Angel Falls became known to the wider world after it was sighted from the air by American bush pilot Jimmie Angel on 16 November 1933, and the falls were later named after him.

However, the idea of “who discovered Angel Falls” is debated.

Different “firsts” people talk about

  • Local Indigenous peoples of the region (including the Pemon) knew the falls long before any outsiders, so they are the true earliest knowers of the waterfall.
  • Some historians argue the first European to visit or see the falls may have been the Spanish explorer Fernando de BerrĂ­o in the late 16th or early 17th century, based on accounts from his expeditions.
  • Other sources say the first confirmed Westerner to see the waterfall in modern times was the Spanish explorer Fèlix Cardona in 1927.
  • In 1933, Jimmie Angel flew over the falls while searching for ore deposits; his flight and later crash-landing on the nearby plateau made the waterfall internationally famous, and that is why it bears his name Angel Falls.

Simple takeaway

If you’re asking in the usual travel or quiz sense of “who discovered Angel Falls?” , the commonly accepted answer is Jimmie Angel (American aviator, 1933).

If you’re asking in a stricter historical sense, Indigenous peoples knew it first, and earlier European explorers like Fernando de Berrío and Fèlix Cardona likely saw it before Angel, even though they did not make it world‑famous or give it its modern name.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.