Overview
Colorado is a state in the western United States encompassing most of the southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of Colorado.
Description
Colorado, constituent state of the United States of America. It is classified as one of the Mountain states, although only about half of its area lies in the Rocky Mountains. It borders Wyoming and Nebraska to the north, Nebraska, and Kansas to the east, Oklahoma and New Mexico to the south, and Utah to the west. Colorado was admitted to the union on August 1, 1876, as the 38th state. The capital is Denver.
Colorado’s history is written in the names of its cities, towns, mountain ranges, and passes. Native American, French, and Spanish names alternate with those of frontier Americans, and many ghost towns are reminders of the thousands of prospectors and homesteaders who streamed into the territory in the mid-19th century to pursue dreams of gold, silver, and grain bonanzas. Vast cattle ranges and agricultural acreage fed by huge irrigation projects are characteristic of present-day Colorado, as are the diversified industries and the educational and research facilities in the state’s urban centers.