Portal:Arizona/Selected Article

The Selected article box on the portal chooses one of the following at random when displaying the page. Follow the instructions below for adding or nominating a new article to the list.

Usage

Arizona related Featured articles can be added directly to this list without nomination. All other articles should be nominated first to ensure that we only display our best work on the portal. The procedure for nomination is at the bottom of this page.

Template

{{Portal:Arizona/Selected article/Layout
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Note that the prefix Image: is not required when using this template, also - the template will auto-wikilink the article entered in the link= field. Further information on this template can be found at Portal:Arizona/Selected article/Layout.

To add a new article

1. Click on the next successive empty entry or red link from this page.
2. Paste the above layout template if it isn't already there.
3. Ensure the main title of the article is in bold and add this same article to the link field.
4. Add a free image and caption.
5. Preview the page, check that the image size is correct. If the image is too big, add 100px to the size field.
6. Save the page.
7. Go to the main Portal:Arizona page.
8. Click on edit page.
9. Update "max=" to its new total for the {{Random portal component}} on the main page. The line which is edited is this one: {{Random portal component|max=4|header=Selected article|subpage=Selected article}} Make sure that "max=" is the same numerical value as the article entry added above (i.e. if you added article 43, then max=43)

Selected articles list

articles 1 - 20

Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/1

The first Native Americans arrived in Arizona between 16000BC and 10,000 BCE, while the history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began when Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan, explored the area in 1539. Coronado's expedition entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola. Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino developed a chain of missions and taught the Indians Christianity in Pimería Alta (now southern Arizona and northern Sonora) in the 1690s and early 1700s. Spain founded fortified towns (presidios) at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775.All of present-day Arizona became part of the Mexican State of Vieja California upon the Mexican assertion of independence from Spain in 1821. The United States took possession of most of Arizona at the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848. In 1853, the land below the Gila River was acquired from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. Arizona was administered as part of the Territory of New Mexico until it was organized into a separate territory on February 24, 1863.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/2

Interstate 15 (I-15), a transcontinental Interstate Highway from San Diego, California to the Canada–US border, passes through Mohave County in the far northwest corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. Despite its length of 29.43 miles (47.36 km) and isolation from the rest of the state in the remote Arizona Strip, it is notable for the scenic section through the Virgin River Gorge. The highway heads in a northeasterly direction from the Nevada border northeast of Mesquite, Nevada to the Utah border southwest of St. George, Utah.The southern portion of the routing of I-15 was built close to the alignment of the old U.S. Route 91 (US 91), but the northern section through the Virgin River Gorge was built along an alignment that had not had a road previously. The southern section of the highway was complete and opened in the early 1960s, while the section through the gorge did not open to traffic until 1973. When it opened, the portion of I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge was the most expensive section of rural Interstate per mile.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/3

The known history of the Grand Canyon area stretches back 10,500 years when the first evidence for human presence in the area started. Native Americans have been living at Grand Canyon and in the area now covered by Grand Canyon National Park for at least the last 4,000 of those years. Anasazi, first as the Basketmaker culture and later as the more familiar Puebleoans, developed from the Desert Culture as they became less nomadic and more dependent on agriculture. A similar culture, the Cohonina, also lived in the canyon area. Drought in the late 13th century was the likely cause for both cultures to move on. Other cultures followed, including the Paiutes, Cerbat, and the Navajo, only to be later forced onto reservations by the United States Government. Under direction by conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, Captain García López de Cárdenas led a party of Spanish soldiers with Hopi guides to the Grand Canyon in September of 1540. Not finding what they were looking for, they left. Over 200 years passed before two Spanish priests became the second party of non-Native Americans to see the canyon.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/4

The geology of the Grand Canyon area exposes one of the most complete sequences of rock anywhere, representing a period of nearly 2 billion years of the Earth's history in that part of North America. The major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old. Most were deposited in warm, shallow seas and near ancient, long-gone sea shores. Both marine and terrestrial sediments are represented, including fossilized sand dunes from an extinct desert.Uplift of the region started about 75 million years ago in the Laramide orogeny, a mountain-building event that is largely responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains to the east. Accelerated uplift started 17 million years ago when the Colorado Plateaus (on which the area is located) were being formed. In total these layers were uplifted an estimated 10,000 feet (3000 m) which enabled the ancestral Colorado River to cut its channel into the four plateaus that constitute this area.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/5

