Phoenix is the capital and most populous city in Arizona, with 1,660,272 folks (as of 2018). It is also the fifth most populous city in the United States, and the only state capital with a population of far more than 1 million residents.
Phoenix is the anchor of the Phoenix metropolitan region, also identified as the Valley of the Sun, which in flip is element of the Salt River Valley. The metropolitan region is the 11th greatest by population in the United States, with approximately 4.73 million folks as of 2017. Phoenix is the seat of Maricopa County and the greatest city in the state at 517.9 square miles (1,341 km2), far more than twice the size of Tucson and 1 of the greatest cities in the United States.
Phoenix was settled in 1867 as an agricultural community near the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers and was integrated as a city in 1881. It became the capital of Arizona Territory in 1889. It is in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert and has a hot desert climate. In spite of this, its canal technique led to a thriving farming community with the unique settler’s crops remaining critical components of the Phoenix economic climate for decades, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus, phoenix escorts and hay. Cotton, cattle, citrus, climate, and copper have been identified locally as the “Five C’s” anchoring Phoenix’s economic climate. These remained the driving forces of the city until soon after World War II, when substantial-tech firms began to move into the valley and air conditioning made Phoenix’s hot summers far more bearable.
The city averaged a 4 % yearly population growth price in excess of a forty–year period from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s. This growth price slowed during the Great Economic downturn of 2007–09, and has rebounded gradually. Phoenix is the cultural center of the state of Arizona.