A History of Colorado

By Tim Lambert

Early Colorado
The first people in Colorado arrived about 12,000 years ago. At first,
they lived mainly by hunting mammoths. But mammoths became
extinct and bison became the main source of food. The Spanish
introduced horses into North America and in the late 17th century
horses had reached Colorado and transformed hunting.

At the beginning of the 19th century, France claimed some of what is

now Colorado as part of its territory of Louisiana but in 1803 the
French sold the land to the USA. In 1848 Mexico surrendered any
claim to any part of Colorado. The borders of Colorado were finally
fixed in 1850.

In the mid-19th century, many settlers passed by the region on their

way to California or Oregon. However, there were no permanent
European settlements in Colorado till 1851 when Hispanics moved
there.

Late 19th Century Colorado

Things changed in the late 1850s and early 1860s when there were
gold rushes in Colorado. In the 1870s and 1880s silver was mined in
Colorado. Yet in 1870 the population of Colorado was less than
40,000. It boomed in the late 19th century with the coming of the
railroads. By 1900 it had risen to 539,000.

Denver, Colorado was founded in 1858. It grew rapidly and by 1900 it

was a flourishing city with a population of 133,000 people.
Meanwhile, Colorado was organized as a territory on 28 February
1861. It was admitted to the union as the 38th state on 1 August 1876.
Denver was made its capital. The University of Colorado opened in
1877. The 1870s and 1880s were years of prosperity for Colorado but
the price of silver crashed in 1893. Fortunately in 1891 more gold was
found at Cripple Creek.

Meanwhile, the influx of settlers into Colorado caused conflict with the
Native Americans. On 29 November 1864, the Sand Creek Massacre
took place. A force of 700 Colorado militia attacked a Cheyenne and
Arapaho campsite killing more than 100, most of them women and
children. Eventually, the Native Americans were forced onto
reservations.

In 1893 men in Colorado voted in a referendum to give women the

right to vote.

Modern Colorado
In the early 20th century mining continued to be important in
Colorado but agriculture developed rapidly.

However, in 1914, the Ludlow Massacre took place. Miners in Colorado

went on strike and they were evicted from company-owned homes.
The strikers and their families moved into colonies of tents. On 20
April 1914, the National Guard attacked a tent colony at Ludlow killing
18 people. Fighting went on for 10 days and only ended when federal
troops were sent in. Altogether 66 people died during the strike.