Mahavamsa states that Devi gave birth to Ashoka's son Mahinda in Ujjain, and two years later, to a daughter named Sanghamitta . According to the Mahavamsa , Ashoka's son Mahinda was ordained at the age of 20 years, during the sixth year of Ashoka's reign. That means Mahinda must have been 14 years old when Ashoka ascended
672-401: A Buddhist monk. The Mahavamsa states that when Bindusara fell sick, Ashoka returned to Pataliputra from Ujjain and gained control of the capital. After his father's death, Ashoka had his eldest brother killed and ascended the throne. The text also states that Ashoka killed ninety-nine of his half-brothers, including Sumana. The Dipavamsa states that he killed a hundred of his brothers and
784-605: A beautiful woman on his way to Ujjain. According to the Dipamvamsa and Mahamvamsa , the woman was Devi – the daughter of a merchant. According to the Mahabodhi-vamsa , she was Vidisha-Mahadevi and belonged to the Shakya clan of Gautama Buddha . The Buddhist chroniclers may have fabricated the Shakya connection to connect Ashoka's family to Buddha. The Buddhist texts allude to her being
896-476: A dangerous place and as a moral counter-world to the realm of culture and godly life. "While archaic nature religions oriented themselves towards nature, in medieval Christendom this orientation was replaced by one towards divine law. The divine was no longer to be found in nature; instead, uncultivated nature became a site of the sinister and the demonic. It was considered corrupted by the Fall ( natura lapsa ), becoming
1008-510: A desire to protect wilderness. Nevertheless, in order to have animals to hunt they would have to protect wildlife from subsistence hunting and the land from villagers gathering firewood. Similar measures were introduced in other European countries. However, in European cultures, throughout the Middle Ages, wilderness generally was not regarded worth protecting but rather judged strongly negative as
1120-519: A fabrication of the Buddhist authors, who attempted to present the change that Buddhism brought to him as a miracle. In an attempt to dramatise this change, such legends exaggerate Ashoka's past wickedness and his piousness after the conversion. Ashoka's inscriptions mention that he conquered the Kalinga region during his 8th regnal year: the destruction caused during the war made him repent violence, and in
1232-750: A great, ideal emperor. These legends appear in texts that are not contemporary to Ashoka and were composed by Buddhist authors, who used various stories to illustrate the impact of their faith on Ashoka. This makes it necessary to exercise caution while relying on them for historical information. Among modern scholars, opinions range from downright dismissal of these legends as mythological to acceptance of all historical portions that seem plausible. The Buddhist legends about Ashoka exist in several languages, including Sanskrit , Pali , Tibetan , Chinese , Burmese , Khmer , Sinhala , Thai , Lao , and Khotanese . All these legends can be traced to two primary traditions: There are several significant differences between
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#17330852527461344-532: A large number of stupas , patronising the Third Buddhist council , supporting Buddhist missionaries, making generous donations to the sangha . Ashoka's existence as a historical emperor had almost been forgotten, but since the decipherment in the 19th century of sources written in the Brahmi script , Ashoka holds a reputation as one of the greatest Indian emperors . The State Emblem of the modern Republic of India
1456-691: A marital alliance with the Greek ruler Seleucus I Nicator , which has led to speculation that either Chandragupta or his son Bindusara married a Greek princess. However, there is no evidence that Ashoka's mother or grandmother was Greek, and most historians have dismissed the idea. Ashoka's own inscriptions do not describe his early life, and much of the information on this topic comes from apocryphal legends written hundreds of years after him. While these legends include obviously fictitious details such as narratives of Ashoka's past lives, they have some plausible historical information about Ashoka's period. According to
1568-626: A name that begins with the letters "prydr", and most scholars restore it as "Priyadarshi", which was the title of Ashoka. Another evidence of Ashoka's connection to the city may be the name of the Dharmarajika Stupa near Taxila; the name suggests that it was built by Ashoka ("Dharma-raja"). The story about the deities miraculously bringing weapons to Ashoka may be the text's way of deifying Ashoka; or indicating that Bindusara – who disliked Ashoka – wanted him to fail in Takshashila. According to
1680-552: A natural expression and development. These can be set up in preserves, conservation preserves, national forests, national parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwise undeveloped areas. Often these areas are considered important for the survival of certain species , biodiversity , ecological studies, conservation , solitude and recreation . They may also preserve historic genetic traits and provide habitat for wild flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos , arboretums or laboratories . From
1792-594: A pillar marking the site of Ashoka's "Hell". The Mahavamsa also briefly alludes to Ashoka's cruelty, stating that Ashoka was earlier called Chandashoka because of his evil deeds but came to be called Dharmashoka because of his pious acts after his conversion to Buddhism. However, unlike the north Indian tradition, the Sri Lankan texts do not mention any specific evil deeds performed by Ashoka, except his killing of 99 of his brothers. Such descriptions of Ashoka as an evil person before his conversion to Buddhism appear to be
1904-703: A pinnacle in the US with the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, which allowed for parts of U.S. National Forests to be designated as "wilderness preserves". Similar acts, such as the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Areas Act , followed. Nevertheless, initiatives for wilderness conservation continue to increase. There are a growing number of projects to protect tropical rainforests through conservation initiatives. There are also large-scale projects to conserve wilderness regions, such as Canada's Boreal Forest Conservation Framework . The Framework calls for conservation of 50 percent of
