🌵Arizona

The Grand Canyon State

Arizona is the last of the 48 contiguous states to achieve statehood, admitted on Valentine's Day 1912. Its desert landscape holds the Grand Canyon — one of the seven natural wonders of the world — alongside the Sonoran Desert's saguaro cacti, the red rocks of Sedona, and some of the largest Native American reservations in the United States.

Ancient and Spanish Origins

The land that would become Arizona has been continuously inhabited for at least 12,000 years. The Ancestral Puebloan civilization built sophisticated multi-story dwellings at places like Montezuma Castle and Canyon de Chelly. Spanish missionaries including Father Eusebio Kino arrived in the late 1600s, establishing missions in the Santa Cruz Valley. Mexico claimed the region after independence in 1821; the United States acquired most of Arizona through the Mexican-American War (1848) and the rest through the Gadsden Purchase (1854).

The Grand Canyon

Carved over millions of years by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and more than a mile deep. President Theodore Roosevelt first protected it in 1908 as a national monument; it became a national park in 1919. Roosevelt famously urged Americans to "leave it as it is — you cannot improve on it." Roughly six million visitors view it each year from the South Rim.

Copper and the Five Cs

Arizona was historically known for the Five Cs: copper, cattle, cotton, citrus, and climate. Copper dominated — Arizona has produced more copper than any other state and still accounts for most U.S. output. Mines at Bisbee, Jerome, and Globe built whole towns that rose and declined with copper prices. The state flag's copper-colored star recognizes this heritage.

Native Arizona

Arizona contains 22 federally recognized tribes and the largest Native American population in the country outside of Oklahoma and California. The Navajo Nation, the largest tribal reservation in the United States, sprawls across northeastern Arizona into New Mexico and Utah. The Tohono O'odham, Hopi, Apache, and Hualapai nations also maintain significant territory and governance.

Arizona Facts

• Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the United States and the hottest large city in the country.
• Most of Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time — except the Navajo Nation, which does.
• The O.K. Corral shootout happened in Tombstone in 1881.
• London Bridge was dismantled in 1967, shipped to Arizona, and reassembled in Lake Havasu City.
• The saguaro cactus, Arizona's state flower, can live over 150 years and grow taller than 40 feet.

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