Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the Congo Basin by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes (magazine publication 1912, book publication 1914), and subsequently in 23 sequels, several books by Burroughs and other authors, and innumerable works in other media, both authorized and unauthorized.