The History of Iguazu Falls

A waterfall has no history of its own; what it has is a record of people arriving at it, arguing about it, building walkways over it and watching the river take them away again.

Naipí and Tarobá — the story the river was given

The Guaraní account of the falls is the oldest one there is. A serpent god, M'Boi, lived in the river and was promised a young woman, Naipí; she left with Tarobá in a canoe instead. The god split the river in rage, throwing the canoe down and turning the two of them into a rock and a palm on either side of the water, condemned to see each other and never meet.

You are shown the rock and the palm from the walkways to this day. It is a story about a river that divides, told by people who lived on both banks of one — which is also the practical subject of this entire site.

1542: Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

The first European record is the Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who came upon the falls in 1542 on his overland march from the coast to Asunción and named them the Salto de Santa María. The name did not stick; the Guaraní one did. "Iguazú" is y and guasu — big water.

Then, for three centuries, almost nothing. The falls were remote, the forest was thick, and there was no reason for anyone but the people already living there to go.

1901–1928: Victoria Aguirre, and the road that made visits possible

Tourism at Iguazu begins with a road. Victoria Aguirre, a wealthy Buenos Aires traveller, reached the area at the turn of the twentieth century, found the last stretch impassable, and paid for a track to be cut from the river port to the falls. Her name is on the main street of Puerto Iguazú and on the building that houses the Argentine park's superintendency.

The point is not the philanthropy but the sequence: the falls became a destination when somebody solved the last 20 kilometres. That is still the problem every tour here is selling a solution to.

1934 and 1939: two countries make two parks

Argentina created Parque Nacional Iguazú in 1934, protecting what is now 67,698 hectares. Brazil followed on 10 January 1939 with Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, by Decreto-Lei 1.035 under Getúlio Vargas, protecting 185,262. Neither was created in reference to the other and they have never been merged, which is why you still buy two tickets. The institutional detail is on the national parks page.

1984 and 1986: the UNESCO inscriptions

The Argentine park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1984 and the Brazilian park in 1986, as two separate natural properties. The inscription is written around the forest as much as the water: 275 cascades, a rim some 80 metres high and 2,700 metres across, and a subtropical rainforest holding over 2,000 species of vascular plant.

The walkways: built, swept away, rebuilt

Everything a visitor stands on here is temporary by design. The Argentine walkways have been rebuilt more than once after floods carried the previous version downstream, and the current generation is engineered to be taken apart rather than lost. That is exactly what happened in August 2026.

It is worth holding on to when a closure notice appears: the structures are the negotiable part of this place, and the river is not.

The Mission, and the falls on film

Roland Joffé's The Mission was shot here in 1986 and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes that year. Its opening sequence — a martyred Jesuit lashed to a cross and sent over the edge — was filmed at these falls, and the film did more to put Iguazu in front of a European audience than any tourist board campaign before or since.

Guides still point out where it was shot. If you have seen the film, the shape of the water will be familiar before you arrive.

Iguazu in dates

2011: the New7Wonders vote

On 11 November 2011 Iguazu was named one of the New7Wonders of Nature by global public vote. It carries no legal status and no protection, but it changed the marketing of the region completely and you will see it on signage in both towns.

2026: the river rises and the walkway comes down

Sustained rain across the Iguazú basin, with an El Niño influence, pushed the river to several times its mean through the winter of 2026. On 31 July the Argentine park announced that access to the Garganta del Diablo circuit would be suspended; on 3 August it began dismantling the walkway, section by section, storing the decking and railings at Garganta station until the flow allows them back.

By 2 September the Brazilian park was recording more than 8.3 million litres a second, and on 11 September it closed its own walkway at 13:00 with the river above 8.4 million and rising. Both parks stayed open throughout. It is the most consequential thing to have happened here in decades, and it is the reason the Argentine side currently reads the way it does.

What is standing today is on plan your visit, and the names in the Guaraní story are pointed out from the circuits described on highlights and activities. Start comparing days at Iguazu Falls Tours.

Sources

• Iguazú Argentina — tarifas (Argentine admission and parking, read 13 September 2026)
• Iguazú Argentina — horarios y consejos (Argentine hours and train timetable)
• The Brazilian park — 2026 ticket prices (effective 19 December 2025)
• The Brazilian park — passarela notice, 11 September 2026
• Administración de Parques Nacionales — the Argentine park
• UNESCO World Heritage — the Argentine inscription

Prices and opening times change. Verify both parks before you travel.