Bialowieski National Park, Poland

Bialowieski National Park, Poland

Coordinates: 52 43 N 23 50 E

Area: 25,946 acres (10,500 hectares)

Here in the US, all eyes are on the stock market and the upcoming election, two things that have caused people to brush up on their history, both economic and political. Since I happened across a geographic/natural time capsule of sorts this week, I thought I’d blog about it. Looking at a map of the world’s population distribution, you might conclude that Europe simply couldn’t possess any areas that have escaped change brought about by human activity. And yet, in westernmost Poland, along the Belarusian border, a primeval woodland supports trees that are many centuries old, as well as endangered animals such as the wisent, or European bison. So although it’s a relatively small part of a larger unprotected landscape, Bialowieski National Park stands today as one of the last sections of the old growth broadleaf forest that once covered much of the North European Plain. I find it truly remarkable that any virgin remnant exists after serving as a playground for Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian royalty, and then enduring two destructive world wars.

Ben Keene is the editor of Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his previous places of the week.