Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain system in western North America, extending from Canada through the western United States to New Mexico. Their high peaks, broad ranges, and intervening plateaus shape the continent’s climate, rivers, and settlement.

North American Cordillera: The mountain system along western North America, including the Rockies, Coast Mountains, and Sierra Nevada. The Rockies form the Cordillera’s eastern mountain belt.
Laramide orogeny: A mountain-building episode that uplifted much of the Rocky Mountains during the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene. Its unusual inland deformation raised many of the central and southern Rocky Mountain ranges.
Colorado River: A major river of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, flowing from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. Its headwaters in the Rockies supply water to a large, arid region downstream.
Rocky Mountain Fur Company: An American fur-trading company that operated in the Rocky Mountains and surrounding regions in the early nineteenth century. Its traders helped establish routes and knowledge of the central Rockies.
Rain shadow: A dry region on the leeward side of a mountain range, created when descending air loses moisture. The Rockies alter precipitation patterns across adjacent plains and interior basins.
Southern Rocky Mountains: The Rocky Mountain region spanning Colorado and parts of Wyoming and New Mexico. This region contains the Rockies’ highest concentration of prominent high peaks.
Sevier orogeny: A mountain-building episode in western North America driven by crustal shortening and thrust faulting. Its thrust belts formed west of, and preceded, major uplift in the Rockies.
Missouri River: The longest river in North America, flowing from Montana to the Mississippi River. Its headwaters rise in the Rockies and feed one of the continent’s largest drainage systems.
Lewis and Clark Expedition: The 1804–1806 United States expedition that explored routes across the continent to the Pacific coast. Its journey crossed the northern Rockies and documented routes through the region.
Headwaters: The streams and springs at the upper end of a river system. Many major North American rivers begin in Rocky Mountain headwaters.

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