State Route 85, or SR 85, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Arizona. The highway runs from the United States-Mexico border near Lukeville to the north ending at Interstate 10 (I-10) in Buckeye. The highway also intersects I-8 in Gila Bend and serves as a connector between I-8 and I-10 and for travelers between Phoenix and Yuma as well as Southern California.SR 85 was established in 1936 as a route between Gila Bend and Ajo. It was extended southward to the US-Mexico border in 1955, and extended northward to Phoenix when it replaced U.S. Route 80 in 1977. The northern end of the highway was realigned in 1994 onto the connecting highway between I-10 and Buckeye. The remaining portion of the highway between Buckeye and Phoenix was gradually turned over to the cities and county along the route during the 1990s with the final portion turned over in 2001.The southern terminus of SR 85 is located at the United States-Mexico border near Lukeville in Pima County. The road continues across the border into Mexico to the town of Sonoita.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/6

Flagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of July 2006, the city's estimated population was 58,213.The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was estimated at 127,450 in 2007. It is the county seat of Coconino County.In 2005, Men's Journal named Flagstaff as No. 2 on its Best Places to Live list, and National Geographic cited the city in its list of "10 Great Towns That Will Make You Feel Young." The city is named after a Ponderosa Pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston (known as the "Flagstaff Tea Party") to celebrate the United States Centennial on July 4, 1876.Flagstaff lies near the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, along the western side of the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the continental United States. Flagstaff is located adjacent to Mount Elden, just south of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountain range in the state of Arizona. Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet (3,850 m), is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of Flagstaff in Kachina Peaks Wilderness.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/7

Petrified Forest National Park is a United States national park in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. The park's headquarters are about 26 miles (42 km) east of Holbrook along Interstate 40 (I-40), which parallels a railroad line, the Puerco River, and historic U.S. Route 66, all crossing the park roughly east–west. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the park covers about 146 square miles (380 km²), encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as well as highly eroded and colorful badlands. The site, the northern part of which extends into the Painted Desert, was declared a National Monument in 1906 and a national park in 1962. About 600,000 people visit the park each year and take part in activities including sightseeing, photography, hiking, and backpacking.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/8

The Phoenix Zoo, opened in 1962, is the largest non-profit zoo in the United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the zoo operates on 125 acres (0.51 km²) of land in the Papago Park area of Phoenix. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.The zoo has approximately 1,200 animals on display, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of walking trails, and other attractions. It was founded by Robert Maytag, a member of the famous Maytag family.The Phoenix Zoo began as a personal project of Maytag's, who formed the Arizona Zoological Society with the intention of opening a zoo in Phoenix. Although Maytag died a few months before the opening, the zoo opened on schedule in November of 1962. It was originally named the "Maytag Zoo", but was renamed the following year to its current name to give it a heightened sense of community. The zoo has been a privately owned, non-profit venture since it opened. While the zoo initially has some financial struggles in the 1960s, it grew substantially during the 1970s as it added numerous new exhibits, landscaping features, and visitor amenities.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/9

U.S. Route 491, US 491, is a north-south United States highway serving the Four Corners region of the United States. One of the newest additions to the U.S. Highway system, it was commissioned in 2003 as a renumbering of U.S. Route 666. With the 666 designation, this road was given the nickname "Devil's Highway" because of the common Christian belief that 666 is the Number of the Beast.These factors led to two efforts to renumber the highway, first by Arizona, later by New Mexico. Since renumbering, done in conjunction with safety improvement projects, fatality rates have gone down.The highway is routed through Colorado, New Mexico and Utah as well as the sovereign Indian tribal nations of the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Features along the route include an extinct volcanic core named Shiprock, Mesa Verde National Park and the self proclaimed "pinto bean capital of the world".The route serves the states of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Prior to 1992, the highway also entered Arizona. The Arizona portion was renumbered separately and is now part of U.S. Route 191.

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Portal:Arizona/Selected Article/10

Yavapai (sometimes translated as mouthy, or talkative people, but generally translated as the sun people because they worshipped the sun, though many agree that it is a corruption of the Yuman word "Nyavkopai" - east people is an over-arching term for four distinct tribes of Native Americans from central Arizona in the United States. The Western Yavapai call themselves Tolkepaya, the Northeastern Yavapai call themselves Yavapé, the Southeastern Yavapai call themselves Kwevkepaya, and the fourth group call themselves Wipukepa. The Yavapai have much in common, linguistically and culturally, with their neighbors the Havasupai, the Hualapai, and the Athabascan Apache. Often, Yavapai were mistaken as Apache by White settlers, variously being referred to as "Apache-Mohave" or "Tonto-Apache". Before the 1860s, when White settlers began exploring for gold in the area, the Yavapai occupied an area of approximately 20,000 mi² (51800 km²) bordering the San Francisco Peaks on the north, the Pinal Mountains on the east, and Martinez Lake and the Colorado River at the point where Lake Havasu is now on the west.

Nominations

Feel free to add related featured articles to the above list. Other articles may be nominated here.

• nominations must

1. be Featured articles (FA), Good articles (GA), Top or High importance articles
2. (optional) have a free-use image available