Arizona became a state on February 14th, 1912 and became the 48th state accepted into the United States. The state capital is Phoenix, which also is the largest city in the state. Phoenix is the largest capital city in the US.
Arizona is home to 22 different Native American tribes, including the Navajo (Diné), Hopi, and Tohono O'odham communities.
Climate
Arizona's climate can be very hot. In Phoenix, the average temperature is about 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) in summer. Between 1970 and 1990, about 16 people per year died from “exposure to excessive natural heat”. By 2015, this had risen to 38. In 2020 it was 210, and in 2022 257 died.[10]
Geography
Saguaro at Sunset from Saguaro National Park Rincon District east of Tucson, Arizona
Arizona is the sixth largest state in area, after New Mexico and before Nevada. Of the state's 113,998 square miles (295,000 km2), about 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land and Native American reservations.
Arizona is best known for its desertlandscape. It has plants such as the cactus. It is also known for its climate, which has very hot summers and mild winters. Less well known is the pine-covered high country of the Colorado Plateau in the north-central part of the state.
Mountains and plateaus are found in more than half of the state. 27% of Arizona is forest.[11] The largest stand of Ponderosa pine trees in the world is in Arizona.[12]
Arizona is home to a well-kept meteorite impact site. The Barringer Crater (better known simply as “Meteor Crater”) is a huge hole in the middle of the high plains of the Colorado Plateau. It is about 25 miles (40 km) west of Winslow. A rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises 150 feet (46 m) above the level of the surrounding plain. The crater is nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, and 570 feet (170 m) deep. Meteor Crater is a popular tourist attraction. It is privately owned by the Barringer family through the Barringer Crater Company. There is an admission fee charged to see the crater.
Arizona is one of two states that does not observe Daylight Saving Time, except in the Navajo Nation in the northeastern part of the state.
