High energy astrophysics with ground-based gamma ray detectors

Recent advances in ground-based gamma ray astronomy have led to the discovery of more than 70 sources of very high energy (E? ? 100?GeV) gamma rays, falling into a number of source populations including pulsar wind nebulae, shell type supernova remnants, Wolf-Rayet stars, giant molecular clouds, binary systems, the Galactic Center, active galactic nuclei and 'dark' (yet unidentified) galactic objects. We summarize the history of TeV gamma ray astronomy up to the current status of the field including a description of experimental techniques and highlight recent astrophysical results. We also discuss the potential of ground-based gamma ray astronomy for future discoveries and describe possible directions for future instrumental developments.