2016-402: A politician whose aim is to present a favourable image of himself and his administration, rather than record historical facts. A small number of other inscriptions also provide some information about Ashoka. For example, he finds a mention in the 2nd century Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman . An inscription discovered at Sirkap mentions a lost word beginning with "Priyadari", which
2128-450: A prince viceroy at Ujjain during his reign, which further supports the tradition that he himself served as a viceroy at Ujjain. Pataliputra was connected to Ujjain by multiple routes in Ashoka's time, and on the way, Ashoka entourage may have encamped at Rupnath, where his inscription has been found. According to the Sri Lankan tradition, Ashoka visited Vidisha , where he fell in love with
2240-667: A vale of tears in which humans were doomed to live out their existence. Thus, for example, mountains were interpreted [e.g, by Thomas Burnet ] as ruins of a once flat earth destroyed by the Flood , with the seas as the remains of that Flood." "If paradise was early man's greatest good, wilderness, as its antipode, was his greatest evil." Wilderness was viewed by colonists as being evil in its resistance to their control. The puritanical view of wilderness meant that in order for colonists to be able to live in North America, they had to destroy
2352-550: A visual arts perspective, nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs of world history. An early tradition of landscape art occurred in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. Artists in the tradition of Shan shui (lit. mountain-water-picture ), learned to depict mountains and rivers "from
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#17330852527462464-525: A way of stating that Ashoka killed several of his brothers. Taranatha states that Ashoka, who was an illegitimate son of his predecessor, killed six legitimate princes to ascend the throne. It is possible that Ashoka was not the rightful heir to the throne and killed a brother (or brothers) to acquire the throne. However, the Buddhist sources have exaggerated the story, which attempts to portray him as evil before his conversion to Buddhism. Ashoka's Rock Edict No. 5 mentions officers whose duties include supervising
2576-524: Is a distorted version of the earlier traditions, describes Ashoka as son of king Nemita of Champarana from the daughter of a merchant. Ashokavadana states that Ashoka's mother was the daughter of a Brahmin from Champa , and was prophesied to marry a king. Accordingly, her father took her to Pataliputra, where she was inducted into Bindusara's harem, and ultimately, became his chief empress. The Ashokavadana does not mention her by name, although other legends provide different names for her. For example,
2688-631: Is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka . Ashoka's wheel, the Ashoka Chakra , is adopted at the centre of the National Flag of India . Information about Ashoka comes from his inscriptions , other inscriptions that mention him or are possibly from his reign, and ancient literature, especially Buddhist texts. These sources often contradict each other, although various historians have attempted to correlate their testimony. Ashoka's inscriptions are
2800-648: Is an important part of wilderness designation because it created the legal definition of wilderness and established the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Wilderness Act defines wilderness as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammelled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." Wilderness designation helps preserve the natural state of the land and protects flora and fauna by prohibiting development and providing for non-mechanized recreation only. The first administratively protected wilderness area in
2912-497: Is associated with Ashoka in the 3rd–4th century CE Dipavamsa . The term literally means "he who regards amiably", or "of gracious mien" ( Sanskrit : Priya-darshi). It may have been a regnal name adopted by Ashoka. A version of this name is used for Ashoka in Greek-language inscriptions: βασιλεὺς Πιοδασσης (" Basileus Piodassēs"). Ashoka's inscriptions mention his title Devanampiya (Sanskrit: Devanampriya , "Beloved of
3024-428: Is being placed on marine wilderness . Recent maps of wilderness suggest it covers roughly one-quarter of Earth's terrestrial surface, but is being rapidly degraded by human activity. Even less wilderness remains in the ocean , with only 13.2% free from intense human activity. Some governments establish protection for wilderness areas by law to not only preserve what already exists , but also to promote and advance
3136-549: Is designated as wilderness. As of 2023 there are 806 designated wilderness areas in the United States ranging in size from Florida's Pelican Island at 5 acres (20,000 m ) to Alaska's Wrangell-Saint Elias at 9,078,675 acres (36,740.09 km ). In Western Australia, a wilderness area is an area that has a wilderness quality rating of 12 or greater and meets a minimum size threshold of 80 km in temperate areas or 200 km in arid and tropical areas. A wilderness area
3248-595: Is gazetted under section 62(1)(a) of the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984 by the Minister on any land that is vested in the Conservation Commission of Western Australia. Ashoka Ashoka , also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( / ə ˈ ʃ oʊ k ə / ə- SHOH -kə ; Sanskrit pronunciation: [ɐˈɕoːkɐ] , IAST : Aśoka ; c. 304 – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka
3360-423: Is known that he lived in the 3rd century BCE, as his inscriptions mention several contemporary rulers whose dates are known with more certainty, such as Antiochus II Theos , Ptolemy II Philadelphus , Antigonus II Gonatas , Magas of Cyrene , and Alexander (of Epirus or Corinth ). Thus, Ashoka must have been born sometime in the late 4th century BCE or early 3rd century BCE ( c. 304 BCE ), and ascended
