240 years ago today, Spanish explorers reached San Francisco and founded the modern city

For more engravings and photos of pre-1870s San Francisco, click ahead. A view of San Francisco and the bay beyond in the 1850s. For more engravings and photos of pre-1870s San Francisco, click ahead. A view of San Francisco and the bay beyond in the 1850s. Photo: Universal History Archive/UIG Via Getty Images Photo: Universal History Archive/UIG Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 77 Caption Close 240 years ago today, Spanish explorers reached San Francisco and founded the modern city 1 / 77 Back to Gallery

On March 28, 1776, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and a small band of settlers reached San Francisco and laid the groundwork what would become the city's first major landmarks: the Presidio and Mission San Francisco de Asis.

Captain de Anza's arrival in San Francisco was the culmination of a long trek from Arizona with 247 soldiers, women and children. The expedition was commissioned by the Mexican viceroy, who hoped to establish a permanent settlement there.

(Of course, European explorers didn't "discover" San Francisco. There's evidence of human settlement as early as 3000 BC in the region, and when Spanish explorers first arrived in San Francisco, the Ohlone people had several established villages in the area.)

The early Presidio was made of adobe and brush and was often damaged in earthquakes and even heavy rains, but there weren't many military threats for early Spanish settlers. San Francisco remained a sleepy little outpost in the west until the 1830s, when the US government began to realize how valuable the port could be.

San Francisco fell into American hands in 1848, gold was discovered the next year and so began the creation of the major American city we recognize today.