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Colorado: Great Plains and Great Mountains

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Colorado (The Centennial State) is located in the Rocky Mountains area in the central-western part of the United States. The state capital is the city of Denver. The state has a rectangular shape, and is bordered to the north by Wyoming, to the north-east with Nebraska, to the east with Kansas, to the southeast with Oklahoma, to the south with New Mexico, to the southwest with Arizona and finally to the west with Utah.

MOUNTAINS AND HIGHLANDS

The American state of Colorado is characterized by the presence of the Rocky Mountain range, which cross the whole state. These mountains exceed 4,000 meters in height in many places. In the state of Colorado is the highest mountain in the Rocky Mountains, Mount Elbert (4,401 meters).

To the west, beyond the mountains, lies the Colorado Plateau. The river that gives the state its name was born in these mountains and descends into the plateau starting to dig the canyon that in Utah and Arizona becomes one of the natural wonders of planet Earth. In the north-east of the state the Great Plains extend, an impressive expanse of undulating land suitable for grazing.

Flat highlands form about half of the territories of the state of Colorado. These plateaus all rise between 1,000 and 2,000 meters high. Cattle breeding and agricultural crops are highly developed in these areas.

The territory of Colorado was explored by the Spaniards in the 18th century, to which it nominally belonged until 1821, the year of Mexican independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American war, Mexico had to cede together with other territories also Colorado to the United States of America.

  • Area: 269.837 sq. km. (8° largest state of the United States of America)
  • Population: 4.950.000 (2008) (Whites 82.8%, Blacks 3.8%; Asian 2.2%, Amerindians 1.0%. Hispanics (classified into different racial types) are the 17.1%. Data 2000).
  • State Capital: Denver.
  • Language: The official language is English (spoken as a first language by 83,6% of the population). Spanish is spoken as a first language by 12,2% of the population (Data 2005).
  • Religion: Christian 67% (Roman Catholic (19%), Evangelical (23%), Protestant (21%), Mormon (2%), Orthodox (1%)), Jewish (2%), Buddhist (1%).
  • Time: UTC-7; Summer UTC-6.

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