3472-539: Is not universally accepted. For example, according to John S. Strong , the event described in the Ashokavadana has nothing to do with chronology, and Eggermont's interpretation grossly ignores the literary and religious context of the legend. Both Sri Lankan and North Indian traditions assert that Ashoka was a violent person before Buddhism. Taranatha also states that Ashoka was initially called "Kamashoka" because he spent many years in pleasurable pursuits ( kama ); he
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3584-509: Is now understood that simply drawing lines around a piece of land and declaring it a wilderness does not necessarily make it a wilderness. All landscapes are intricately connected and what happens outside a wilderness certainly affects what happens inside it. For example, air pollution from Los Angeles and the California Central Valley affects Kern Canyon and Sequoia National Park . The national park has miles of "wilderness" but
3696-576: Is theorised to be Ashoka's title "Priyadarshi" since it has been written in Aramaic of 3rd century BCE, although this is not certain. Some other inscriptions, such as the Sohgaura copper plate inscription and the Mahasthan inscription, have been tentatively dated to Ashoka's period by some scholars, although others contest this. Much of the information about Ashoka comes from Buddhist legends, which present him as
3808-429: Is typically at least 5,000 acres (about 8 mi or 20 km ) in size. Human activities in wilderness areas are restricted to scientific study and non-mechanized recreation; horses are permitted but mechanized vehicles and equipment, such as cars and bicycles, are not. The United States was one of the first countries to officially designate land as "wilderness" through the Wilderness Act of 1964. The Wilderness Act
3920-404: Is untrue due to the existence of Native Americans. The land was shaped by Native Americans through practices such as fires. Burning happened frequently and in a controlled manner. The landscapes seen in the US today are very different from the way things looked before colonists came. Fire could be used to maintain food, cords, and baskets. One of the main roles of frequent fires was to prevent
4032-599: The Ashokavadana , Bindusara disliked Ashoka because of his rough skin. One day, Bindusara asked the ascetic Pingala-vatsajiva to determine which of his sons was worthy of being his successor. He asked all the princes to assemble at the Garden of the Golden Pavilion on the ascetic's advice. Ashoka was reluctant to go because his father disliked him, but his mother convinced him to do so. When minister Radhagupta saw Ashoka leaving
4144-433: The Ashokavadana , Ashoka went on a pilgrimage to various Buddhist sites sometime after this eclipse. Ashoka's Rummindei pillar inscription states that he visited Lumbini during his 21st regnal year. Assuming this visit was a part of the pilgrimage described in the text, and assuming that Ashoka visited Lumbini around 1–2 years after the solar eclipse, the ascension date of 268–269 BCE seems more likely. However, this theory
4256-597: The Asokavadanamala calls her Subhadrangi. The Vamsatthapakasini or Mahavamsa-tika , a commentary on Mahavamsa , calls her "Dharma" ("Dhamma" in Pali ), and states that she belonged to the Moriya Kshatriya clan. A Divyavadana legend calls her Janapada-kalyani; according to scholar Ananda W. P. Guruge , this is not a name, but an epithet. According to the 2nd-century historian Appian , Chandragupta entered into
4368-829: The Barbizon school , the French Waters and Forests Military Agency set an "artistic reserve" in Fontainebleau State Forest . With a total of 1,097 hectares, it is thought to be the first nature reserve in the world. Global conservation became an issue at the time of the dissolution of the British Empire in Africa in the late 1940s. The British established great wildlife preserves there. As before, this interest in conservation had an economic motive: in this case, big game hunting . Nevertheless, this led to growing recognition in
4480-760: The Buddha , or the Sangha (the single notable exception is the 7th Edict of the Major Pillar Edicts which does mention the Sangha, but is a considered a later fake by Beckwith). Also, the geographical spread of his inscription shows that Piyadasi ruled a vast Empire, contiguous with the Seleucid Empire in the West. On the contrary, for Beckwith, Ashoka was a later king of the 1st–2nd century CE , whose name only appears explicitly in
4592-499: The Mahavamsa , Bindusara appointed Ashoka as the Viceroy of Avantirastra (present day Ujjain district ), which was an important administrative and commercial province in central India. This tradition is corroborated by the Saru Maru inscription discovered in central India; this inscription states that he visited the place as a prince. Ashoka's own rock edict mentions the presence of
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4704-591: The Minor Rock Edicts and allusively in the Minor Pillar Edicts , and who does mention the Buddha and the Sangha , explicitly promoting Buddhism. The name "Priyadarsi" does occur in two of the minor edicts (Gujarra and Bairat), but Beckwith again considers them as later fabrications. The minor inscriptions cover a very different and much smaller geographical area, clustering in Central India. According to Beckwith,
4816-619: The National Parks Act 1980 and the Conservation Act 1987 that fall well within the IUCN definition. Wilderness areas cannot have any human intervention and can only have indigenous species re-introduced into the area if it is compatible with conservation management strategies. In New Zealand wilderness areas are remote blocks of land that have high natural character. The Conservation Act 1987 prevents any access by vehicles and livestock,
4928-744: The Virgin River Gorge . The area comprises some 18,667 acres (7,554 ha), 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) of which in Arizona and approximately 3,667 acres (1,484 ha) in Utah . The area was designated Wilderness by the U.S. Congress in 1984 and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management . The Mojave Desert landscape of the Beaver Dam Mountains features multitudes of Joshua trees ( Yucca brevifolia ). Notable wildlife include desert bighorn sheep ,
