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Background

Scouting has a rich history stretching back to the early years of the 20th century - and an exciting future. Today there are more Scouts, in more countries around the world, than at any stage in the history of Scouting.

The common themes of Scouting’s history are the enthusiasm of young people to participate voluntarily in the exciting activities of Scouting, the support of men and women of goodwill around the world to enable the Scouting programme to happen, and the continuing vision of Scouting’s leaders.


Scouting was founded by Robert Baden-Powell. It all started with an experimental camp in 1907 on Brownsea Island, for 20 boys from a variety of backgrounds, where Baden-Powell tried out his ideas. Following the success of this camp, Baden-Powell started to publish “Scouting for Boys” in fortnightly parts.

Boys around the UK read “Scouting for Boys” and spontaneously started to form Scout patrols. Out of this came the Scout movement. Scouting quickly spread around the world. Today more than 28 million young people in 216 countries and territories around the world, of every faith, culture and gender, are Scouts.

To find out more about the history of Scouting:

The first World Scout Jamboree was held in London in 1920. Since then there have been World Scout Jamborees from Chile to Japan, and from Hungary to Australia. The most recent World Scout Jamboree was held in Thailand.

To discover the history of the World Scout Jamborees:

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