The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States.
The canyon stretches 277 miles long, reaches up to 18 miles wide, and drops more than a mile deep at 6,093 feet. Its exposed rock layers reveal nearly two billion years of Earth’s geological history, laid bare as the Colorado River cut downward while the Colorado Plateau uplifted around it. Geologists believe the river established its present course through the region five to six million years ago, after which tributaries and cliff erosion simultaneously deepened and widened the chasm. The canyon and surrounding rim fall within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument and three Native American reservations—Hualapai, Havasupai and Navajo Nation. Indigenous peoples inhabited the area for thousands of years, building settlements in the canyon and its caves; Pueblo communities considered it a holy site. Spanish explorer García López de Cárdenas became the first European to see the Grand Canyon in 1540. President Theodore Roosevelt championed its preservation and visited repeatedly.