5040-576: The conservation movement in the United States , partly through the efforts of writers and activists such as John Burroughs , Aldo Leopold , and John Muir , and politicians such as U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt . The idea of protecting nature for nature's sake began to gain more recognition in the 1930s with American writers like Aldo Leopold , calling for a "land ethic" and urging wilderness protection. It had become increasingly clear that wild spaces were disappearing rapidly and that decisive action
5152-533: The 1910 Glacier National Park act made void those rights. The act of 'preserving' the land was specifically linked to the exclusion of the Blackfeet people. The continued resistance of the Blackfeet people has provided documentation of the importance of the area to many different tribes. The world's second national park, the Royal National Park , located just 32 km to the south of Sydney , Australia ,
5264-491: The 1950s and the early 1960s of the need to protect large spaces for wildlife conservation worldwide. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), founded in 1961, grew to be one of the largest conservation organizations in the world. Early conservationists advocated the creation of a legal mechanism by which boundaries could be set on human activities in order to preserve natural and unique lands for the enjoyment and use of future generations. This profound shift in wilderness thought reached
5376-669: The 6,000,000 square kilometres of boreal forest in Canada's north. In addition to the World Wildlife Fund, organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society , the WILD Foundation , The Nature Conservancy , Conservation International , The Wilderness Society (United States) and many others are active in such conservation efforts. The 21st century has seen another slight shift in wilderness thought and theory. It
5488-692: The Babylonian Empire and Chinese Empire. Ashoka , the Great Mauryan King, defined the first laws in the world to protect flora and fauna in Edicts of Ashoka around the 3rd century B.C. In the Middle Ages , the Kings of England initiated one of the world's first conscious efforts to protect natural areas. They were motivated by a desire to be able to hunt wild animals in private hunting preserves rather than
5600-1452: The Forest Service, and preservationists the Park Service The World Conservation Union (IUCN) classifies wilderness at two levels, 1a ( strict nature reserves ) and 1b (Wilderness areas). There have been recent calls for the World Heritage Convention to better protect wilderness and to include the word wilderness in their selection criteria for Natural Heritage Sites Forty-eight countries have wilderness areas established via legislative designation as IUCN protected area management Category 1b sites that do not overlap with any other IUCN designation. They are: Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Finland, French Guiana, Greenland, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Northern Mariana Islands, Portugal, Seychelles, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, United States of America, and Zimbabwe. At publication, there are 2,992 marine and terrestrial wilderness areas registered with
5712-526: The German approach were applied in other parts of the world, but with varying degrees of success. Over the course of the 19th century wilderness became viewed not as a place to fear but a place to enjoy and protect; hence came the conservation movement in the latter half of the 19th century. Rivers were rafted and mountains were climbed solely for the sake of recreation, not to determine their geographical context. In 1861, following an intense lobbying by artists of
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#17330852527465824-669: The Gods Piyadasi", "Beloved of the Gods" being a fairly widespread title for "King"), who is named as the author of the Major Pillar Edicts and the Major Rock Edicts . Beckwith suggests that Piyadasi was living in the 3rd century BCE, was probably the son of Chandragupta Maurya known to the Greeks as Amitrochates , and only advocated for piety (" Dharma ") in his Major Pillar Edicts and Major Rock Edicts , without ever mentioning Buddhism ,
5936-496: The Gods"). The identification of Devanampiya and Ashoka as the same person is established by the Maski and Gujarra inscriptions, which use both these terms for the king. The title was adopted by other kings, including the contemporary king Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura and Ashoka's descendant Dasharatha Maurya . The exact date of Ashoka's birth is not certain, as the extant contemporary Indian texts did not record such details. It
6048-522: The Grand Canyon, and Yosemite, the 'preservation' of these lands by the US government was what caused the Native Americans who lived in the areas to be systematically removed. Historian Mark David Spence has shown that the case of Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet people who live there is a perfect example of such erasure. The Blackfeet people had specifically designated rights to the area, but
6160-562: The Great , was Emperor of Magadha from c. 268 BCE until his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty . His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to present-day Bangladesh in the east, with its capital at Pataliputra . A patron of Buddhism , he is credited with playing an important role in
6272-568: The IUCN as solely Category 1b sites. Twenty-two other countries have wilderness areas. These wilderness areas are established via administrative designation or wilderness zones within protected areas. Whereas the above listing contains countries with wilderness exclusively designated as Category 1b sites, some of the below-listed countries contain protected areas with multiple management categories including Category 1b. They are: Argentina, Bhutan, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines,
6384-488: The Kalingas because the conquest of a country previously unconquered involves the slaughter, death, and carrying away captive of the people. That is a matter of profound sorrow and regret to His Sacred Majesty. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan tradition suggests that Ashoka was already a devoted Buddhist by his 8th regnal year, converted to Buddhism during his 4th regnal year, and constructed 84,000 viharas during his 5th–7th regnal years. The Buddhist legends make no mention of
