Colorado is a western state in the central part of the country.
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 mostly High Plains (prairie) and sparsely populated.
The state capital and largest city is Denver, Colorado; the Denver-Aurora
metropolitan area contains over half of the state's population (2.5
million out of 4.3 million). The state was named after the Spanish word
"Colorado" which means "reddish colored" that presumably refers to the red
sandstone formations in the area or reddish brown color of the Colorado
River.
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 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.
