Guide Sections
Use Explorers's guide sections to understand how this stop fits into the larger park plan.
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Learn About the Park
John Wesley Powell is the explorer most commonly associated with the Grand Canyon, but Powell didn't discover the canyon, nor did any other European adventurer. That credit goes to the Native Americans who first arrived here around 4,000 years ago. The first Europeans to lay eyes on the canyon were in a party led by Capt. Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, who was under orders from Spanish conquistador Coronado to find the fabled lost city of gold. Led by Hopi guides, the Spaniards documented their visit to the canyon in 1540. No other Europeans would see the canyon for more than two centuries, when Spanish priests and soldiers arrived around the time of the American Revolution. Fifty years later, the first Americans began to encounter the canyon as they searched for places to cross the Colorado River and ways to navigate the river towards the west. In 1869 and 1871, Powell -- a one-armed soldier, explorer, and geologist -- led a pair of important expeditions by boat down the Colorado River, successfully navigating the Grand Canyon -- the first Europeans to do so.
