Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States (also called the American Southwest or simply the Southwest) is a portion of the United States that mostly considered located to be in the country's western region. It is warmer than the North and is drier than the East.
Depending on the source, the region almost always includes Arizona and New Mexico and at least parts of Southern California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, but it may also include the Trans-Pecos "horn" of the far west of Texas. California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado are also classified as in the "West" by the United States Census Bureau, which considers Texas and Oklahoma to be in the "South."
The Southwest is growing and has large cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Tucson. It is one of the fastest growing parts of the country.
The Southwest used to be Santa Fe de Nuevo México and New Mexico Territory.
Southwestern United States Media
Panoramic view of the southwestern United States
The Chihuahuan desert terrain mainly consists of basins broken by numerous small mountain ranges.
Saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert.
The Delicate Arch at Arches National Park
Four Corners Monument April 2007 by David Jolley
Ancestral Puebloan ruins at Chaco Canyon
Map of Paleo-Indians in the American Southwest and Mexico
- Oraibi
Narváez expedition (1528–36)
1846 map: Mexican Alta California (Upper California) in pink.
