“Gran Scala, Spain” VS. “Las Vegas, Nevada”

Gran Scala, Nevada – Las Vegas, Spain

City of Las Vegas

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Website: City of Las Vegas NevadaLas Vegas (often abbreviated as “Vegas”) is the most populous city in the state of Nevada, United States, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for shopping, entertainment, and gambling. Although established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, Las Vegas became the largest American city founded in the 20th century, proceeding the 19th century founding of Chicago. As the 28th largest city in the United States, Las Vegas is one of the largest cities in the American West.

The name Las Vegas is often applied to the unincorporated areas of Clark County that surround the city, especially the resort areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip. This 4½ mile (7.2 km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard is mostly outside the city limits, in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester.

Las Vegas, billed as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for massive and lavish casino resorts, the unrestricted availability of alcoholic beverages (as is true throughout Nevada), and adult entertainment. Once officially referred to as Sin City, this image made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs.

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign

Las Vegas (English: “The Meadows”) was named by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo party, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or meadows (vegas in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas. John C. Frémont traveled into the Las Vegas Valley on May 3, 1844, while it was still part of Mexico. He was a leader of a group of scientists, scouts and observers for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On May 10, 1855, following annexation by the United States, Brigham Young assigns 30 Mormon missionaries led by William Bringhurst to the area to convert the Paiute Indian population. A fort was built near the current downtown area, serving as a stopover for travelers along the “Mormon Corridor” between Salt Lake and the briefly thriving Mormon colony at San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas was established as a railroad town on May 15, 1905, when 110 acres (44.5 ha) owned by Montana Senator William A. Clark‘s San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, was auctioned off in what is now downtown Las Vegas. Las Vegas was part of Lincoln County until 1909 when it became part of the newly established Clark County. Las Vegas became an incorporated city on March 16, 1911.

Major events

Significant events from Las Vegas history include:

• Establishment of Las Vegas as a railroad town (May 15, 1905).
• Legalization of gambling (March 19, 1931).
• Completion of Hoover Dam (October 9, 1936).
• Opening of Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel on what would become the Las Vegas Strip (December 26, 1946).
• Atmospheric nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site (1951 to 1962).
• Hotel fire at the MGM Grand, the state’s deadliest disaster (November 21, 1980).
• Opening of The Mirage which began the era of megaresort casinos (November 22, 1989).

Economic history

Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west and became a popular railroad town in the early 1900s. It was a staging point for all the mines in the surrounding area, especially those around the town of Bullfrog, that shipped their goods out to the rest of the country. With the growth of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important, but the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam resulted in substantial growth in tourism, which, along with the legalization of gambling, led to the advent of the casino-hotels for which Las Vegas is famous.The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was augmented by a new source of federal money. This money came from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which still goes on today.

Geography

Typical desert scene in the Las Vegas area.

Topography

Las Vegas is located at 36°11′39″N, 115°13′19″W (36.194168, 115.222060)^GR1. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 340.0 km² (131.3 mi²). 339.8 km² (131.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.16 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.04%) is water.

The city is located in an arid basin surrounded by mountains varying in color from pink to rust to gray. City elevation is around 2030 feet (620 m) above sea level. The Spring Mountains lie to the west. As befits a desert, much of the landscape is rocky and dusty. Within the city, however, there are a great deal of lawns, trees, and other greenery. Due to water resource issues, there is now a movement to encourage xeriscapes instead of lawns. Another part of the water conservation efforts include scheduled watering groups for watering residential landscaping.

Climate

Las Vegas’ climate is an arid desert climate (Koppen climate classification BWh) typical of the Mojave Desert, in which it is located, marked with very hot summers, mild winters, abundant sunshine year-round, and very little rainfall. Temperatures in the 90s°F (mid-30s°C) are common in the months of May, June, and September and temperatures normally exceed 100 °F (38 °C) most days in the months of July and August, with very low humidity, frequently under 10%. The hottest temperature ever recorded is 117 °F (47 °C) set twice, on July 19, 2005, at McCarran International Airport (the warmest ever recorded there) and July 24, 1942, at present-day Nellis Air Force Base. Winters are cool and windy, with the majority of Las Vegas’ annual 4.49 in (114 mm) of rainfall coming from January to March.^[3] Winter daytime highs are normally around 60 °F (16 °C) and winter nighttime lows are usually around 40 °F (4 °C). The coldest temperature ever recorded is 8 °F (-13 °C) set on January 25, 1937, at present-day Nellis Air Force Base. Showers occur less frequently in the Spring or Autumn. July through September, the Mexican Monsoon often brings enough moisture from the Gulf of California across Mexico and into the southwest to cause afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Although winter snow is usually visible from December to May on the mountains surrounding Las Vegas, it rarely snows in the city itself.

From: (www.wikipedia.org)

diciembre 17, 2007 Publicado por Granscalina | *Viva Gran Scala, English | Aragon, Aragonia, Bujaraloz, Caspe, escala, España, Espagne, eu, europe, gran escala, Gran Scala, granscala, Huesca, Las Vegas, Monegros, Nevada, Sarragosse, scala, Spain, usa, Zaragoza | Dejar un comentario