6496-401: The Maurya period, can also be used to make inferences about Ashoka's reign. However, the Arthashastra is a normative text that focuses on an ideal rather than a historical state, and its dating to the Mauryan period is a subject of debate. The Indica is a lost work , and only parts of it survive in the form of paraphrases in later writings. The 12th-century text Rajatarangini mentions
6608-532: The Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Venezuela, and Zambia. The German National Strategy on Biological Diversity aims to establish wilderness areas on 2% of its terrestrial territory by 2020 (7,140 km ). However, protected wilderness areas in Germany currently only cover 0.6% of the total terrestrial area. In absence of pristine landscapes, Germany counts national parks (IUCN Category II) as wilderness areas. The government counts
6720-407: The United States (see below). The first National Park was Yellowstone , which was signed into law by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant on 1 March 1872. The Act of Dedication declared Yellowstone a land "hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart as a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of
6832-409: The United States was the Gila National Forest. In 1922, Aldo Leopold , then a ranking member of the U.S. Forest Service, proposed a new management strategy for the Gila National Forest. His proposal was adopted in 1924, and 750,000 acres of the Gila National Forest became the Gila Wilderness . The Great Swamp in New Jersey was the first formally designated wilderness refuge in the United States. It
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#17330852527466944-717: The air is filled with pollution from the valley. This gives rise to the paradox of what a wilderness really is; a key issue in 21st century wilderness thought. The creation of national parks , beginning in the 19th century, preserved some especially attractive and notable areas, but the pursuits of commerce , lifestyle , and recreation combined with increases in human population have continued to result in human modification of relatively untouched areas. Such human activity often negatively impacts native flora and fauna. As such, to better protect critical habitats and preserve low-impact recreational opportunities, legal concepts of "wilderness" were established in many countries, beginning with
7056-430: The areas and further the traditional livelihood of the Sami people. This means e.g. that reindeer husbandry, hunting and taking wood for use in the household is permitted. As population is very sparse, this is generally no big threat to the nature. Large scale reindeer husbandry has influence on the ecosystem, but no change is introduced by the act on wilderness areas. The World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) classifies
7168-502: The areas as "VI Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources". Since 1861, the French Waters and Forests Military Agency (Administration des Eaux et Forêts) put a strong protection on what was called the « artistic reserve » in Fontainebleau State Forest. With a total of 1,097 hectares, it is known to be the first World nature reserve. Then in the 1950s, Integral Biological Reserves (Réserves Biologiques Intégrales, RBI) are dedicated to man free ecosystem evolution, on
7280-423: The army. When Ashoka reached Takshashila, the citizens welcomed him and told him that their rebellion was only against the evil ministers, not the emperor. Sometime later, Ashoka was similarly welcomed in the Khasa territory and the gods declared that he would go on to conquer the whole earth. Takshashila was a prosperous and geopolitically influential city, and historical evidence proves that by Ashoka's time, it
7392-426: The belief that they could be returned to a "primeval" state through preservation. Approximately 107,500,000 acres (435,000 km ) are designated as wilderness in the United States. This accounts for 4.82% of the country's total land area; however, 54% of that amount is found in Alaska (recreation and development in Alaskan wilderness is often less restrictive), while only 2.58% of the lower continental United States
7504-423: The capital for the Garden, he offered to provide the prince with an imperial elephant for the travel. At the Garden, Pingala-vatsajiva examined the princes and realised that Ashoka would be the next emperor. To avoid annoying Bindusara, the ascetic refused to name the successor. Instead, he said that one who had the best mount, seat, drink, vessel and food would be the next king; each time, Ashoka declared that he met
7616-460: The commercialization of some of Canada's National Parks with the building of great hotels such as the Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise . Despite their similar name, national parks in England and Wales are quite different from national parks in many other countries. Unlike most other countries, in England and Wales, designation as a national park may include substantial settlements and human land uses which are often integral parts of
7728-437: The common stories, the two traditions diverge in several ways. For example, both Ashokavadana and Mahavamsa mention that Ashoka's empress Tishyarakshita had the Bodhi Tree destroyed. In Ashokavadana , the empress manages to have the tree healed after she realises her mistake. In the Mahavamsa , she permanently destroys the tree, but only after a branch of the tree has been transplanted in Sri Lanka. In another story, both
7840-413: The construction of tracks and buildings, and all indigenous natural resources are protected. They are generally over 400 km in size. Three Wilderness Areas are currently recognised, all on the West Coast : Adams Wilderness Area, Hooker/Landsborough Wilderness Area and Paparoa Wilderness Area. In the United States, a Wilderness Area is an area of federal land set aside by an act of Congress . It
7952-493: The contrary of Managed Biological reserves (Réserves Biologiques Dirigées, RBD) where a specific management is applied to conserve vulnerable species or threatened habitats. Integral Biological Reserves occurs in French State Forests or City Forests and are therefore managed by the National Forests Office . In such reserves, all harvests coupe are forbidden excepted exotic species elimination or track safety works to avoid fallen tree risk to visitors (already existing tracks in or on
