Native Americans were likely hunting in the Great Smoky Mountains as many as 14,000 years ago. Hernando de Soto and Juan Pardo were likely the first Europeans to visit the Smokies, in 1540 and 1567 respectively, passing through the French Broad River valley. Europeans increasingly began exploring the Smokies during the mid 1700s. And following the French and Indian War (1754-63), tensions brewed between the native Cherokee and arriving white explorers. By the early 1800s, the Cherokee gave control of the Smokies to the U.S. government and 30 years later they would be removed along the Trail of Tears.