Yellowstone National Park

Signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant on 1 March 1872, the first national park in the United States and widely understood to be the first anywhere in the world. It sits mainly in the northwest corner of Wyoming with pieces reaching into Montana and Idaho, and is known for its wildlife and its geothermal features, Old Faithful above all. Subalpine forest is the most abundant of its many biomes. Native Americans have lived in this region for at least 11,000 years; organised exploration by outsiders only began in the late 1860s.