Las Vegas

Las Vegas
City
City of Las Vegas
Flag
Location of the city of Las Vegas within Clark County, Nevada
Coordinates: 36°10′30″N 115°08′11″W
Country	United States
States	Nevada
Settled	May 15, 1905
Incorporated (city)	March 16, 1911
County seats	Clark
Population (2010)
• City	596,424
• Urban	1,314,356
	(30th most in the U.S.)
Website	www.lasvegasnevada.gov

Welcome sign

Las Vegas is a city in the American state of Nevada. There were 567,641 people living in the city in 2009. It is the biggest city in Nevada. Las Vegas is also the county seat of Clark County.

History

Native Americans, the Paiute tribe, first lived there. It was called Las Vegas by the Spanish. The name means The Meadows in the Spanish language. It had a lot of these in 1854. The city is known for its dry weather, as is the rest of southern Nevada. It is surrounded by deserts.

The US Army built Fort Baker there in 1864. Las Vegas has springs so people used to stop there for water when they were going to Los Angeles or other places in California.

In 1905, 110 acres owned by William A. Clark, on which he built a railroad to Southern California were auctioned and Las Vegas was founded as a railroad town. Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911.