Main Menu

Milestones

 

Milestones of World Scouting
. Many recurring events are mentioned only the first time they were held.

 

1857 February 22, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell born in Paddington, London England.
1889 February 22, Olave St. Clair Soames was born. She married Baden-Powell in 1912.
1907 Baden-Powell’s experimental camp, Brownsea Island, England, August 1-9
1908 “Scouting for Boys” published. Boy Scouts office opened in London.
1916 Cub section started. “Wolf Cub’s Handbook” published.
1919 Gilwell Park acquired. Start of leaders’ training courses
1920 1st World Jamboree, Olympia, London, England, 8,000 participants.
Baden-Powell acclaimed Chief Scout of the World
1st International Scout Conference; 33 national Scout organizations represented.
Boy Scouts International Bureau founded, London, England.
1921 International magazine “Jamboree” first published (title changed to “World Scouting” in 1955, and now is World Scouting News)
1922 1st International Committee elected (at 2nd International Conference, Paris, France). 30 national Scout organizations represented.
First world census: 1,019,205 members in 31 countries.
Venture Scouts started (Rovers).
1924 2nd World Jamboree, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4,549 participants.
3rd World Scout Conference, Copenhagen Denmark. 34 national Scout organizations represented.
1925 International Scout Chalet opened, Kandersteg, Switzerland. (Now known as the Kandersteg International Scout Centre)
1926 4th World Scout Conference, Kandersteg, Switzerland. 29 national Scout organizations represented.
1929 3rd World Jamboree, Birkenhead, England. 50,000 participants.
5th World Scout Conference, Birkenhead, England. 33 national Scout organizations represented.
Baden-Powell given peerage; takes title Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell.
1931 6th World Scout Conference, Vienna-Baden, Austria. 44 national Scout organizations represented.
1933 4th World Jamboree, Gödöllö, Hungary. 25,793 participants.
7th World Scout Conference, Gödöllö, Hungary. 31 national Scout organizations represented.
1935 8th World Scout Conference, Stockholm, Sweden. 28 national Scout organizations represented.
1937 5th World Jamboree, Vogelenzang-Bloemendaal, Netherlands. 28,750 participants.
9th World Scout Conference, The Hague, Netherlands. 34 national Scout organizations represented.
1939 10th World Scout Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland. 27 national Scout organizations represented.
1941 Death of Baden-Powell, January 8.
1946 1st Inter-American Conference, Bogota, Colombia.
1947 6th World Jamboree (Jamboree of Peace), Moisson, France. 24,152 participants.
11th World Scout Conference, Château de Rosny, France. 32 national Scout organizations represented.
1949 1st Agoon (International camp for handicapped Scouts) Lunteren, Netherlands.
12th World Scout Conference, Elvesaeter, Norway. 25 national Scout organizations represented.
1950 World membership reached 5 million in 50 countries.
1951 7th World Jamboree, Bad Ischl, Austria. 12,884 participants.
13th World Scout Conference, Salzburg, Austria. 34 national Scout organizations represented.
1952 1st Caribbean Jamboree, Kingston, Jamaica.
14th World Scout Conference, Vaduz, Liechtenstein. 35 national Scout organizations represented.
1954 1st Arab Jamboree, Zabadani, Syria.
1955 8th World Jamboree, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. 11,139 participants.
15th World Scout Conference, Niagara Falls, Canada. 44 national Scout organizations represented.
1957 9th World Jamboree (Jubilee, 50th Anniversary of Scouting), Birmingham, England. 30,000 participants.
16th World Scout Conference, Cambridge, England. 52 national Scout organizations represented.
World Scout Bureau moved to Ottawa, Canada.
1958 1st Far East Regional Conference, Baguio, Philippines.
1st Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA)
1959 10th World Jamboree, Mt. Makiling, Philippines. 12,203 participants.
17th World Scout Conference, New Delhi, India. 35 national Scout organizations represented.
1960 1st European Regional Conference, Altenberg, Germany.
1961 18th World Scout Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. 50 national Scout organizations represented.
1963 11th World Jamboree, Marathon, Greece. 14,000 participants.