8064-517: The criterion. Later, he told Ashoka's mother that her son would be the next emperor, and on her advice, left the empire to avoid Bindusara's wrath. While legends suggest that Bindusara disliked Ashoka's ugly appearance, they also state that Bindusara gave him important responsibilities, such as suppressing a revolt in Takshashila (according to north Indian tradition) and governing Ujjain (according to Sri Lankan tradition). This suggests that Bindusara
8176-481: The death of Gautama Buddha and ruled for 37 years. The date of the Buddha's death is itself a matter of debate, and the North Indian tradition states that Ashoka ruled a hundred years after the Buddha's death, which has led to further debates about the date. Assuming that the Sri Lankan tradition is correct, and assuming that the Buddha died in 483 BCE – a date proposed by several scholars – Ashoka must have ascended
8288-512: The earliest self-representations of imperial power in the Indian subcontinent. However, these inscriptions are focused mainly on the topic of dhamma , and provide little information regarding other aspects of the Maurya state or society. Even on the topic of dhamma , the content of these inscriptions cannot be taken at face value. In the words of American academic John S. Strong , it is sometimes helpful to think of Ashoka's messages as propaganda by
8400-658: The edge of the reserve). At the end of 2014, there were 60 Integral Biological Reserves in French State Forests for a total area of 111,082 hectares and 10 in City Forests for a total of 2,835 hectares. In Greece there are some parks called "ethniki drimoi" (εθνικοί δρυμοί, national forests) that are under protection of the Greek government. Such parks include Olympus , Parnassos and Parnitha National Parks. There are seven Wilderness Areas in New Zealand as defined by
8512-444: The emperor four years after becoming a sovereign. This interregnum can be explained assuming that he fought a war of succession with other sons of Bindusara during these four years. The Ashokavadana contains a story about Ashoka's minister Yashas hiding the sun with his hand. Professor P. H. L. Eggermont theorised that this story was a reference to a partial solar eclipse that was seen in northern India on 4 May 249 BCE. According to
8624-526: The former was Gifford Pinchot , first Chief of the United States Forest Service, and they focused on the proper use of nature, whereas the preservationists sought the protection of nature from use. Put another way, conservation sought to regulate human use while preservation sought to eliminate human impact altogether. The management of US public lands during the years 1960s and 70s reflected these dual visions, with conservationists dominating
8736-539: The gods would crown him as the next emperor. At that instance, the gods did so, Bindusara died, and Ashoka's authority extended to the entire world, including the Yaksha territory located above the earth and the Naga territory located below the earth. When Susima returned to the capital, Ashoka's newly appointed prime minister Radhagupta tricked him into a pit of charcoal. Susima died a painful death, and his general Bhadrayudha became
8848-455: The government supports bargains of land that will then be designated as wilderness by 10 Mio. Euro annually. The German minimum size for wilderness candidate sites is normally 10 km . In some cases (i.e. swamps) the minimum size is 5 km . There are twelve wilderness areas in the Sami native region in northern Finnish Lapland . They are intended both to preserve the wilderness character of
8960-407: The idea that before settlers came, the US was an uninhabited landscape. This erases the reality of Native Americans, and their relationship with the land and the role they had in shaping the landscape. Such erasure suggests there were areas of the US which were historically unoccupied, once again erasing the existence of Native Americans and their relationship to the land. In the case of Yellowstone,
9072-846: The inscriptions of this later Ashoka were typical of the later forms of "normative Buddhism", which are well attested from inscriptions and Gandhari manuscripts dated to the turn of the millennium, and around the time of the Kushan Empire . The quality of the inscriptions of this Ashoka is significantly lower than the quality of the inscriptions of the earlier Piyadasi. However, many of Beckwith's methodologies and interpretations concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such as Johannes Bronkhorst and Osmund Bopearachchi . The name "A-shoka" literally means "without sorrow". According to an Ashokavadana legend, his mother gave him this name because his birth removed her sorrows. The name Priyadasi
9184-467: The land and other living organisms into submission. The belief colonists had of the land being only something to be used was based in Christian ideas. If the earth and animals and plants were created by a Christian God for human use, then the cultivation by colonists was their God-given goal. However, the idea that what European colonists saw upon arriving in North America was pristine and devoid of humans
9296-458: The landscape, and land within a national park remains largely in private ownership. Each park is operated by its own national park authority . The United States philosophy around wilderness preservation through National Parks has been attempted in other countries. However, people living in those countries have different ideas surrounding wilderness than people in the United States, thus, the US concept of wilderness can be damaging in other areas of
9408-547: The new preserve of Buddhism. Numismatic, sculptural, and archaeological evidence supplements research on Ashoka. Ashoka's name appears in the lists of Mauryan emperors in the various Puranas . However, these texts do not provide further details about him, as their Brahmanical authors were not patronised by the Mauryans. Other texts, such as the Arthashastra and Indica of Megasthenes , which provide general information about
9520-486: The out of control fires which are becoming more and more common. The idea of wilderness having intrinsic value emerged in the Western world in the 19th century. British artists John Constable and J. M. W. Turner turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Prior to that, paintings had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William Wordsworth 's poetry described
