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first European to see the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas
| Mainlining the $ecret Truth of the Univer$e | 07/16/25 |
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Date: July 16th, 2025 5:03 AM Author: Mainlining the $ecret Truth of the Univer$e (You = Privy to The Great Becumming™ = Welcum to The Goodie Room™) https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/historyculture/explorers.htm
Explorers Early European and American explorers of Grand Canyon and Colorado River were willing to go into "The Great Unknown" risking their lives to learn the canyon's secrets. They were the first to document the power of the Colorado River, understand the immense size of Grand Canyon, and share its beauty and danger with the world. Their adventures still inspire explorers today.
The Early Spanish Explorers 1540
The first Europeans to see Grand Canyon were soldiers led by García López de Cárdenas. In 1540, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and his Spanish army traveled northward from Mexico City in search of the Seven Cities of Cíbola. After traveling for six months, Coronado’s army arrived at the Hopi Mesas, east of Grand Canyon. Cárdenas, guided by the Hopi, led a small party of men to find a reported “great river.” Coronado hoped to find a navigable river that would serve as a waterway to the Gulf of California. The Hopi leaders advised their men to guide the unwelcome soldiers along an exaggerate path to the highest point above the river and to volunteer no information of value.
After a twenty-day journey, Cárdenas and his army arrived at the edge of Grand Canyon. Approximately a mile down was the Colorado River below them. The Spaniards estimated that the opposite rim was 8 to 10 miles away and that the Colorado River was no more than 6 feet across. Cárdenas ordered three infantry men to climb their way down to the river. The men made it about 1,500 feet down, a third of the way, until they saw that the Colorado River was much wider waterway than they had estimated and that there was no way to navigate ships along this intense river.
Cárdenas' party spent three days looking for water and trying to reach the bottom of the river. The Hopi were able to fool the Spaniards into thinking that the area was an impenetrable wasteland and was not navigable anyway. Due to this response, Coronado dismissed further western exploration, and moved his men out east to Texas. Grand Canyon was left unexplored by Europeans for 235 years. |