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Arizona (/ ˌ ær ɪ ˈ z oʊ n ə / ⓘ ARR-ih-ZOH-nə; Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo [hoː˥z̥to˩ ha˩hoː˩tso˩]; O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak [ˈaɭi̥ ˈʂɔnak]) is a landlocked state in the Southwestern region of the United States.
Plan the perfect vacation with Arizona's official travel guide. Discover inspiring things to do from outdoor fun to arts and culture, events, and culinary hot spots. Your Arizona adventure starts here.
- Overview
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Arizona, constituent state of the United States of America. Arizona is the sixth largest state in the country in terms of area. Its population has always been predominantly urban, particularly since the mid-20th century, when urban and suburban areas began growing rapidly at the expense of the countryside. Some scholars believe that the state’s name comes from a Basque phrase meaning “place of oaks,” while others attribute it to a Tohono O’odham (Papago) Indian phrase meaning “place of the young (or little) spring.” Arizona achieved statehood on February 14, 1912, the last of the 48 conterminous United States to be admitted to the union.
Arizona is a land of contradictions. Although widely reputed for its hot low-elevation desert covered with cacti and creosote bushes, more than half of the state lies at an elevation of at least 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) above sea level, and it possesses the largest stand of evergreen ponderosa pine trees in the world. Arizona is well known for its waterless tracts of desert, but, thanks to many large man-made lakes, it has many more miles of shoreline than its reputation might suggest. Such spectacular landforms as the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert have become international symbols of the region’s ruggedness, yet Arizona’s environment is so delicate that in many ways it is more threatened by pollution than are New York City and Los Angeles. Its romantic reputation as a wild desert and a place of old-fashioned close-to-the-earth simplicity is at variance with the fact that after the 1860s the state’s economy became industrial and technological long before it was pastoral or agrarian.
Plate tectonics—the shifting of large, relatively thin segments of Earth’s crust—and stream erosion have done the most to create Arizona’s spectacular topography. Specifically, the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate came into contact and created the major tectonic forces that uplifted, wrinkled, and stretched Arizona’s geologic crust, forming its mountain ranges, basins, and high plateaus. Over the course of millennia, rivers and their tributaries have carved distinctive landforms on these surfaces.
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To Arizona’s two major physiographic divisions, the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range Province, geologists add the Transition Zone (or Central Highlands). The northeastern two-fifths of Arizona is part of the scenic Colorado Plateau. Far less rugged than adjacent portions of the plateau in Utah, these tablelands in Arizona consist mainly of plains interrupted by steplike escarpments. Although they are labeled mesas and plateaus, their ruggedness and inaccessibility have been exaggerated. The incomparable Grand Canyon of the Colorado River provides the major exception to what has proved to be an area easily traversed. Forest-clad volcanic mountains atop the plateaus provide the state’s highest points: Humphreys Peak, 12,633 feet (3,851 metres), in the San Francisco Mountains, and Baldy Mountain, 11,403 feet (3,476 metres), in the White Mountains.
More than 200 miles (320 km) of the southern border of the Colorado Plateau is marked by a series of giant escarpments known collectively as the Mogollon Rim. West and south of the rim, a number of streams follow narrow canyons or broad valleys south through the Transition Zone and into the Basin and Range Province. The Transition Zone bordering the plateaus comprises separated plateau blocks, rugged peaks, and isolated rolling uplands so forbidding that they remained mostly unexplored until the late 19th century. The zone marks the ecological border between the low deserts and the forested highlands; it combines elements of both with, for example, the Spanish bayonet of the Sonoran Desert growing alongside the juniper characteristic of higher elevations.
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The Basin and Range region of the southern and western third of the state contains the bulk of the population but none of the large canyons and mesas for which Arizona is famous. It consists largely of broad, open-ended basins or valleys of gentle slope. Isolated northwest-to-southeast–tending mountain ranges rise like islands in the desert plain.
Contrary to desert stereotypes, sand dunes are nearly nonexistent, and stony desert surfaces are seldom visible except in the far southwestern portion of the state. The younger soils of river floodplains provide the more-desirable soils for agriculture.
Virtually all of Arizona lies within the Colorado River drainage system. The Gila River, with its major feeder streams—the Salt and the Verde—is by far the Colorado’s main Arizona tributary.
The Black, White, and Verde rivers are the primary perennial tributaries of the Salt River, which enters the Gila River southwest of Phoenix. Only during the infrequent—and occasionally devastating—flood periods does runoff water advance downstream past the numerous dams built on the Salt’s system. The Gila River rises in that part of the Mogollon Rim located in western New Mexico, and it includes another and smaller Mogollon Rim tributary, the San Francisco River. Two intermittent southern Arizona streams, the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers, flow northward into the Gila, while two other intermittent streams, the Agua Fria and Hassayampa rivers, drain central Arizona southward into the Gila. Dams and irrigation systems, except on rare occasions, leave the Gila River dry for most of its length.
Feb 16, 2024 · Tucked into the southwest corner of the United States, Arizona offers something for every type of traveler. Visit highlights like the Grand Canyon, the Wild West town of Tombstone or the red...
- The Grand Canyon. Best place for jaw-dropping views. Unsurprisingly, the Grand Canyon is Arizona’s most famous sight. It’s colossal and spectacular and draws huge crowds in summer, which might dissuade first-timers or those seeking a quiet escape.
- Verde Valley. Best place for wine trails and historic towns. Central Arizona’s Verde Valley is an underrated spot, characterized by prehistoric ruins, outpost towns, abundant wildlife and a wine trail that snakes around rivers and mountains.
- Horseshoe Bend. Best place for photo opportunities. What marks out this 270-degree bend in the Colorado River from all the other twists and turns along this mighty watercourse?
- Monument Valley. Best place to learn about Indigenous culture. To explore Arizona’s Indigenous culture amid 1000ft sandstone towers, make a beeline for Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
Jul 18, 2023 · Best Places to Visit in Arizona. By Alissa Grisler. |. Reviewed by Elizabeth Von Tersch. |. Last updated on Jul. 18, 2023. Arizona is home to incredible landscapes, lively cities, spooky ghost...
Sep 11, 2023 · 1. Take a hot-air balloon ride in Sedona. Exploring Sedona ’s landscapes could take a lifetime. An electrifying way to see this desert city, set amid two million acres of the Coconino National Forest, framed by ancient red rocks and famed for its unspoiled beauty and mysterious vortexes, is on a hot-air balloon ride.
