Utah

Coordinates: 39degN 112degW/ 39degN 110degW/ 39; -111(State of Utah).

Utah (pronounced YOO’tah, YOO’taw) can be described as a state in the Mountain West subregion. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its west by Nevada. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. The urban development is concentrated in two areas: The Wasatch Front in Utah’s north-central region, which is home for roughly two-thirds the population; and Washington County in Utah’s southwest, which has more than 180,000 people. The Great Basin is home to most of Utah’s western half.

Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups such as the ancient Puebloans, Navajo and Ute. The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in the mid-16th century, though the region’s difficult geography and harsh climate made it a peripheral part of New Spain and later Mexico. Even while it was Mexican territory, many of Utah’s earliest settlers were American, particularly Mormons fleeing marginalization and persecution from the United States. Following the Mexican-American War in 1848, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what is now Colorado and Nevada. Utah was not admitted to the United States because of disputes between the dominant Mormon community, the federal government, and polygamy. It was only after that that it was made the 45th state.