Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix
City in the United States

Location
State	Arizona
County	Maricopa County
Coordinates	33°26’54″N, 112°4’26″WL
General
Surface	1,343.94 km²
– country	1,340.69 km²
– water	3.25 km²
Residents (2020)	1,608,139 (1199 inhabitants/km²)
– agglomeration	4,192,887 (2010)
Politics
Mayor	Kate Gallego (D)
Website	phoenix.gov

According to ehuacom.com, Phoenix is the capital of the state of Arizona in the southwestern United States of America. With a population of 1,615,017, the city is the largest in the state and the fifth largest in the country. Phoenix is the only capital of a US state with more than one million inhabitants. The agglomeration has an estimated 4.2 million inhabitants. Phoenix is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. The city has a desert climate and is located on the northeastern edge of the Sonoran Desert.

History

In the valley of the future Phoenix were prosperous settlements of the Hohokam Indians around the Salt, Verde, and Gila rivers . The Indians built a system of canals more than 300 kilometers between 900 and 1300 to irrigate their fields.

Jack Swilling, a Confederate American Civil War veteran, founded the settlement in 1867 on the Salt River. Despite the dry climate, he saw opportunities for agriculture. This original Phoenix was located about four miles east of the current city center. The settlement was recognized on May 4, 1868 the following year. In the 1970s the settlement grew relatively quickly to a place of 2,453 inhabitants in 1880.

On February 25, 1881, it was recognized as a “city” with a population of about 2,500 inhabitants. Phoenix became the capital of Arizona in 1889.

Construction began on the first dam under President Theodore Roosevelt ‘s National Reclamation Act (1902) in 1903. The dam, Salt River Dam #1, was completed in 1911 and served both to generate electricity and to provide drinking water, a first in America. When completed, it was the largest masonry dam in the world. Arizona became a state in 1912; Phoenix remained the capital.

In 1913, Phoenix changed the city’s governance from a mayor and city council system to a manager and city council system, one of the first five cities in the United States to have this form of city government. After Arizona became a state, Phoenix’s growth began to accelerate. In 1920 the city had 29,053 inhabitants.

In 1930 the Coolidge Dam on the Gila River was opened. In the previous decade, Phoenix’s population had more than doubled to 48,118 residents.

During World War II, Phoenix’s economy shifted to that of a distribution center with the onset of large-scale industrial production (then in military supplies). Near Phoenix were three military airfields and two large pilot training camps. After the war, many servicemen would return to Phoenix with their families. That caused major industrial companies to settle around Phoenix. In 1948, Motorola chose Phoenix as the site for a new R&D center for military electronics. Later, Intel and McDonnell Douglas would follow. By 1950, more than 150,000 people lived in Phoenix. Growth should continue into the 1950s, mainly thanks to progress inair conditioning. The major growth of the city took place mainly north of the city center, in predominantly white neighborhoods. The Hispanics and African Americans continued to live in the southern neighborhoods, creating a highly segregated city. By 1960, the city’s population had grown to 439,170, more than three times the number in 1950.

Demographics

8.1% of the population is older than 65 and 25.4% consists of single -person households. Unemployment is 2.9 % (census figures 2000).

About 34.1% of Phoenix’s population are Hispanics and Hispanics, 5.1% are of African origin and 2% of Asian origin.

The population increased from 988,950 in 1990 to 1,615,017 in 2016.

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification, Phoenix has a desert climate with hot summers and mild winters. In January the average temperature is 12.0 °C, in July it is 34.2 °C. Annual average precipitation is 194.6 mm (data based on the measurement period 1961–1990). Phoenix is located in the foothills of the Sonoran Desert.

Traffic and transport

Phoenix is located on Interstate 10. Interstate 17 connects Phoenix to Flagstaff to the north. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is located close to the city center and was the eighth busiest airport in the United States in 2011, measured by passenger volume.

Sports

The Arizona Cardinals, the United States’ longest-standing NFL team, play its home games in Glendale.
Phoenix is the home city of the Phoenix Suns, an NBA basketball team.
Phoenix is also the home city of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a baseball team that plays in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Diamondbacks play their games at Chase Field stadium.
The Phoenix Street Circuit is a street circuit in Phoenix that was used by Formula 1 between 1989 and 1991.

Other attributes

The Desert Botanical Garden is a botanical garden specializing in desert plants.
The city has numerous major museums, including Phoenix Art Museum, Heard Museum, Arizona Science Center, Hall of Flame Firefighting Museum, Phoenix Museum of History, Phoenix Zoo, Musical Instrument Museum, Pueblo Grande Museum and Cultural Park and the Children’s Museum of Phoenix.

UFO Incident

The Phoenix Lights (the “Lights Over Phoenix”) were a series of mass-reported sightings of optical phenomena (generally unidentified flying objects) that occurred on March 13, 1997 in the skies over the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona and the United States. Mexican state of Sonora.

Town twinning