Wyoming Overview

According to Abbreviationfinder, Wyoming is the 44th state of the United States, located in the Great Plains region. According to CountryAAH.com, the state capital is Cheyenne and the most important cities are Casper, Laramie, Rock Springs and Gillette. Its territory occupies an area of ​​253,337 km², occupying the tenth place at the national level, and it is the least populated state in the country, with 563,626 residents in 2010.

History

The peoples that lived in present-day Wyoming before the arrival of the Europeans were the Shoshone, the Crow, the Cheyenne, and the Arapajo. In 1830, the United States acquired from France the land located east of the Continental Divide or North American mountain range, as part of the territory that made up Louisiana. The first white man to enter the Wyoming region was John Colter, a fur hunter who in 1807 traveled up the Bighorn River.

In 1811, the region was explored by Wilson Price Hunt. The following year some members of the same expedition returned to the region and probably crossed the southern pass through the mountains; this pass later became an important part of the Oregon Trail. In 1834, when Fort Laramie was built in eastern Wyoming, the pass was used by numerous fur hunters and, in the 1840s, by immigrants and gold prospectors heading to Oregon, California, or Salt Lake City in Utah. In the wake of the Mexican-American War (1848), Mexico delivered southwestern Wyoming to the United States. In 1868, Wyoming, with a population of 60,000, became a territory.

The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1867 and 1868, the discovery of gold, and the ease of obtaining cheap land legally stimulated their colonization. In the following years, Wyoming became a major cattle breeding region.

Admission as state

Wyoming was admitted to the Union as one more state on July 10, 1890. From the beginning, Wyoming’s vast, sparsely populated expanse produced an enormous amount of wood and oil, as well as other agricultural and livestock products. Its already flourishing economy enjoyed a marked development thanks to the discovery, after World War II, of trona and uranium minerals. In 1960, a major missile base was built in the Cheyenne region.

Natural resources

Wyoming has a generally cold and semi-arid climate; it is one of the driest states in the United States. Since the 1970s, water preservation has been one of the state’s biggest problems. A distinctive feature of its climate is the high and persistent winds of the Wyoming Basin.

Forests cover about one sixth of Wyoming’s total land area. The main tree species are lodgepole pine and spruce, which cohabit with ferns.

Animal life is varied and includes the elk, the mountain sheep, the mountain goat, the American black bear, the brown bear, the cougar, the antelope, the coyote, the badger, the rabbit and the prairie dog.

The most frequent birds are hawks, hawks and eagles, while trout is the most common species in rivers.

Mining contributes 23% of the gross annual product and has long been one of the most important activities in the state. The main minerals are oil, coal, natural gas, and sodium compounds. Wyoming is the nation’s leading producer of dairy and wool. Regarding livestock, the raising of sheep and cattle stands out, while agriculture is based on the crops of hay, sugar beets (beets), barley and wheat.

Manufacturing companies contribute only about 4% of gross annual product. The most prominent manufactured articles are petroleum derivatives, chemical products, industrial machinery, wood and its derivatives, food products and printed matter.

Justice

Wyoming’s Supreme Court, with five judges, is the highest judicial body at the state level. The state’s judiciary is unusual in that the relatively sparsely populated state of Wyoming lacks an intermediate level of appellate courts, and the Supreme Court is therefore the only higher instance.

Education

Wyoming’s only university is the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Together with the private Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, it is one of two institutions that provide longer college education. In addition to these, there are also seven community colleges that provide shorter and preparatory higher education.

Business

Wyoming is a sparsely populated state where agriculture and livestock farming have traditionally been important industries. Ever since the arrival of the railway, coal mining has also played an important role in the local economy. In modern times, the energy industry and the tourism sector have taken over the role of leading industries from the agricultural sector, although agriculture continues to play an important role in large parts of the state. Among US states, Wyoming has the largest coal mine, the second largest natural gas production and the fifth largest oil production. Wind power is also a growing part of the energy industry due to the favorable wind conditions in the state.