Description of Colorado, US

Colorado, constituent state of the United States of America. It is categorized as a Mountain state, despite the fact that only around half of its landmass resides within the Rocky Mountains. It shares a northern border with Wyoming and Nebraska, an eastern border with Nebraska and Kansas, a southern border with Oklahoma and New Mexico, and a western border with Utah. Colorado became the 38th state to join the union on August 1, 1876. Denver is the capital of Colorado.

Throughout the state of Colorado, you'll find evidence of its rich history. Numerous abandoned settlements bear witness to the hundreds of thousands of prospectors and homesteaders who descended on the region in search of riches in the mid-nineteenth century, including places with names derived from Native American, French, and Spanish origins. Cattle ranges, agricultural land irrigated by enormous irrigation schemes, and diversified industries and educational and scientific facilities populate Colorado's urban areas today.

Geographical description of Colorado 

The state of Colorado is known for its diverse landscape, which includes mountain ranges, high plains, vast deserts with towering sand dunes, and deep gorges, among other features. When the new Colorado Territory was established in 1861, Congress used latitude and longitude lines to define its boundaries, extending from 37°N to 41°N latitude and 102°02′48′′W to 109°02′48′′W longitude (25°W to 32°W from the Washington Meridian). Using 161 years of official surveys, the boundaries of Colorado have been established using 697 boundary markers and 699 straight border lines. There are only three states whose borders are completely devoid of natural features: Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The Four Corners Monument is located at 36°59′56′′N, 109°2′W in the southwest corner of Colorado. In the United States, the Four Corners Monument is the unique place where the boundaries of four states come together. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah all meet at this location.

Economy of Colorado

Historically, Colorado's economy has gone through periods of expansion and contraction in tandem with changes in the overall economy of the United States and the globe. A boom in the Colorado fur trade in the 1830s and 1840s was fueled by the demand for fur garments in the eastern United States, England, and elsewhere. Overhunting of beaver and bison, coupled with a worldwide shift in fashion, sank the industry in 1850. In 1893, the United States government revoked the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which had led to a boom in silver mining in the 1870s and 1880s.

Ski resorts and the arts helped towns like Aspen, Breckenridge, and Telluride thrive after their gold and silver reserves ran dry during the twentieth century. After a brief period of prosperity in the early 20th century, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression decimated farming in eastern Colorado.

Despite the fact that many industries have come and gone in the state, only a few have lasted to this day. Even as far back as 1870, foresighted businessmen like William Jackson Palmer recognized the potential for tourism in Colorado's climate and landscape; now, more than 150 years later, Colorado is still one of America's most popular tourist destinations. White settlers on Colorado's sunny Western Slope established a fruit industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This industry is still vital to the region's economy today. Many rural Coloradans rely on ranching for their livelihood, as evidenced by local rodeos, county fairs, and national events like the National Western Stock Show. The Colorado Gold Rush sparked the first wave of ranching in the state.

As well as providing the foundation for the state we know today, Colorado's many economic ventures have left behind worrying social and environmental legacies. Racism, for example, has frequently hampered economic development in Colorado. As mining booms grew in the 1800s, Native Americans were evicted from their land; Ku Klux Klan members infiltrated state and local governments during prosperous 1920s; Mexican beet workers were forced to live in dilapidated shack; and World War II munitions factories hummed within hours of Japanese internment camps.

A wide range of environmental issues associated to Colorado's economic development must be addressed. There is still acid mine drainage from nineteenth-century mining in the highlands, and residents in the state are debating and dealing with the effects pollution from coal, oil, and natural gas production has on their environment. Agriculture and urbanization along the Front Range have now outgrown existing water supplies due to large water diversion projects like the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, raising the prospect of a water catastrophe. Highway construction and tourism in the high country have local governments concerned about the environmental impact.

Culture of Colorado

Colorado's diverse topography and diverse people have resulted in a rich cultural mosaic that can be seen in everything from the state's architecture to its culinary offerings. The traditions of Anglo- and European-American farmers and ranchers dominate the eastern plains, while Puebloan, Spanish, and Mexican cultures predominate in the southern part of the state. Native American, Anglo- and European American, African American, Asian American, and Mexican American cultures have all been absorbed by the territory along the Front Range of the Rockies. Some of the social movements that took place in the 1960s and 1970s have left their mark on Denver, Nederland, and Crestone as well as other communities in Colorado. With a foreign-born population of 58 percent in 2012, Coloradans continue the state's long history of immigration and cultural fusion.

In Colorado, the state's culture is defined by a strong sense of responsibility to the natural world because of the state's vast public territory. Beautiful natural landscape abounds in every one of the state's eight national monuments, four national parks, and eleven national forests. In fact, Katharine Lee Bates was inspired to write "America the Beautiful" in 1893 by the vista from the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado. Additionally, Colorado's culture has been profoundly influenced by the ranching, farming, mining, skiing, hiking, bicycling, and hunting industries, as well as more recent ones like oil and gas extraction, craft brewing, and the legalization of marijuana.