The first evidence of humans in the Grand Canyon Area dates back over 10,000 years. Basket making cultures, the nomad predecessors of the Ancestral Puebloan cultures first settled what is now Grand Canyon National Park around 4,000 years ago. The Basket making cultures were primarily hunters and gathers, while the Puebloans, are know for there numerous architectural feats in the American Southwest. Puebloan structures in the Grand Canyon are relatively small compared to other regions of the Colorado Plateau, but at least two significant settlements were built along the river.
In 1540 Garcia Lopez de Cardenas led a party of Spanish soldiers with Hopi guides to the Grand Canyon under orders from Francisco Coronado while searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. These were the first non-natives to see the Grand Canyon, and the next visitors did not arrive until a group of missionaries came 200 years later.
In 1869 Major John Wesley Powell lead the first river trip through the Grand Canyon while on a geologic expedition of the Western US that followed the Colorado River. It wasn't until the late 1800s that the first influx of westerners arrived at the Grand Canyon. Copper, uranium and other minerals were mined briefly at the Canyon, but many would be miners discovered the tourism industry was much more profitable. In 1919 the Canyon was named a National Park, and today over 2,000 residents live within the Park to support the millions of tourists who travel to this amazing destination each year.
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