The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States,[3] and was named after a large bend in the Rio Grande/Río Bravo.

[6] The area has a rich cultural history, from archeological sites dating back nearly 10,000 years to more recent pioneers, ranchers, and miners.

The 118 mi (190 km) of river that form the southern park boundary include the spectacular canyons of Santa Elena, Mariscal, and Boquillas.

The Rio Grande, which meanders through this portion of the Chihuahuan Desert, has cut deep canyons with nearly vertical walls through three uplifts made primarily of limestone.

Throughout the open desert areas, the highly productive Rio Grande riparian zone includes numerous plant and animal species and significant cultural resources.

[3] South of the border lie the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila and newly protected areas for flora and fauna, which are regions known as the Maderas del Carmen and the Cañón de Santa Elena.

The Jumano was a nomadic group that traveled and traded throughout West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, but some historic records indicate they were enemies of the Chisos.

In an attempt to protect the northern frontier of the New Spain, from which emerged present-day Mexico, a line of presidios, or forts, was established along the Rio Grande in the late 18th century.

Lieutenant Henry Flipper, the first American of African ancestry to graduate from West Point, served in Shafter, Texas, near the end of the 19th century.

[18] In the 1930s, many people who loved the Big Bend country saw that it was a land of unique contrast and beauty that was worth preserving for future generations.

[19] The State of Texas deeded the land that it had acquired to the federal government, and on June 12, 1944, Big Bend National Park became a reality.

[2] The oldest recorded tectonic activity in the park is related to the Paleozoic Marathon orogeny, although Proterozoic events (over 550 Mya) possibly have some deep control.

During the middle Cenozoic, most of the volcanic rocks, including the Chisos Group, the Pine Canyon caldera complex, and the Burro Mesa Formation, formed.

This period of east–west extension has resulted in Estufa and Dehalo bolsons in the Chisos Mountains, as well as the Terlingua and Sierra del Carmen, Chalk Draw, and Burro Mesa Faults.

The Rio Grande has entered the Big Bend area roughly 2 million years ago, and since then, extensive erosion and downcutting have occurred.

The archeological record reveals an Archaic-period desert culture, whose inhabitants developed a nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle that remained virtually unchanged for several thousand years.

Transportation networks, irrigation structures, simple domestic residences and outbuildings, and planed and terraced farmland lining the stream banks characterize these landscapes.

The variety of life is largely due to the diverse ecology and changes in elevation between the dry, hot desert, the cool mountains, and the fertile river valley.

), greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), collared peccary (Dicotyles tajacu), and black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus).

Plans to reintroduce the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) to Big Bend National Park were rejected in the late 1980s by the state of Texas.

Disagreement over the reintroduction included the question of whether the park contained enough prey animals, such as deer and javelinas, to sustain a wolf population.

[27] Birders flock to the park, as it is home to the only area in the United States within the breeding range of the Colima warbler (Leiothlypis crissalis).

[28] Paleontologists began working at Big Bend National Park site as early as 1907, with the discovery of sharks and ammonite fossils by Johan Udden.

Among other discoveries, Brown and Bird uncovered neck vertebrae of a giant sauropod, Alamosaurus, as well as partial jawbones of a crocodylian species, Deinosuchus.

[32] Fossils from this time period include sharks, marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, plankton and foraminifera microfossils - as well as the remains of larger mollusks.

[32] Fossils from 85–82 mya show that Big Bend was covered by warm waters frequented by sharks, small mosasaurs, and fish such as Xiphactinus.

[34] In geological strata marking the end of the Cretaceous, the remains of flowering plants, conifers, gar, rays, as well as the bones of Alamosaurus have been found.

Other notable locations include Santa Elena Canyon, Grapevine Hills, and the Mule Ears, two imposing rock towers in the middle of the desert.

Measurements made by the National Park Service show that Big Bend has the darkest skies in the contiguous United States.

[43] San Vicente ISD's facility moved to the Panther Junction area circa 1951 so children of park employees had a local school.