16th-century Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to see the Unicoi Mountains. In 1540, the Hernando de Soto expedition passed just west of the mountains en route from the Chiaha villages in East Tennessee to the Coosa chiefdom in northern Georgia. In 1567, the Juan Pardo expedition visited the villages of Chalahume and Satapo (later Chilhowee and Citico) in the Little Tennessee Valley while attempting to find a route between Spanish settlements on the Atlantic coasts and Spanish settlements in Mexico.