Las Vegas

City of Las Vegas
City
A portion of the Las Vegas Strip
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
Government
• Mayor	Carolyn Goodman
Population  (2010)
• City	596,424
• Urban	1,314,356
	(30th most in the U.S.)
Website	www.lasvegasnevada.gov

Las Vegas is a city in the American state of Nevada. There were 640,932 people living in the city in 2015, and more than 2,000,000 people living in the metropolitan area. It is the largest city in Nevada. Las Vegas is also the county seat of Clark County. Carolyn Goodman became the mayor in 2011. Las Vegas and Las Vegans are often stereotypically characterized as fun-loving.

Politics

Las Vegas leans to the left. Three of the four congressional districts in Nevada include parts of Las Vegas, and all three congresspeople representing those districts are Democrats from Las Vegas.

History

Native Americans were the first to reside in the area, specifically the Paiute tribe. It was first called Las Vegas (which means The Meadows in the Spanish language) by the Spanish. The city is known for its dry weather, as is the rest of southern Nevada. It is surrounded by desert.

The US Army built Fort Baker there in 1864. Las Vegas has natural springs, where people used to stop 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.

References

The well-known Welcome to the Fabulous Las Vegas Sign.