Las Vegas Valley
The Las Vegas metropolitan area, also known as the Las Vegas Valley, is a location in southern Nevada that contains the largest number of people in the state. The history of the Las Vegas metropolitan area naturally coincides with the history of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, which was founded on May 15, 1905. The area had previously been settled by Mormon farmers in 1854 and later became the site of a U.S. Army fort in 1864, beginning a long relationship between southern Nevada and the U.S. military. Since the 1930s, Las Vegas has been identified as a gambling and resort destination, especially for adults. Relatively inexpensive real estate prompted a residential population boom in the Las Vegas Valley in the 1990s and continues to the present day.
The land in the Las Vegas Valley is sandy desert with mountains in the distance. Near the Las Vegas metropolitan area is Lake Mead, an artificial lake created by the damming of the Colorado River.
