Colorado is one of the fifty states that, together with Washington D.C., form the United States of America. Its capital and most populous city is Denver. It is located in the western region of the country, in the Rocky Mountains division. It is bordered to the north by Wyoming, to the northeast by Nebraska, to the east by Kansas, to the southeast by Oklahoma, to the south by New Mexico, to the southwest by Arizona and to the west by Utah. With 269,600 km² it is the eighth largest state, behind Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.
In 1848, by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States annexed Colorado, after its victory over Mexico during the American intervention in Mexico. It was admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876, as the 38th state.
It is nicknamed the «Centennial State» because it entered the country in the centennial year of the United States Declaration of Independence. It is known for having the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, which dominate the western part of the state, as the eastern part consists of large plains. The state was named for the Colorado River, the name given to the river by Spanish colonizers. Three of the largest rivers in the country originate in this state, in addition to the Colorado River, the Arkansas River, and the Rio Grande.
The United States Post Office uses CO as an abbreviation for this state. Several ships named USS Colorado were named in honor of Colorado.
HISTORY
The Hispanic Colorado
The written history of the current territory of the state begins approximately in the 17th century, when the first Spaniards entered further north of New Mexico, who called Colorado (among several of its Hispanic names for the Red River) although after the delimitations of 1803 the Red River or Colorado of this famous river was left to the south of the territory, at the end of the 18th century, and especially during the government of Facundo Melgares, forts such as La Garita were created on the edges of the crater of the extinct megavolcano La Garita that received the Spanish and Hispanic name of La Garita. Following the independence of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from the Spanish Empire in 1820, there was a Mexican colonization (especially in 1825) on the banks of the Nexpentle River (today called Arkanzas) since that area was one of the limits (after the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1820 ratified by the USA with Mexico in 1825) of Mexico with the United States on the Santa Fe Trail.2 Facundo Melgares also established a Hispanic settlement in Gerbidora (current Colorado Springs or Fuentes del Colorado) around 1806.
History of the State of Colorado
The territory that receives the name of Colorado was incorporated into the Union in 1803 with the Purchase of Louisiana from France and the Mexican cession of 1848. In 1851, San Luis, the oldest town in the state, was founded by settlers from the Taos Valley. The gold rush of 1859 brought many settlers to the Denver area, but with the end of the mining boom, the population declined. Colorado Territory was, in 1861, considered a Territory of the United States not attached to any other state. The south of Colorado Territory, despite the lack of respect by the U.S. government for the civil and property rights guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, was settled by Hispanics from northern New Mexico. In the 1880s, this expansion was curtailed by competition with Anglo-American immigrants and massive land losses in the U.S. legal system. In 1876, it achieved statehood (thus earning the nickname «Centennial State»). Women’s suffrage was granted in Colorado on November 7, 1893.
Geography of Colorado
Colorado’s geography is very diverse and includes both very rugged mountainous territories and vast plains. The state of Colorado is defined as a geospheric rectangle extending from 37° to 41° north latitude and from 102°03′ to 109°03′ west longitude (25°W to 32°W of the Washington meridian).3 Colorado is one of only three U.S. states (with Wyoming and Utah) that is bordered solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of 14,400 ft (4,401 m) Mount Elbert in Lake County is the highest point in the state and the highest point in all of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has approximately 550 peaks that are over 13,000 ft (4,000 m). Colorado is also the only state that is entirely above 3,300 ft (1,000 m). The lowest point is 3,300 ft (1,010 m), at the point on the eastern border of Yuma County where the Arikaree River drains into Kansas.