19th World Scout Conference, Rhodes, Greece. 52 national Scout organizations represented.
1965 1st Pan-American Jamboree, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
20th World Scout Conference, Mexico City, Mexico. 59 national Scout organizations represented.
1967 12th World Jamboree, Farragut State Park, Idaho, U.S.A. 12,011 participants.
21st World Scout Conference, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. 70 national organizations represented.
1968 World Scout Bureau headquarters moved to Geneva, Switzerland
1969 World membership reached 12 million.
22nd World Scout Conference, Otaniemi, Finland. 60 national Scout organizations represented.
1970 1st Africa Conference, Dakar, Senegal.
1971 13th World Jamboree, Asagiri Heights, Japan. 23,758 participants.
23rd World Scout Conference, Tokyo, Japan. 71 national Scout organizations represented.
World Organization membership passes 100 member countries.
1972 1st International Community Development Seminar, Cotonou, Dahomey (now Benin).
1973 1st Environment Conservation seminar, Sweden.
24th World Scout Conference, Nairobi, Kenya.
77 national Scout organizations represented.
1975 14th World Jamboree (Nordjamb ’75), Lillehammer, Norway. 17,259 participants.
25th World Scout Conference, Lundtofte, Denmark. 87 national Scout organizations represented.
1977 26th World Scout Conference, Montreal, Canada. 81 national Scout organizations represented.
Death of Lady Olave Baden-Powell, June 25.
1979 World Jamboree Year: Join-in-Jamboree around the world.
27th World Scout Conference, Birmingham, England. 81 national Scout organizations represented.
1981 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education presented to WOSM.
28th World Scout Conference, Dakar, Senegal. 74 national Scout organizations represented.
1982 Rotary International honours Scout Movement.
1982-3 Year of the Scout – 75th Anniversary of Scouting.
1983 15th World Jamboree, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 14,752 participants.
29th World Scout Conference, Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.A. 90 national organizations represented. 
1984 Rotary Award for World Understanding.
The International Association of Lions Clubs honours Scouting.
1985 UN International Youth Year (1st worldwide programme to be implemented with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts).
30th World Scout Conference, Munich Germany. 90 national Scout organizations represented.
1986-7 A child health programme entitled “help children grow” introduced with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and UNICEF.
Membership in World Organization reaches 120 countries.
1988 16th World Jamboree, New South Wales, Australia. 13,434 participants.
Scouting is honoured by United Nations Environment Programme in recognition of the Movement’s outstanding environment achievements.
31st World Scout Conference, Melbourne, Australia. 77 national Scout organizations represented. Implementation of the resolution on “Towards a Strategy for Scouting”.
Emphasis on Scouting with the handicapped. Several seminars took place all over the world for the promotion of health and handicapped.
Dr. Jacques Moreillon, Switzerland, becomes Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. (1 November)
1989 Special Peace Week: Scout activities related to education for peace.
7th Africa Scout Conference in Lomé, Togo.
Scouting makes celebrations to mark the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and encourage its ratification by national governments.
1990 32nd World Scout Conference, Paris, France. 1,000 participants representing 100 member countries and guests from seven other countries.
Opening of an Information Centre in Moscow.
Formal agreement, the Kigali Charter, between 23 Scout and Girl Guide associations for the promotion of programmes of cooperation in the form of twining projects.
Memberhsip in World Organization reaches 131 countries
”Operation of Solidarity” to enable 1,235 children irradiated by the Chernobyl disaster to be the guests of Scouts and Girl Guides in 15 European countries, in collaboration with UNESCO, the Soviet Children’s Fund and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
1990-1 World Scout Environment Year.
8th World Moot, near Melbourne, Australia. 1,000 young adult Scouts from 36 countries. A feature of the Moot was the World Youth Forum. 
