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This is the article on the state. For other articles, see Colorado (disambiguation).
Colorado is a state in the western United States. Colorado is best known as the home of the highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains, which dominate the western half of the state; eastern Colorado is largely plains. The state capital and largest city is Denver, Colorado; the Denver metropolitan area contains over half of the state's population (2.5 million out of 4.3 million). The state is named for the Colorado River, which takes its name from the Spanish word "colorado" which means "reddish colored".
The U.S. Post Office abbreviation for the state is CO. USS Colorado was named in honor of this state.
History of Colorado
The territory which ultimately became Colorado was added to the United States by the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the 1848 Mexican Cession. The Colorado Gold Rush of 1859 (see also Fifty-Niner) brought large numbers of settlers to the Denver area, although the population collapsed following an initial mining boom. The Colorado Territory was organized as a United States territory on February 28, 1861 and Colorado attained statehood in 1876 (earning it the moniker the "Centennial State"). Colorado women were granted the right to vote starting on November 7, 1893.
See: History of Colorado
Law and government
Colorado State Capitol in Denver
Like the majority of the states, Colorado's current constitution provides for three branches of government: the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The legislative body is the General Assembly made up of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives has 65 members and the Senate has 35. Currently, Democrats are in control of both chambers of the General Assembly. The 2005 Colorado General Assembly is the first to be controlled by the Democrats in forty years.
The Republican party has long dominated Colorado. However, the state did support a Democrat in one recent election, Bill Clinton in 1992. George W. Bush won the state's 9 electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 5 percentage points with 51.7% of the vote. Democrats are strongest in metropolitan Denver, southern Colorado, and a few western ski resort counties.
The governor heads the state's executive branch. The current governor of Colorado is Bill Owens (Republican). See: List of Colorado Governors
Geography
See: List of Colorado counties, List of Colorado rivers
East of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Colorado at elevations ranging from 3500 to 7000 ft (1,000 to 2,000 m). Kansas and Nebraska border Colorado to the east. The plains are sparsely settled with most population along the South Platte and the Arkansas rivers and the I-70 corridor. Rainfall is meager, averaging about 15 in/year (380 mm/year). There is some irrigated farming, but much of the land is used for dryland farming or ranching. Winter wheat is a typical crop and most small towns in the region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator.
The major cities and towns lie just east of the Front Range, in the I-25 corridor. The majority of the population of Colorado lives in this densely urbanized strip.
To the west lies the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with notable peaks such as Long's Peak, Mount Evans, Pike's Peak, and the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg in the south. This area drains to the east, is forested, and is partially urbanized. With urbanization, utilization of the forest for timbering and grazing was retarded which resulted in accumulation of fuel. During the drought of 2002 devastating forest fires swept this area.
To the west of the Front Range lies the continental divide. To the west of the continental divide is the Western Slope. Water west of the continental divide drains into the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River.
Within the interior of the Rocky Mountains there are several large parks or high broad basins. In the north, on the east side of the continental divide is North Park. North Park is drained by the North Platte River which flows north into Wyoming. Just south, but on the west side of the continental divide is Middle Park, drained by the Colorado River. South Park is the headwaters of the South Platte River. To the South lies the San Luis Valley, the headwaters of the Rio Grande which drains into New Mexico. Across the Sangre de Christo Range to the east of the San Luis Valley lies the Wet Mountain Valley. These basins, particularly the San Luis Valley, lie along the Rio Grande Rift, a major geological formation, and its branches. See Great Rift Valley.
Snowpack accumulation at 14,255 ft. on Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Rocky Mountains within Colorado contain 54 peaks over 14,000 ft (4,270 m), known as fourteeners. The mountains are timbered with conifers and aspen to the tree-line, at an elevation of about 12,000 ft (4,000 m) in southern Colorado to about 10,500 ft (3,200 m) in northern Colorado; above this only alpine vegetation grows. The Rockies are snow-covered only in the winter; most snow melts by mid August with the exception of a few small glaciers. The Colorado Mineral Belt stretching from the San Juan Mountains in the southwest to Boulder and Central City on the front range contains most of the historic gold and silver mining districts of Colorado.
The Western Slope is generally drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Notable to the South are the San Juan Mountains an extremely rugged mountain range and to the west of the San Juans, the Colorado Plateau a high desert bordering Southern Utah. Grand Junction is the largest city on the Western Slope. Grand Junction is served by Interstate Highway I-70. To the southeast of Grand Junction is Grand Mesa, a large flat-topped mountain. Further east lie the ski resorts of Aspen, Vail, Crested Butte, and Steamboat Springs. The northwestern corner of Colorado bordering Northern Utah and Western Wyoming is mostly sparsely populated rangeland.
