Who "Discovered" Montana?

No single person "discovered" Montana—Indigenous peoples (including the Blackfeet, Crow, Salish, Kootenai, and others) had lived there for millennia. In terms of European-American exploration:

• Late 1700s: French-Canadian fur traders were the first Europeans to penetrate the region.
• 1804–1806: The Lewis and Clark Expedition conducted the first systematic U.S. exploration, mapping the Missouri River and its tributaries across what became Montana.
• 1864: Montana Territory created.
• 1889: Statehood achieved.

Lewis and Clark are credited with the foundational American exploration that opened the region to settlement.