Īmerican John Colter first recorded a description in English of the region in 1807. French toponyms such as Téton and La Ramie are marks of that history. Mexico ceded these territories after its defeat in 1848 in the Mexican–American War.įrom the late 18th century, French-Canadian trappers from Québec and Montréal regularly entered the area for trade with the tribes. expansion brought settlers who fought for control. With Mexican independence in 1821, it was considered part of Alta California. What is now southwestern Wyoming was claimed by the Spanish Empire, which extended through the Southwest and Mexico. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were but a few of the original inhabitants European explorers encountered when they first visited the region. Several Native American groups originally inhabited the region today known as Wyoming. Main article: History of Wyoming The first Fort Laramie as it looked before 1840 (painting from memory by Alfred Jacob Miller) The Republican presidential nominee has carried the state in every election since 1968. It is among the least religious states in the country, and is known for its political culture leaning towards libertarian conservatism.

Due to this part of its history, its main nickname is 'The Equality State' and its official state motto is 'Equal Rights'. It was the first state (barring New Jersey before 1807) to allow women the right to vote and the right to assume elected office, as well as the first state to elect a female governor. Agricultural commodities include barley, hay, livestock, sugar beets, wheat, and wool. Today Wyoming's economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona. Farming and ranching, and the attendant range wars, feature prominently in the state's history. On March 27, 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state in the union. The Transcontinental Railroad supplanted the wagon trails with a route through southern Wyoming in 1867, bringing new settlers and founding towns, including the state capital of Cheyenne. The opening of Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, and California Trail carried vast numbers of pioneers through a region once documented only by fur trappers and spurred the establishment of forts, such as Fort Laramie, that continue to serve as population centers today. The land that is now Wyoming passed into American sovereignty in pieces with the Louisiana Purchase, Oregon Treaty, and lastly the Mexican Cession. Historic and current federally recognized tribes include the Arapaho, Crow, Lakota, and Shoshone. Indigenous peoples inhabited the region for thousands of years. Federal lands include two national parks ( Grand Teton and Yellowstone), two national recreation areas, two national monuments, several national forests, historic sites, fish hatcheries, and wildlife refuges. The state ranks sixth by area and fifth by proportion of a state's land owned by the federal government. Almost half of the land in Wyoming is owned by the federal government, generally protected for public uses. It is drier and windier than the rest of the country, being split between semi-arid and continental climates with greater temperature extremes. Wyoming's western half is covered mostly by the ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the eastern half of the state is high-elevation prairie called the High Plains. The state capital and most populous city is Cheyenne, which had an estimated population of 63,957 in 2018. With a population of 576,851 in the 2020 United States census, Wyoming is the least populous state despite being the 10th largest by area, with the second-lowest population density after Alaska. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the south. Wyoming ( / w aɪ ˈ oʊ m ɪ ŋ/ ⓘ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Horned lizard ( Phrynosoma douglassi brevirostre)

Wyoming Indian paintbrush ( Castilleja linariifolia)

Northeast us population density map