Largest National Parks in the United States

The United States is one of the world's largest countries based on the area with a total of 3,794,100 square miles (9,826,675 sq km) spread out over 50 different states. Much of this land is developed into large cities or urban areas like Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois, but a large portion of it is protected from development via national parks and other federally protected areas that are monitored by the National Park Service that was created in 1916 by the Organic Act. The first national parks to be founded in the U.S. were Yellowstone (1872) followed by Yosemite and Sequoia (1890).
In total, the U.S. has almost 400 different nationally protected areas today that range from large national parks to smaller national historic sites, monuments and seashores. The following is a list of the 20 largest national parks out of the 55 in the U.S. For reference their locations and date of founding have also been included.

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Largest National Parks in the United States

1) Wrangell-St. Elias
• Area: 13,005 square miles (33,683 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980

2) Gates of the Arctic
• Area: 11,756 square miles (30,448 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980
3) Denali
• Area: 7,408 square miles (19,186 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1917
4) Katmai
• Area: 5,741 square miles (14,870 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980
5) Death Valley
• Area: 5,269 square miles (13,647 sq km)
• Location: California, Nevada
• Year of Formation: 1994
6) Glacier Bay
• Area: 5,038 square miles (13,050 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980
7) Lake Clark
• Area: 4,093 square miles (10,602 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980
8) Yellowstone
• Area: 3,468 square miles (8,983 sq km)
• Location: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
• Year of Formation: 1872
9) Kobuk Valley
• Area: 2,735 square miles (7,085 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980
10) Everglades
• Area: 2,357 square miles (6,105 sq km)
• Location: Florida
• Year of Formation: 1934
11) Grand Canyon
• Area: 1,902 square miles (4,927 sq km)
• Location: Arizona
• Year of Formation: 1919
12) Glacier
• Area: 1,584 square miles (4,102 sq km)
• Location: Montana
• Year of Formation: 1910
13) Olympic
• Area: 1,442 square miles (3,734 sq km)
• Location: Washington
• Year of Formation: 1938
14) Big Bend
• Area: 1,252 square miles (3,242 sq km)
• Location: Texas
• Year of Formation: 1944
15) Joshua Tree
• Area: 1,234 square miles (3,196 sq km)
• Location: California
• Year of Formation 1994
16) Yosemite
• Area: 1,189 square miles (3,080 sq km)
• Location: California
• Year of Formation: 1890
17) Kenai Fjords
• Area: 1,047 square miles (2,711 sq km)
• Location: Alaska
• Year of Formation: 1980
18) Isle Royale
• Area: 893 square miles (2,314 sq km)
• Location: Michigan
• Year of Formation: 1931
19) The Great Smoky Mountains
• Area: 814 square miles (2,110 sq km)
• Location: North Carolina, Tennessee
• Year of Formation: 1934
20) North Cascades
• Area: 789 square miles (2,043 sq km)
• Location: Washington
• Year of Formation: 1968
To learn more about National Parks in the United States, visit the official website of the National Park Service.
_{ReferencesWikipedia.org. (2 May 2011). List of National Parks of the United States - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Parks_of_the_United_States}