Colorado is a U.S. state lying across the Southern Rocky Mountains and out onto the High Plains of the Colorado Plateau as far as the Great Plains.

Colorado is a large state, and so although it is thought of as part of the Western United States, it is also part of the Southwestern United States, and a Mountain State.

Just over five million people live in Colorado. It is one of the most rapidly-growing states.

The state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish explorers had called the Rio Colorado after the red colour of the water in its lower reaches. However, the Colorado in the state of Colorado is a crystal clear, whitewater river.

Colorado became the 38th state of the Union in 1876. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it became a state in the hundredth year after the United States Declaration of Independence.

Colorado is one of the parts of the United States with the most spectacular natural scenery, ranging from high mountains to canyonlands with mesas, through forests to deserts. It also has some of the most spectacular weather, including fierce summer thunderstorms. Its mountains are deep in snow throughout the winter. However, because the same mountains block the flow of moist air to the west, the main cities of Colorado, such as Denver, have quite small amounts of snow, and are noted for their crystal-clear air and winter sunshine.

Because of its peaks, snow and sunshine, Colorado is known as "The Switzerland of America". The highest mountain is Mount Elbert 14,440ft (4,401m) . This is also the highest point of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, no part of Colorado is below 3300ft (1000m) and that is why Denver, even though it is on the edge of the plains, calls itself the 'Mile High City'. Even the lowest point in Colorado is higher that the tallest peaks in eighteen of the other states.

The state is really made of two halves: the eastern plateaulands, mainly thought of as 'prairies', and the western mountains. They are separated by an almost impenetrable wall of mountains known as the Front Range, which rise dramatically to mark the western edge of the plains. Everything west is high mountain range and deep valley. Much of the eastern land has been cultivated and used for grain. That is is why the tallest structures in so many villages out on the plains are the grain elevator and the water tower.

The plains, especially in the south, can be very dry, and irrigation is needed for cropland farming. There is a huge water-bearing rock below the state (the Olgallala Aquifer) and this is used to supply water.

Few people live out in the plateaulands. Fewer live among the mountains. Most people live in the belt of cities where the two join and which is more protected than elsewhere from winter blizzards. It is known as the Front Range Urban Corridor, and it stretches down from Wyoming, right through Colorado. The region's biggest city, Denver, is here.

The Front Range area has been one of the fastest-growing areas of the U.S., with many high-tech companies having sited here, partly because it is central to the U.S., and partly because it is attractive for workers to live close to such spectacular mountains.

Colorado is famous for its spectacular National Parks, state parks and wilderness areas. They include the Rocky Mountains National Park.

As with other parts of the U.S., Colorado was first home to American Indians, who settled about 13000 years ago. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was important to the spread of these early peoples throughout the Americas. They followed the Front Range from north to south. Ancient Pueblo peoples lived on the Colorado Plateau; the Ute Nation lived in the mountain valleys of the Southern Rocky Mountains; the Apache and the Comanche reached across the eastern plateaulands, as did the Arapaho Nation and the Cheyenne Nation.

When European colonists arrived and moved up the Mississippi, they were not interested in these ancient land rights, and France, which was the first colonial power in the region, simply claimed the Mississippi Basin and all of its lands as Louisiana. 'Ownership' was transferred from France to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. At first most of the Front Range area became the Missouri Territory, named after the Missouri River. Disputes with Spain and Mexico in the early 1800s resulted in wars which added the southern part of what was to become Colorado.

Soon after this the great westward migrations of settlers began. Best known for the Oregon Trail, many routes passed across the High Plains as people struggled to cross the Platte River and reach the relatively easy South Pass through the Rockies.

In 1854 the U.S. Congress divided the unorganised Missouri Territory east of the Continental Divide into two new organized territories, the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, while leaving an unorganised southern region known as the Indian Territory.

Then came the Civil War. Just before it, on February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an Act of Congress creating the (slave) free Territory of Colorado out of the unorganised territory.

On September 14, 1864, there was the first of many silver strikes. By 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad had been opened and in 1870 the Denver Pacific Railway was opened. A major silver lode near Leadville was discovered in 1878 and this further encouraged people to the Colorado Silver Boom.

All this might seem like good news. But it was a disaster for the American Indians. As more silver was discovered, the peoples of the Ute Nation who lived there were 'removed' to allow prospecting to continue.

But the Silver Rush was short lived, and after it, far less money came in, and there was great concern about how the state was going to survive. Nevertheless, by 1930, the population of Colorado was one million. It was also one of those states caught up in the disaster known as the Dust Bowl. All this time, processing minerals continued to be the way many people made their living.

It took until after World war II for the state to begin to prosper, and this time in a completely different direction. As people all over the country became more wealthy, they began to look for places to visit and places for sport, and Colorado offered those in abundance. Then, as mentioned above, high technology became important. Many U.S. Government facilities were also based here, in part as a conscious decision to help boost the wealth of the state. It all worked. Colorado is now the 11th richest state in the U.S. per head of population.

Because of its Mexican origins, Colorado has a high proportion of Hispanic, Mexican-American, citizens. Hispanics now make up 21% of Colorado's population.