First Documented European Sighting of the Grand Canyon

Native peoples (Ancestral Puebloans, Paiute, Havasupai, Hualapai, Navajo) inhabited the Grand Canyon for millennia. The first Europeans to see it were members of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's expedition in 1540. García López de Cárdenas led a detachment to the South Rim while searching for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold. They failed to descend to the river but recorded the canyon's immensity.