9632-429: The people." When national parks were established in an area, the Native Americans that had been living there were forcibly removed so visitors to the park could see nature without humans present. National parks are seen as areas untouched by humans, when in reality, humans existed in these spaces, until settler colonists came in and forced them off their lands in order to create the national parks. The concept glorifies
9744-468: The perspective of nature as a whole and on the basis of their understanding of the laws of nature … as if seen through the eyes of a bird". In the 13th century, Shih Erh Chi recommended avoiding painting "scenes lacking any places made inaccessible by nature". For most of human history , the greater part of Earth's terrain was wilderness, and human attention was concentrated on settled areas. The first known laws to protect parts of nature date back to
9856-503: The planning of the areas. This situation places the ideal of wilderness above the already existing relationships between people and the land they live on. By placing an imperialistic ideal of nature onto a different country, the desire to reestablish wilderness is being put above the lives of those who live by working the land. By the late 19th century, it had become clear that in many countries wild areas had either disappeared or were in danger of disappearing. This realization gave rise to
9968-464: The railroads advertised travel to "the great wild spaces" of North America. When outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt became president of the United States, he began to enlarge the U.S. National Parks system, and established the National Forest system. By the 1920s, travel across North America by train to experience the "wilderness" (often viewing it only through windows) had become very popular. This led to
10080-508: The spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Ashoka's edicts state that during his eighth regnal year ( c. 260 BCE ), he conquered Kalinga after a brutal war . Ashoka subsequently devoted himself to the propagation of " dhamma " or righteous conduct, the major theme of the edicts. Ashoka's edicts suggest that a few years after the Kalinga War , he was gradually drawn towards Buddhism. The Buddhist legends credit Ashoka with establishing
10192-529: The subsequent years, he was drawn towards Buddhism. Edict 13 of the Edicts of Ashoka Rock Inscriptions expresses the great remorse the king felt after observing the destruction of Kalinga: Directly, after the Kalingas had been annexed, began His Sacred Majesty's zealous protection of the Law of Piety, his love of that Law, and his inculcation of that Law. Thence arises the remorse of His Sacred Majesty for having conquered
10304-464: The texts describe Ashoka's unsuccessful attempts to collect a relic of Gautama Buddha from Ramagrama . In Ashokavadana , he fails to do so because he cannot match the devotion of the Nāgas who hold the relic; however, in the Mahavamsa , he fails to do so because the Buddha had destined the relic to be enshrined by King Dutthagamani of Sri Lanka . Using such stories, the Mahavamsa glorifies Sri Lanka as
10416-699: The threatened desert tortoise , and large numbers of raptors . South of Beaver Dam lies the Paiute Wilderness , on the other side of the Interstate 15 corridor and lying partially inside Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument . Wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural ) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity , or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally referred to terrestrial environments, though growing attention
10528-797: The throne around 269-268 BCE. Ashoka's own inscriptions are fairly detailed but make no mention of his ancestors. Other sources, such as the Puranas and the Mahavamsa state that his father was the Mauryan emperor Bindusara , and his grandfather was Chandragupta – the founder of the Empire. The Ashokavadana also names his father as Bindusara , but traces his ancestry to Buddha's contemporary king Bimbisara , through Ajatashatru , Udayin , Munda, Kakavarnin, Sahalin, Tulakuchi, Mahamandala, Prasenajit , and Nanda . The 16th century Tibetan monk Taranatha , whose account
10640-556: The throne in 265 BCE. The Puranas state that Ashoka's father Bindusara reigned for 25 years, not 28 years as specified in the Sri Lankan tradition. If this is true, Ashoka's ascension can be dated three years earlier, to 268 BCE. Alternatively, if the Sri Lankan tradition is correct, but if we assume that the Buddha died in 486 BCE (a date supported by the Cantonese Dotted Record), Ashoka's ascension can be dated to 268 BCE. The Mahavamsa states that Ashoka consecrated himself as
10752-416: The throne, Susima may jokingly hurt him with a sword. Therefore, he instigated five hundred ministers to support Ashoka's claim to the throne when the time came, noting that Ashoka was predicted to become a chakravartin (universal ruler). Sometime later, Takshashila rebelled again, and Bindusara dispatched Susima to curb the rebellion. Shortly after, Bindusara fell ill and was expected to die soon. Susima
10864-451: The throne. Even if Mahinda was born when Ashoka was as young as 20 years old, Ashoka must have ascended the throne at 34 years, which means he must have served as a viceroy for several years. Legends suggest that Ashoka was not the crown prince , and his ascension on the throne was disputed. Ashokavadana states that Bindusara's eldest son Susima once slapped a bald minister on his head in jest. The minister worried that after ascending
10976-436: The two traditions. For example, the Sri Lankan tradition emphasizes Ashoka's role in convening the Third Buddhist council , and his dispatch of several missionaries to distant regions, including his son Mahinda to Sri Lanka. However, the North Indian tradition makes no mention of these events. It describes other events not found in the Sri Lankan tradition, such as a story about another son named Kunala. Even while narrating
