Colorado is located in the west central United States. Its most populous and capital city is Denver. Its name is Spanish for red colored and is an appropriate description of the Colorado Rivers natural reddish-brown colored waters. According to 2006 census estimates, there were 4,753,377 Coloradans living in this scenic and mountainous Midwest state.
What is today, Colorado originally formed part of the larger Colorado Territory. On February 28, 1861, President Buchanan signed an act of congress making Colorado a U.S. Territory. Colorado was the 38th state admitted in the Union on August 1, 1876, which is why it earned the nickname The Centennial State.
In its first years, Colorado subsisted mainly from mining, processing and light agriculture. Nowadays its economy is less dependent on mining. Corn, hay and wheat as well as cattle ranching and production of dairy products account for a good portion of todays economy. The federal government and military have also grown into a major economic force here. Federal facilities and military installations in Colorado include NORAD, the U.S. Air force Academy in
Colorado Springs, NOAA and the National Institute of Standards and technology in Boulder and the Denver mint and 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to name a few.
