Niagara Falls formed toward the end of the ice age. As glaciers melted off, huge swaths of water overran the Niagara River and about 12,000 years of erosion wore away at the rock, pushing The Falls to their present location. The Onguiaahra tribe settled the area in the 14th century, followed by the Iroquois. Europeans arrived in the 17th century and, by the 1800s, the development of the railroad was making the majestic Falls a popular tourist destination.
