ABSTRACT
Wilderness for many offers the quintessential experience of the outdoors. Here apparently is a 'natural' environment promising emersion in 'nature' free from the impact of human activity. The representation of wilderness altered with the emergence of the Romantic Movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Wilderness was henceforth not predominately viewed as a place of privation and hardship, the endurance of which might for some lead to spiritual rejuvenation. Aesthetics played an important part in fostering this reconfiguration, but so did changes in the social structure. Although not entirely distinct from the Romantic Movement that preceded it, the American wilderness movement led to an important modification in how people think about wilderness. Predictably the American wilderness movement was never a homogeneous entity, not least because leading figures within it were frequently at odds with each other regarding their attitudes towards the 'wilderness'.
