Grand Canyon National Park preserves the central and most famous section of the Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona, where the Colorado River and its tributaries exposed immense rock layers and created one of the world’s most recognizable landscapes. Protection came gradually: early national park bills failed, Benjamin Harrison created a forest reserve in 1893, Theodore Roosevelt added further protections in 1906 and 1908, and Congress established the park in 1919. Its public life centers on the heavily visited South Rim and the higher seasonal North Rim. Historic South Rim buildings reflect early tourism, while later history includes park expansion, blocked dam proposals, and concern over aircraft noise.