1. A state in southwestern United States; site of the Grand Canyon; Also called: Grand Canyon State.
2. Glossy snake; Also called: genus Arizona.
State in southwestern US; nicknamed Grand Canyon State
area 294,100 sq km/113,500 sq mi
capital Phoenix
towns and cities Tucson, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Glendale, Flagstaff
physical Colorado Plateau in the N and E, desert basins and mountains in the S and W, Colorado River, Grand Canyon
features the Grand Canyon, the rock gorge through which the Colorado River flows, 350 km/217 mi long, 6–28 km/4–18 mi wide, and up to over 1.6 km/1 mi deep, in the Grand Canyon national park; Monument Valley; Arizona–Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson; Saguaro national monument, with huge saguaro cactus, Tucson; Petrified Forest national forest, including the Painted Desert; Organ Pipe Cactus national monument park; Coconino national forest; Sunset Crater Volcano national monument; Canyon de Chelly, with ruins of ancient Anasazi Native American peoples, and rock paintings; Navajo national monument, the largest ruin in Arizona, abandoned before 1300; Walnut Canyon national monument, site of 14th-century Anasazi cliff dwellings; Wapatki national monument; Casa Grande Ruins national monument; Mission San Xavier del Bac; Tombstone, site of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral, commemorated in Tombstone Courthouse state historic park, and Boot Hill Graveyard; Bisbee, former mining boom town; Navajo Nation Museum, Window
Rock; Taliesin West, Scottsdale, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright; old London Bridge (moved 1971 to the tourist resort of Lake Havasu City)
Industries cotton under irrigation, livestock, copper, molybdenum, silver, electronics, aircraft
; including 4.5% Native American (Navajo, Hopi, Apache), who by treaty own 25% of the state
famous people Cochise, Wyatt Earp, Geronimo, Barry Goldwater, Zane Grey, Percival Lowell, Frank Lloyd Wright
history part of New Spain 1752; part of Mexico 1824; passed to the US after the Mexican War 1848; territory 1863; statehood achieved 1912.
Arizona is believed to derive its name from the Spanish arida-zona (“dry belt”). The first Spaniard to visit Arizona was the Franciscan Marcos de Niza 1539. After 1863 it developed rapidly as a result of the gold rush in neighboring California. Irrigation has been carried out on a colossal scale since the 1920s. The Roosevelt Dam on Salt River, and Hoover Dam on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, provide the state with both hydroelectric power and irrigation water. At the end of the 19th century, rich copper deposits were found in Arizona and subsequently deposits of many other minerals. The post-World War II era has seen a heavy influx of retired people and a great increase in tourism. The manufacture of electronic equipment has added considerably to the growth of the state economy.