Who discovered Nevada?

The first European explorer to enter the state of Nevada was Spanish priest Francisco Garces. Garces penetrated the southern part of the state in 1776.

In the 1820s, trappers Jedidiah Smith and Peter Skene Ogden traveled through the region. In 1843, John C. Fremont lead the first of his many expeditions through the state. The first permanent European settlement was a Mormon trading post founded in 1850. Nevada officially became part of the United States in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and statehood was achieved in 1864. The state's modern boundaries were established in 1867.