Arizona

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912, the last of the contiguous states to join the Union. Known as the Grand Canyon State, it has Phoenix as both its capital and largest city. Its landscape ranges from the forests and high plateaus of the north, where the Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon, to the mountains, desert valleys, and saguaro-covered slopes of the south.
Arizona has long been home to Indigenous peoples whose communities remain central to the state’s history. Spanish and Mexican rule preceded the transfer of most of the region to the United States in 1848; the Gadsden Purchase added the southern portion in 1854. Arizona became a separate U.S. territory in 1863. Mining, ranching, and farming shaped its early economy, while railroads and later water projects supported the growth of its towns and cities. During the twentieth century, Phoenix expanded rapidly, making Arizona one of the defining centers of the modern American Southwest.