Zion National Park in southwestern Utah spans a striking meeting point of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert, creating exceptional landforms and biodiversity within 229 square miles. Its centerpiece, Zion Canyon, was carved by the Virgin River into Navajo Sandstone, while Zion and Kolob canyons preserve a long geologic record shaped by uplift and erosion. Human history in the area stretches back about 8,000 years, from early foragers to Ancestral Puebloan, Fremont, and Southern Paiute communities. Protected first in 1909 and redesignated as a national park in 1919, Zion now preserves major scenic, ecological, and cultural resources and remains one of the nation’s most visited parks.