Chapter Four: Megalopolis

Las Vegas, even though it is not in the megalopolis described in the text book, it is one of the many up and coming cities in the United States. Downtown Las Vegas is full of high rise buildings as any other downtown city is. Downtown is the center of Las Vegas and can be called the Central Business District. The main difference between downtown Las Vegas and downtown New York is that the downtown in Vegas is filled with casinos and hotels. Downtown Las Vegas is much like "the strip" only on a smaller scale, but there are plans to expand the area and make it into a mini strip. Over the past 25 years Las Vegas has expanded across the desert in all directions (the pictures above show the change). This expansion is due to the fact that more than 5000 people move to Las Vegas on a monthly basis. I could never imagine living in Vegas, I think all the bright lights would give me a headache.

www.playatlvc.com, www.lasvegasnevada.gov

Chapter Three: Foundations of Human Activity

In 2005 American Indians amounted to 0.7 percent of the total population in Las Vegas. The main Indian tribe of the city is the Las Vegas Paiute's. It is said that these Indians have lived on the land for tens of thousands of years. Even though the tribe had been settled for this length of time they were not recognized until 1970. The Paiute tribe continues to live in Las Vegas, just a little north of downtown, with the 3,800 acres of land they were given in 1983. Rafael Rivera, a Spanish explorer, is said to be the first European to set foot in Las Vegas. Rafael named the city Las Vegas because translated it means "the meadows," and when he arrived the city was very green, and looked like a never ending meadow. The largest immigrant groups from Europe were the English and the Irish. Both the English and the Irish were very influential in the mining and railroad industries. The total population in Las Vegas as of 2005 was 599,087, and 80 percent of the population followed a religion. The dominant religion of "sin city" is Roman Catholic with 27 percent of the population supporting it.

www.lvpaiutetribe.com, www.lasvegasnevada.gov

Chapter Two: Geographic patterns of the physical environment

When we think of Las Vegas we automatically think of "the strip", but there is more to this city than flashing lights, and casinos. Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains, and those that have visited the city know from the heat that it is a desert. Mount Charleston is the highest peak of the Spring Mountains which are located west of Las Vegas. Mount Charleston is constantly cooler than the desert below, which makes it the perfect weekend getaway for the many that live in Las Vegas. The climate of Las Vegas, according to our text book, is BWk which means it is a mid latitude desert (29). The coldest months in Vegas are January and December when temperatures range from a record low of 8 degrees Fahrenheit to 36 degrees. During the hottest month of July temperatures have reached up to 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation is between 4.0 and 4.49 inches. There is not much vegetation in the Las Vegas we know, but on the outskirts the land is full of cacti, and scrubs.

http://www.weather.com/, www.Peakbagger.com

Chapter One: Regions & Themes

Las Vegas, as many of us know is located in the state of Nevada. It is in the southern most part of the state and is close in proximity to California, Arizona, and Utah. Las Vegas is in Clark County which is one of the sixteen counties of Nevada. According to the map on page 7 of our text Las Vegas is on the border of a region that the authors call the "empty interior." Las Vegas has grown in size therefore becoming more urbanized. "Most large cities grew for specific reasons, reasons that still sustain them and give them their special character." (10) When most of us hear Las Vegas we think of the strip famous for it's hotels and bright lights, and it is this specific area of Vegas that gives the region its unique character. The strip has contributed most to the urbanization of the city. The main economic activities are tourism and construction. Tourism is the more obvious of the two as 'sin city' is one of the many places that most people want to visit in the United States. The construction industry is constantly growing in Las Vegas. More than 20% of it's population in 2005 was originally from overseas. Due to this sudden increase in population more than 21,000 new homes had to be built to accommodate everyone. Beneath all of the glitz and glamour of Vegas there is a poverty level of 9.7% which shows us that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.