Arizona
Quick facts
- Capital
- Phoenix
- Largest city
- capital
- Nickname
- The Grand Canyon State
- Abbreviation
- AZ
- Became a state
- February 14, 1912 (the 48th state)
- Area
- 113,998 sq mi (295,254 km²)
- Population (2020)
- 7,623,818
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Arizona” page (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Arizona is a state in the United States of America. It is considered part of the Southwestern United States and is bordered by New Mexico to the east, Utah to the north, Nevada to the northwest, California to the west, its northeast corner touches part of Colorado, this area is known as the Four Corners. To the south of Arizona is the country Mexico with which it shares a border of 389 miles (626 km). The state is called the “Grand Canyon State” and the “Copper State” as it is the home of the Grand Canyon and has produced large amounts of copper from its mineral deposits.
Arizona became a state on February 14th, 1912 and became the 48th state accepted into the United States. The state capital is Phoenix, which also is the largest city in the state. Phoenix is the largest capital city in the US.
Arizona is home to 22 different Native American tribes, including the Navajo (Diné), Hopi, and Tohono O’odham communities.
Climate
Arizona’s climate can be very hot. In Phoenix, the average temperature is about 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) in summer. Between 1970 and 1990, about 16 people per year died from “exposure to excessive natural heat”. By 2015, this had risen to 38. In 2020 it was 210, and in 2022 257 died.
Geography
Arizona is the sixth largest state in area, after New Mexico and before Nevada. Of the state’s 113,998 square miles (295,253 km²), about 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land and Native American reservations.
Arizona is best known for its desert landscape. It has plants such as the cactus. It is also known for its climate, which has very hot summers and mild winters. Less well known is the pine-covered high country of the Colorado Plateau in the north-central part of the state.
Mountains and plateaus are found in more than half of the state. 27% of Arizona is forest. The largest stand of Ponderosa pine trees in the world is in Arizona.
The Grand Canyon is a colorful, steep-sided gorge. It is made by the Colorado River in northern Arizona. The canyon is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Most of the canyon is in the Grand Canyon National Park—one of the first national parks in the United States.
Arizona is home to a well-kept meteorite impact site. The Barringer Crater (better known simply as “Meteor Crater”) is a huge hole in the middle of the high plains of the Colorado Plateau. It is about 25 miles (40 km) west of Winslow. A rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises 150 feet (45.7 m) above the level of the surrounding plain. The crater is nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, and 570 feet (174 m) deep. Meteor Crater is a popular tourist attraction. It is privately owned by the Barringer family through the Barringer Crater Company. There is an admission fee charged to see the crater.
Arizona is one of two states that does not observe Daylight Saving Time, except in the Navajo Nation in the northeastern part of the state.
Sports
Professional sports teams in Arizona include:
Arizona has many golf courses and is home to several stops on the PGA Tour.
State symbols
- Arizona state amphibian: Arizona Treefrog (Hyla eximia)
- Arizona state bird: Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus)
- Arizona state butterfly: Two-tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata)
- Arizona state colors: Federal Blue and old gold
- Arizona state fish: Arizona Trout (Oncorhynchus gilae apache)
- Arizona state flag: Flag of the State of Arizona
- Arizona state flower: Saguaro blossom (Carnegiea gigantea)
- Arizona state fossil: Petrified wood
- Arizona state gemstone: Turquoise
- Arizona state mammal: Ringtail (Bassariscus astutus)
- Arizona state motto: Ditat Deus (Latin God enriches)
- Arizona state neckwear: Bolo tie
- Arizona state reptile: Arizona Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi)
- Arizona state seal: Great Seal of the State of Arizona
- Arizona state slogan: Grand Canyon State
- Arizona state songs: “Arizona March Song” (by Margaret Rowe Clifford) and “Arizona” (by Rex Allen, Jr.)
- Arizona state tree: Blue Palo Verde (Parkinsonia florida)
- Arizona state gun: Colt Single Action Army revolver
Written for younger readers
Arizona, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: North America
Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. Other big cities in Arizona include Tucson, Mesa, and Chandler. Arizona was the 48th state admitted to the union on February 14, 1912. Arizona borders New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California and touches Colorado at one of its corners. It is also bordered by parts of Mexico. Residents are known as Arizonans.
Humans have lived in Arizona for at least 20,000 years. Native American tribes that inhabited Arizona included the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Apache.
Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912 and the 48th state admitted into the union. Marcos de Niza, a Spanish Franciscan, explored the area in 1539 and met its original native inhabitants. Spain founded towns at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775.
When Mexico achieved its independence from Spain in 1821, what is now Arizona became part of the Mexican Territory Nueva California. During the Mexican–American War in 1847, the U.S. occupied Mexico City and forced the newly founded Mexican Republic to give up its northern territories, including what later became Arizona.
Arizona is located in the western United States as one of the Four Corners states. Of the state’s 113,998 square miles (295,000 km2), approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, recreation areas and Native American reservations.
Arizona is best known for its desert landscape, which is rich in cactus plants. It is also known for its climate, which presents exceptionally hot summers and mild winters. Mountains and plateaus are found in more than half of the state.
Arizona is also home to the Grand Canyon which is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The Grand Canyon is a colorful, steep-sided gorge, carved by the Colorado River, in northern Arizona. The Canyon was created by the Colorado River cutting a channel over millions of years, and is about 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6 to 29 kilometers) and has a depth of more than 1 mile (1.6 km).
In 2019, the United States Census Bureau estimated Arizona’s population was 7,278,717. English is the most-spoken language (72.9%), followed by Spanish (20.8%), Navajo (1.5%), German and Chinese (including Mandarin (0.4%)), Tagalog, Vietnamese, Other North American indigenous languages (especially indigenous languages of Arizona), and French (0.3%), and finally, Arabic, Apache, and Korean (0.2%).
In 2010, 73.0% of people in Arizona were White/Caucasian, 4.6% were Native American, 4.1% were black, 2.8% were Asian, and 0.2% were Native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander.
Cesar Chavez - Civil rights leader
David Henrie - Actor on the television series Wizards of Waverly Palace
Danica Patrick - NASCAR driver
Linda Ronstadt - Pop singer
Barry Goldwater - Former senator and presidential nominee
The state nicknames are: The Grand Canyon State (official), The Copper State (unofficial), The Valentine State (unofficial), and The Apache State (unofficial).
The state motto is “Ditat Deus”, which is Latin for “God Enriches”.
The state slogan is “The Grand Canyon State”
The state amphibian is the Arizona tree frog.
The state bird is the Cactus Wren.
The state butterfly is the two-tailed swallowtail.
The state colors are Federal Blue & old gold
The state flower is the Saguaro cactus blossom.
The state fish is the Apache trout.
The state gem is turquoise.
The state mammal is the ring-tailed cat.
The state mineral is Wulfenite.
The state neckwear is the bolo tie.
The state reptile is the Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake.
The state ship is the USS Arizona.
The state soil is Casa Grande.
The state tree is the Palo Verde.
Both the state fossil and the state rock is petrified wood.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Arizona” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
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