 During the 15th century, Navajo people emigrated to the area from northwestern Canada, and in the 18th century Spanish explorers and settlers came from the south.The Spanish investigated parts of the San Juan Basin, but there is no record of them ever finding Chaco Canyon.When cartographer Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco drew a map in 1774 of Spanish land holdings in the region, he labeled Chaco Canyon with the word "Chaca", but it is unlikely he ever visited the area.