Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848, where the area became part of the territory of New Mexico. Historically part of the territory of Alta California in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821.
Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest.Īrizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Arizona ( / ˌ ær ɪ ˈ z oʊ n ə/ ⓘ AIR-ih- ZOH-nə Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States.
