And I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
Friends around the campfire and everybody's high
Rocky mountain high (Colorado)
Colorado, nicknamed the "Centennial State" for attaining statehood 100 years after American independence, is a state in the Western United States and the 38th state admitted to the Union, doing so in 1876. It takes its name from the Colorado River, which in turn got its name from the Spanish colorado meaning "red." Its capital and largest city is Denver, the largest city for over 500 miles in any direction. Sitting on the Four Corners region (where its border meets with New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah), Colorado also borders Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
Most of what's now Colorado was nominally part of the Spanish Empire, and subsequently Mexico, until being ceded to the United States after the Mexican-American War, but there was never any substantial Spanish or Mexican presence in the area. The land is part of the traditional homes of several Native American tribes, most notably the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota nations. In 1858, gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains, which led white settlers from Europe and the Eastern United States to flock there by the thousands and set up an American presence rather suddenly, which understandably spooked the locals. After a drawn-out war between the U.S. Army (which was also tied up fighting the American Civil War at the time) and the Cheyenne-Lakota-Arapaho alliance, which saw major atrocities committed mostly by the former against the latter (including the infamous Sand Creek Massacre), most of the native forces had scattered, joining related nations further north in places where white settlement was still minor.
The gold rush soon fizzled out, and Colorado looked to be just another victim of the boom-and-bust cycle, but Denver managed to become a major railroad hub, cementing the territory's importance and strengthening its claim to statehood. Mining continued to be a major part of the state's economy throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, which made Colorado a hotspot of conflicts between labor unions and business owners. Both state and federal governments generally sided with the latter and happily sent in troops to suppress labor uprisings and break strikes, but union efforts nevertheless made great strides changing federal and state labor laws. After being hit very hard by The Great Depression, waves of immigrants after World War II turned the state's fortunes around yet again. The increased standards of living in the U.S. as a whole contributed to the growth of the tourism sector; Colorado features some of the best hiking and most gorgeous mountain views in the country, and it's especially famous as a skiing destination.
Colorado today is one of the fastest-growing states in the country, mostly fueled by the Denver metro area, where about half of its 5.8 million residents live. It has a diverse economy, with mining, tourism, government, agriculture, and technology all being major sectors and attracting migrants from all over the country (not, as some grumpy locals might tell you, only from California). The state generally ranks highly in various quality of life statistics — it routinely has the lowest obesity rates in the country and does well on just about every other metric of health and fitness and it's one of the most highly educated states in the nation. This has resulted in another statistic that's far more annoying to Coloradans: the Denver area has some of the most expensive real estate in the country, a trend that shows no sign of abating.
The state can generally be divided into four broad regions:
- The Eastern Plains: The long stretch of territory east of the Denver metro area, bordering Kansas and a sliver of Nebraska. Mostly flat, rural, and conservative, it's essentially indistinguishable from western Kansas.
- The Front Range: The densely populated urban corridor that (to simplify things dramatically) runs from Fort Collins in the north, through Denver, down to Colorado Springs in the south. note Has most of the state's population and industry and is where most of the growth described above occurs.
- The Mountains: AKA The I-70 Corridor. The cities and towns in the actual Rocky Mountains, including places like Vail and Aspen. The cities here tend to be staggeringly wealthy as a whole (thanks to all the ski resorts and wealthy clientele they tend to attract), though there's a lot of economic diversity here.
- The Western Slope: The western chunk of the state bordering Utah, west of the Continental Divide. Mostly conservative, but with some blue areas. Not very populous, but it does have cities like Grand Junction.
In politics, it's generally considered a swing state, but it has been trending more and more towards the Democratic Party as it's grown and diversified, especially since most of the state's growth is concentrated in urban areas — today it has two Democrats in the Senate and a Democratic governor, and 5 of its 8 House representatives are Democrats.
Works set in Colorado:
- South Park: Set in the fictional town of South Park, which is heavily based on the real-life towns of Fairplay and Conifer. note
- Having spent some time living in Boulder, Stephen King set several of his works in and around the area, most notably:
- The Shining: Set at the fictional Overlook Hotel, which was based on the real-life Stanley Hotel
in Estes Park.
- The Stand: Boulder is the site of one of two communities of survivors following a "super Flu" that wipes out most of the world's population (the other being Las Vegas, Nevada).
- The Shining: Set at the fictional Overlook Hotel, which was based on the real-life Stanley Hotel
- Atlas Shrugged: "Galt's Gulch" is located in the Colorado Rockies, and is stated by Ayn Rand herself to have been based on the real-life town of Ouray.
- Battlefield Earth
- Last Man Standing: Tim Allen plays Mike Baxter, the director of marketing for a sporting goods store located in Denver.
- Community: Set in the fictional town of Greendale.
- Dynasty (1981)
- Dog the Bounty Hunter
- Space Force
- Several works that prominently feature the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado Springs:
- Red Dawn (1984)
- Aspen Extreme
- Dumb and Dumber
- Forza Horizon: The first game is set in a fictionalized representation of Colorado.
- Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
- BlacKkKlansman
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Homefront
- Wasteland 3
- Resident Alien: Set in the fictional town of Patience.
- The Unsinkable Molly Brown