From west to east, the state consists of desert-like basins, turning into plateaus, then alpine mountains, and then the grasslands of the Great Plains. Mount Elbert is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains within the continental United States. The famous Pike's Peak is just west of Colorado Springs. Its lone peak is visible from near the Kansas border on clear days.
Economy
Corn production in Colorado.
The state's economy broadened from its mid 19th century roots in mining when irrigated agriculture developed, and by the late 19th century livestock raising had become important. Early industry was based on the extraction and processing of minerals and agricultural products. Current agricultural products are cattle, wheat, dairy products, corn, and hay.
The federal government is also a major economic force in the state with many important federal facilities including NORAD and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, NOAA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, U.S. Geological Survey and other government agencies at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, the Denver Mint, and 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, and a federal Supermax Prison and other federal prisons near Cañon City. There are of course various other federal agencies and federally owned lands in the state, especially with Colorado's abundant National Forests. and four National Parks. There are also numerous private companies that have operations in Colorado that deal with the governmental agencies in the state.
In the second half of the 20th century the industrial and service sectors have expanded greatly. The state's economy is diversified and is notable for its concentration of scientific research and high-technology industries. Other industries include food processing, transportation equipment, machinery, chemical products, minerals such as gold and molybdenum, and tourism. Denver is an important financial center.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that the total state product in 2003 was $187 billion. Per capital personal income in 2003 was $34,561, putting Colorado 8th in the nation.
Demographics
Population
- 2000 Census - 4,301,261
- 2003 estimate - 4,550,688
Racial makeup
Colorado has more Hispanics/Latinos per capita than all but five states. Denver and some other areas have significant Mexican populations, while Southern Colorado has a large number of Hispanos, the descendants of early New Mexican settlers of colonial Spanish origin.
The largest ancestry groups in Colorado are German, British, Irish, Scandinavian, and Spanish/Hispano. German-Americans are the largest group in the state and predominate in the Front Range and eastern Plains. British-Americans--of English, Scottish, and other British ancestry--are the largest group in the western Rocky Mountains.
Religious makeup
There are numerous mainstream Christian denominations in the state, particularly Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics. There are also pseudo-religious groups. The Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, a fundamentalist anti-civil rights political group that claims a religious basis, is one prominent group.
As is common in the western states, Colorado has a much higher percentage of non-religious people than the USA as a whole.
Important cities and towns
Map of Colorado - PDF |
Each city named in bold has a population greater than 100,000.
25 Richest Places in Colorado
Ranked by per capita income
1 Cherry Hills Village, Colorado $99,996
2 Genesee, Colorado $79,180
3 Columbine Valley, Colorado $71,758
4 Castle Pines, Colorado $70,456
5 Greenwood Village, Colorado $69,189
6 Bonanza, Colorado $66,857
7 Bow Mar, Colorado $53,558
8 Heritage Hills, Colorado $50,041
9 Perry Park, Colorado $47,574
10 Lone Tree, Colorado $46,287
11 Meridian, Colorado $46,031
12 The Pinery, Colorado $43,065
13 Eldorado Springs, Colorado $42,908
14 Vail, Colorado $42,390
15 Foxfield, Colorado $40,970
16 Aspen, Colorado $40,680
17 Niwot, Colorado $39,943
18 Mountain Village, Colorado $39,920
19 Edwards, Colorado $39,784
20 Pitkin, Colorado $39,182
21 Telluride, Colorado $38,832
22 Woodmoor, Colorado $38,758
23 Castlewood, Colorado $37,891
24 Vona, Colorado $37,802
25 Eagle-Vail, Colorado $37,260
See complete list of Colorado places
Colorado tourism and recreation
National parks
National monuments
National recreational areas
National forests
National grasslands
Wilderness areas
Education
Colleges and universities
Professional sports teams
Major highways
Further reading
- Explore Colorado, A Naturalist's Handbook, The Denver Museum of Natural History and Westcliff Publishers, 1995, ISBN 1-56579-124-X for an excellent guide to the ecological regions of Colorado.
- The Archeology of Colorado, Revised Edition, E. Steve Cassells, Johnson Books, Boulder, Colorado, 1997, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-193-9.
- Chokecherry Places, Essays from the High Plains, Merrill Gilfillan, Johnson Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-227-7.
- The Tie That Binds, Kent Haruf, 1984, hardcover, ISBN 0030719798, a fictional account of farming in Colorado.
- Railroads of Colorado: Your Guide to Colorado's Historic Trains and Railway Sites, Claude Wiatrowski, Voyageur Press, 2002, hardcover, 160 pages, ISBN 0-89658-591-3
External links
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