Colorado entered the Union on August 1, 1876, the thirty-eighth state
to do so. Its capital is Denver and it is nicknamed the Centennial State
because it became a state one hundred years after the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. Colorado is the eighth largest state in
the nation, with a total area of 104,091 square miles (269,596 square
kilometers). It is located in the Rocky Mountain region, surrounded by
New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
The southwest corner of the state touches the northwest corner of
Arizona.
By 800 CE, the Pueblo lived in the region now known as Colorado.
These Native Americans were advanced in agricultural know-how as well
as pottery making. Their homes were elaborate apartment-like dwellings
built into the cliffs of canyons. Various Spanish explorers visited the area
in the 1700s, but the French claimed most of the region east of the
Rocky Mountains. The eastern region remained a wilderness for several
decades.
In July 1858, gold was found in Cherry Creek (today’s Denver).
Reports of the gold strike were greatly exaggerated, and they brought
thousands of people to Colorado. They developed mining towns such as
Boulder, Central City, and Gold Hill. The population of what would become Colorado exceeded thirty thousand by 1860.
The 1860s were host to the most severe conflict between Native
Americans and white settlers in the state’s history. After being forced into
ceding most of their tribal lands to the federal government, the
Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes returned to their nomadic lifestyle. They
hunted buffalo and often clashed with the white settlers who were taking over their land. In an effort to stop the violence, state officers offered
the tribes amnesty if they reported to army forts. Believing themselves to
be protected, the Native Americans set up camp and flew the American flag and white flag (a sign of truce). On November 29, 1864, U.S. military forces brutally massacred two hundred Native Americans, most of
them women and children, as they camped. This was known as the Sand
Creek Massacre.
Colorado became a popular tourist destination even in the 1860s, as
resorts opened near some of the state’s mineral springs. After a decline in
the silver market caused an economic depression in the 1890s, farmers
returned to the land at the beginning of the twentieth century. The establishment of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the North American Air
Defense Command in Colorado Springs stimulated the growth of defense and aerospace-related industries.
Current-day Colorado relies on tourism and manufacturing for the
bulk of its income. Major industries include food, computer and electronic products, and beverage and tobacco products. Tourism provides
more than two hundred thousand jobs in the state.
Colorado cemented a place in the history of American tragedies in
1999 when two teenage students at Columbine High School went on
a shooting rampage and killed twelve students and one teacher before
killing themselves. Many more students were injured, and the event
heightened the national debate on gun control and the effects of media violence on youth.