Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Utah (In Detail) (Full size) State nickname: Beehive State Other U.S. States Capital Salt Lake City Largest City Salt Lake City Area  - Total  - Land  - Water  - % water Ranked 13th 220,080 km² 212,988 km² 7,092 km² 3.2% Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 34th 2,233,169 10/km² Admittance into Union  - Order  - Date 45th January 4, 1896 Time zone Mountain: UTC-7/-6 Latitude Longitude 37° to 42°N 109°W to 114°W Width Length Elevation   -Highest   -Mean   -Lowest 435 km 565 km   4,123 meters 1,920 meters 610 meters ISO 3166-2: US-UT Utah is a western state of the United States, in the Rocky Mountains region. The name Utah is from the language of the Native American Utes. The Paiute nation also inhabit a portion of the state. USS Utah was named in honor of this state. Table of contents 1 History 2 Law and Government 3 Geography 4 Demographics 5 Important Cities and Towns 6 Education 6.1 Colleges and Universities 7 Professional Sports Teams 8 External Links History Mormon settlers first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, Utah was still Mexican territory. The land became the territory of the United States upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. (The Treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10.) Utah's bid for statehood was accepted January 4, 1896, over forty years after the initial request. The delay was largely due to disputes between the Mormon inhabitants--who had settled in the area in 1847 and were pushing for the establishment of the state of Deseret--and the US Government which was reluctant to admit a state the size of the proposed Deseret into the union, opposed the polygamous practices of the Mormons taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and observed that the region lacked the necessary 60,000 voters required for statehood. One of the conditions to granting Utah's statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into the Utah Constitution. This was a condition required of other western states that were also admitted later into the Union. Another notable fact about Utah is that the continental meeting of the railroads happened at Promontory Point, Utah. Other items of historical interest: Utah native Philo Farnsworth invented the electronic television in 1927. The 2002 Winter Olympics were hosted by Salt Lake City. See also: Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument Law and Government The capital and largest city is Salt Lake City. Governors of Utah Geography Utah is one of the Four Corners states bordered by Idaho and Wyoming in the north, by Colorado in the east, by Arizona in the south, and by Nevada in the west. One of Utah's defining characteristics is the variety of its terrain. The Wasatch Mountains run a center spine of the state, and the Uinta Mountain range in the north-east (the only east-west running mountain range in North America) includes the highest point in the state, Kings Peak at 13,528 feet. The Great Salt Lake lies to the immediate west of the Wasatch Mountains, beyond which the Bonneville Salt Flats stretch to Nevada. All land west of the Wasatch Mountains is within the Great Basin, while everything to the East drains into the Colorado River system. The desert plateaus of Southern Utah contains five National Parks: Bryce Canyon Zion National Park Canyonlands Arches Capitol Reef In addition, Utah contains several notable national monuments and state parks: Dinosaur National Monument Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Rainbow Bridge National Monument Dead Horse Point State Park This Is The Place State Park Much of the scenic southern landscape is kayente sandstone and navajo sandstone cut and shaped by the Colorado River or its tributaries. Western Utah is mostly arid desert with a basin and range geology. Northeastern Utah (from the Wasatch Mountains eastward and from the Uintah Plateau northward) is largely mountainous with many wooded and alpine regions. Utah's major highways are Interstate 15, which runs the length of Utah; Interstate 70, which enters the state from Colorado and terminates at I-15 in central Utah; Interstate 80, which crosses from Wendover, Nevada on the west through Salt Lake City and eastward through Evanston, Wyoming; and Interstate 84, which runs southeast to northwest from I-80 to the Idaho border. See List of Utah counties Area: 219,900 square kilometers Physical features: Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge, Jordan River, Colorado River, Green River, Lake Bonneville, Wasatch Mountains, Uinta Mountains, Great Basin, National Parks, Four Corners and the Colorado Plateau. Like most of the west and southwest states, the federal government owns much of the land in Utah. In Utah over sixty percent of the land is either BLM land or national forest, park, monument, recreation or wilderness area. Under Article IV, § 3, cl. 2 of the United States Constitution, (the Property clause), the federal government has plenary and supreme--although concurrent--civil and criminal jurisdiction over these federal lands within the borders of each state. Demographics The population of Utah as of 2000 is 2,233,169. Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region that runs north-south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. Most of the rest of the state is rural or wilderness. Important Cities and Towns Aside from the capital Salt Lake City, other major cities outside of the Salt Lake City area are Orem-Provo, Ogden, Logan and St. George. Education Colleges and Universities Brigham Young University College of Eastern Utah LDS Business College Southern Utah University Snow College University of Utah Utah State University Utah Valley State College Weber State University Westminster College of Salt Lake City Professional Sports Teams Utah Jazz, National Basketball Association Pacific Coast League, Minor league baseball Salt Lake Stingers Pioneer League, Minor league baseball Ogden Raptors Provo Angels External Links http://www.state.ut.us This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.