History of Colorado

The history of Colorado encompasses Indigenous societies, Spanish and American expansion, territorial settlement, statehood in 1876, and subsequent political, economic, and cultural change.

Connect

Ute people: An Indigenous people whose homelands include much of the Rocky Mountains and western Colorado. Ute communities lived across Colorado before European exploration and remain central to its history.
Colorado Gold Rush: The rush of prospectors to Colorado after gold discoveries in 1858–59. Gold strikes drew migrants and investment that rapidly reshaped the region's population.
William Gilpin: The first governor of the Colorado Territory, serving from 1861 to 1862. His brief administration began territorial government during a rush of migration and conflict.
Sand Creek Massacre: An 1864 attack by U.S. troops on a Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment in southeastern Colorado. The massacre became a defining atrocity in the territorial period and a lasting subject of remembrance.
Cliff Palace: A large Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park, built in the late thirteenth century. Its architecture offers a concrete record of Indigenous life in what is now Colorado.
Ancestral Puebloans: Ancestors of modern Pueblo peoples who built communities across the Four Corners region. Their settlements in present-day southwestern Colorado reveal deep Indigenous histories in the state.
Homestead Act: A United States law that offered public land to settlers who met residency and improvement requirements. Homesteading encouraged agricultural settlement across Colorado's plains.
John Evans: A territorial governor of Colorado who was removed from office after the Sand Creek Massacre. His governorship links Colorado's early political history to the massacre and its aftermath.
Colorado River Compact: A 1922 agreement that divided the Colorado River Basin's waters between upper and lower basin states. Colorado's water development has been shaped by the compact and its allocation limits.
Colorado Territory: A United States organized territory that existed from 1861 until Colorado became a state in 1876. Territorial government bridged the gold rush era and statehood.