11088-467: The welfare of "the families of his brothers, sisters, and other relatives". This suggests that more than one of his brothers survived his ascension. However, some scholars oppose this suggestion, arguing that the inscription talks only about the families of his brothers, not the brothers themselves. According to the Sri Lankan texts Mahavamsa and the Dipavamsa , Ashoka ascended the throne 218 years after
11200-535: The whole area of the 16 national parks as wilderness. This means, also the managed parts are included in the "existing" 0,6%. There is no doubt, that Germany will miss its own time-dependent quantitative goals, but there are also some critics, that point a bad designation practice: Findings of disturbance ecology, according to which process-based nature conservation and the 2% target could be further qualified by more targeted area designation, pre-treatment and introduction of megaherbivores , are widely neglected. Since 2019
11312-422: The wilderness in order to make way for their ' civilized ' society. Wilderness was considered to be the root of the colonists' problems, so to make the problems go away, wilderness needed to be destroyed. One of the first steps in doing this, is to get rid of trees in order to clear the land. Military metaphors describing the wilderness as the "enemy" were used, and settler expansion was phrased as "[conquering]
11424-402: The wilderness". In relation to the wilderness, Native Americans were viewed as savages . The relationship between Native Americans and the land was something colonists did not understand and did not try to understand. This mutually beneficial relationship was different from how colonists viewed the land only in relation to how it could benefit themselves by waging a constant battle to beat
11536-451: The wonder of the natural world, which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture. By the mid-19th century, in Germany, "Scientific Conservation", as it was called, advocated "the efficient utilization of natural resources through the application of science and technology ". Concepts of forest management based on
11648-540: The world. India is more densely populated and has been settled for a long time. There are complex relationships between agricultural communities and the wilderness. An example of this is the Project Tiger parks in India. By claiming areas as no longer used by humans, the land moves from the hands of poor people to rich people. Having designated tiger reserves is only possible by displacing poor people, who were not involved in
11760-590: Was crowned four years later. The Vamsatthapakasini adds that an Ajivika ascetic had predicted this massacre based on the interpretation of a dream of Ashoka's mother. According to these accounts, only Ashoka's uterine brother Tissa was spared. Other sources name the surviving brother Vitashoka, Vigatashoka, Sudatta (So-ta-to in A-yi-uang-chuan ), or Sugatra (Siu-ka-tu-lu in Fen-pie-kung-te-hun ). The figures such as 99 and 100 are exaggerated and seem to be
11872-543: Was declared a wildlife refuge on 3 November 1960. In 1966 it was declared a National Natural Landmark and, in 1968, it was given wilderness status. Properties in the swamp had been acquired by a small group of residents of the area, who donated the assembled properties to the federal government as a park for perpetual protection. Today the refuge amounts to 7,600 acres (31 km ) that are within thirty miles of Manhattan . While wilderness designations were originally granted by an Act of Congress for Federal land that retained
11984-486: Was established in 1879. The U.S. concept of national parks soon caught on in Canada , which created Banff National Park in 1885, at the same time as the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway was being built. The creation of this and other parks showed a growing appreciation of wild nature, but also an economic reality. The railways wanted to entice people to travel west. Parks such as Banff and Yellowstone gained favor as
12096-602: Was impressed by the other qualities of the prince. Another possibility is that he sent Ashoka to distant regions to keep him away from the imperial capital. According to the Ashokavadana , Bindusara dispatched prince Ashoka to suppress a rebellion in the city of Takshashila (present-day Bhir Mound in Pakistan). This episode is not mentioned in the Sri Lankan tradition, which instead states that Bindusara sent Ashoka to govern Ujjain. Two other Buddhist texts – Ashoka-sutra and Kunala-sutra – state that Bindusara appointed Ashoka as
12208-570: Was needed to save them. Wilderness preservation is central to deep ecology ; a philosophy that believes in an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. Two different groups had emerged within the US environmental movement by the early 20th century: the conservationists and the preservationists. The initial consensus among conservationists was split into "utilitarian conservationists" later to be referred to as conservationists, and "aesthetic conservationists" or preservationists. The main representative for
12320-406: Was still in Takshashila, having been unsuccessful in suppressing the rebellion. Bindusara recalled him to the capital and asked Ashoka to march to Takshashila. However, the ministers told him that Ashoka was ill and suggested that he temporarily install Ashoka on the throne until Susmia's return from Takshashila. When Bindusara refused to do so, Ashoka declared that if the throne were rightfully his,
12432-520: Was then called "Chandashoka" ("Ashoka the fierce") because he spent some years performing evil deeds; and finally, he came to be known as Dhammashoka ("Ashoka the righteous") after his conversion to Buddhism. The Ashokavadana also calls him "Chandashoka", and describes several of his cruel acts: The 5th-century Chinese traveller Faxian states that Ashoka personally visited the underworld to study torture methods there and then invented his methods. The 7th-century traveller Xuanzang claims to have seen
12544-499: Was well-connected to the Mauryan capital Pataliputra by the Uttarapatha trade route. However, no extant contemporary source mentions the Takshashila rebellion, and none of Ashoka's records states that he ever visited the city. That said, the historicity of the legend about Ashoka's involvement in the Takshashila rebellion may be corroborated by an Aramaic-language inscription discovered at Sirkap near Taxila. The inscription includes
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