1991 Creation of the World Scout Parliamentary Union, Korea at its constituent assembly gathering 60 parliamentarians and Scouting officials from 22 countries on 5 continents.
17th World Scout Jamboree, Mount Sorak National Park, Republic of Korea. 20,000 participants representing 135 countries and territories. Introduction of the Global Development Village.
1992 9th World Moot, Kandersteg International Scout Centre, Switzerland. 1,400 participants from 52 countries.
35th JOTA: at the invitation of the World Federation of Great Towers, Scouts and Guides had the opportunity to communicate from the tops of 13 towers around the world using the newest communication systems including videophone and television as well as amateur radio.
For the first time all five Regional Scout Conferences met in the same year and all will now meet on a triennial basis in the year preceding World Scout Conferences.
Creation of Scout Resources International (SCORE), the official Scout Shop of the World Organization.
1993 33rd World Scout Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, with more than 1,000 participants from 99 member countries.
Opening of a World Scout organization office in Yalta-Gurzuf in Crimea covering the CIS and related countries.
1994 International symposium on “Scouting: Youth without Borders, Partnership and Solidarity”, Marrakech, Morocco. 440 participants representing 118 Scout associations from 94 countries. Adoption of the Marrakech Charter to enhance partnership.
Signature of an agreement with UNICEF on Oral Rehydration Therapy, Geneva, Switzerland.
The International Public Relations Association bestowed its annual President’s Award on to WOSM for “outstanding contribution to better world understanding”.
1995 18th World Scout Jamboree, Netherlands. 28,960 Scouts, leaders and staff attended from 166 countries and territories. Operation Flevoland pemitted Scouts from 50 countries to participate.
Signing of an agreement of co-operation between the World Scout Organization and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of the UN. Youth Forum held by the UN in Geneva, Switzerland; approximately 2/3rd of delegates were or had been Scouts or Girl Guides.
1996 6th World Youth Forum, Moss, Norway.
34th World Scout Conference, Oslo, Norway, with more than 1,000 participants from 108 member countries.
10th World Scout Moot, Sweden.
1st Mongolian Jamboree. 1,200 participants.
Membership in World Organization reaches 140 countries.
1997 90th Anniversary of Scouting.
Creation of the Eurasia World Scout Region, serving the 12 countries of the C.I.S.
1st official Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI).
Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the World Health Organization, AHM (Leprosy Relief Organization) and WOSM to eliminate leprosy.
Opening of an Operations Centre in Dakar, Senegal to serve French Speaking associations in West Africa.
2nd World Scout Parliamentary Union General Assembly, Manila, Philippines.
WOSM and four other youth Organizations launch programme to promote the value of non-formal education.
1998 New “World Scout Pin” launched.
19th World Scout Jamboree held in Picarquin, Chile.
1999 WOSM member countries reach 152.
7th World Scout Youth Forum, South Africa
35th World Scout Conference, Durban South Africa, with nearly 1,000 people from 116 countries
Peace Cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean
2000 11th World Scout Moot, Mexico. 5,000 participants, 71 countries
3rd World Scout Parliamentary Union General Assembly, Warsaw, Poland.
2002 WOSM member countries: 154
8th World Scout Youth Forum, Greece
36th World Scout Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, with 1,225 people from 125 countries.
20th World Scout Jamboree, Sattahip, Thailand. 24,000 participants from 147 countries and territories.
2003 4th World Scout Parliamentary Union General Assembly, Cairo, Egypt. (December)
The first World Scout Interreligious Symposium held in Valencia, Spain with representatives of 12 religions and 33 national Scout organizations. (December)
2004 Panafrican Youth Forum on AIDS: a matter of education. Organized by WOSM on behalf of the Alliance of Youth CEO’s. Dakar, Senegal. Attended by 300 from 42 countries. (March)
Dr. Eduardo Missoni (Italy) becomes Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. (1 April)