Located between California, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Oregon, Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" due to the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many north-south mountain ranges. Most of these ranges have endorheic valleys between them, which belies the image portrayed by the term Great Basin. Therefore, it is largely desert and semiarid. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada lie on the western edge. The Humboldt River crosses the state from east to west across the northern part of the state.
About 86% of the state's land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U.S. federal government. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas-Paradise metropolitan area where the state's three largest incorporated cities are located. Its capital is Carson City, but the most populous city in the state is Las Vegas, internationally renowned as a major resort city, known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining and nightlife. Actually, the economy of Nevada is tied to tourism (especially entertainment and gambling related), mining (is the fourth-largest producer of gold in the world), and cattle ranching. It is the only state where prostitution is legal, and has the reputation as a "divorce haven".
Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe tribes inhabited the region.Francisco Garcés was the first European in the area, Nevada was annexed as a part of the Spanish Empire in the northwestern territory of New Spain. The spanish called the region Nevada (snowy) due to the snow which covered the mountains in winter. With the Mexican War of Independence won in 1821, the province of Alta California became a territory (state) of Mexico. The United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican-American War , and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a population boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861.
Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, as the second of two states added to the Union during the Civil War (the first being West Virginia). It is also one of only two states to significantly expand its borders after admission to the Union (the other is Missouri). In 1866 another part of the western Utah Territory was added to Nevada. It achieved its current southern boundaries in 1867. Mining shaped Nevada's economy for many years. Both mining and population declined in the late 19th century. The gambling was commonplace in the early Nevada mining towns but was outlawed in 1909. Because of subsequent declines in mining output and the decline of the agricultural sector during the Great Depression, Nevada again legalized gambling in 1931.
About the stamps
The first two stamps are part of the limited-edition Farmers Markets Forever stamps,about which I wrote here. The last stamp, dedicated to Janis Joplin (1943-1970), is part of the series Music Icons, about which I wrote here.
References
Nevada - Wikipedia
Sender: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 26.01.2015
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