Nicknames: Centennial State, Colorful Colorado

Capitol: Denver

Motto: Nil sine Numine Nothing without Providence

Song: Where the Columbines Grow written by A. J. Flynn

Flower: Rocky Mountain Columbine Aquilegia caerules 'Glauca'

Tree: Blue Spruce Picea pungens

Bird: Lark Bunting

Gained Statehood: August 1, 1876

Name Origin: Taken from the Spanish for the "colorred" and was applied to the Colorado river.

Colorado has the fun and adventure to satisfy the most adventuresome visitors. Colorado's world-class skiing and four-season outdoor activities, offer something for all ages and fitness levels. From Rocky Mountain National Park to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado is any nature-lover's paradise. Colorado has the highest mean elevation of any state, with more than 1,000 Rocky Mountain peaks over 10,000 ft high and 54 towering above 14,000 ft. Pikes Peak, the most famous of these mountains, was discovered by U.S. Army lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike in 1806.

Colorado's first inhabitants were probably the Anasazi Indians who lived in multi-story cliff dwellings in canyons in the southwestern corner of Colorado. At the end o f the thirteenth century, these Indians abandoned their cliff dwellings and apparently moved southward. The first Europeans to venture into Colorado were the Spanish. In 1540-41, Coronado led an expedition north from Mexico in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola where the streets were allegedly paved with gold. It is believed that Coronado and his party passed through the present-day area of southeastern Colorado. In 1800, Spain ceded a large land area, including Colorado, to Napoleon Bonaparte and the French. The same parcel of land was sold by Napoleon the United States as the "Louisiana Purchase". In 1806, President Jefferson commissioned Lieutenant Zebulon Pike to explore the recently purchased territory. Among the sites mentioned by Pike in his report of the expedition was the 14,110-foot peak, which today bears his name although he never did climb to the summit. Pike stated in his report that it was unlikely the summit would ever be scaled. A group of explorers led by Major Stephen H. Long proved Pike to be wrong in 1820 when Dr. Edwin James and two others in the Long party became the first to climb to the summit of Pike's Peak.

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