I've been thinking for a while about putting together some kind of write-up detailing the history of the urban exploration community. Including the history of the Cave Clan, the MSP community, and the Toronto community. Turns out it's already been done, and very well. This isn't new, but if you, like me, had no idea that this existed, here it is, for your enjoyment and education:

http://www.infiltr...tory-timeline.html

There's also a timeline of sorts in Access All Areas!

They should add a timeline for Montreal, lots of crazy stuff has happened here since 2005.

Posted by relik There's also a timeline of sorts in Access All Areas!

I'm pretty sure the timeline that DJCraig posted is the same one as what is in Access all Areass. I'm assuming that because they were both created by Ninjalicious. Not that I know for sure but it's a good guess.

It would be great to see someone who was close to Ninjalicious step up and make a continuation of his timeline from 2005 to present day..just please leave out that whole "Place Hacking" phase...maybe erase that term from history..

Yes, but who is originally responsible for this ridiculous and ubiquitous plethora of goons who think posing for "grimy" HDR shots wearing dumb masks or respirators is cool or the done thing?

Neat time line. I read part of it but will read the rest when I have time. Very cool to have a record of this.

It would be neat to do a 10-year update, but maaaaan would that be a lot of stuff that's happened in 10 years.

Posted by Deconstrukt They should add a timeline for Montreal, lots of crazy stuff has happened here since 2005.

Wotan and Tux back in 2003?
i passed many an hour at work looking at their photos and write-ups.

Best idea I've heard is a niche Wiki project like tvtropes/encyclopedia dramatica/etc. that people can edit, verity, and keep updated.

Here's a Russian one: http://www.diggipe...%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0

I've always been of the opinion that the hobby of urban exploration is as old as mankind. See if you can find Rose MacCauley's book "The Pleasure of Ruins". She paraphrases ancient Roman, Chinese and Persian (etc.) authors accounts of exploring ancient ruins.

If i search in old local newspapers (soviet-time) about exploring or anything abandoned, the only thing i can find is some articles about collapsed bunkers and buildings after 2nd world / some old manors which are considered cultural monuments / abandoned houses which should be included in kolchoz areas. That's it. There weren't that much things to explore then.
After Soviet Union collapsed, thousands of buildings in Latvia became abandoned. All the army bases, civil defense shelters, some factories, a lot of kolchozs, cinemas, culture-houses, KGB facilites, sanatoriums and so on. There was so much left and so little that actually somebody needed.
The first purposes of exploring here were scrapping and...seeking for drugs. A lot of junkies and youngsters wandered in factories and old bunkers to find tablets which were originally produced for anti-radation sickness. These tablets can cause strong hallucinations and addiction. These tablets were freely accessible in abandoned places but some people tried to sell the tablets wherever they could.

People were curious about abandoned army bases because it was impossible to even get close there back in the soviet times. A lot of people explored because they were curious about how the places looked, what was left after...
In 90s newspapers wrote that it's too expensive to guard public buildings if the building has no owner or whatsoever.
I'm sure that there were people who explored for fun in the 90s but that was super-underground, there are no newspaper articles about those people.
In 2003 one movie about a roofer was made here and it's protagonist said: "I explore rooftops in my free time and i have like-minded friends."
First articles in newspapers about people who called themselves as an "explorers" here(Latvia) appeared only around 2006(!) and only in 2007/2008 such local activities became really "visible" on the internet,newspapers and other media.

It's just very interesting to compare how differently something started in post-soviet countries. But i totally agree - exploring is as old as mankind. Children especially would explore any nearby surroundings because it's just natural.