Las Vegas, Nevada
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Las Vegas (population 478,434 in 2000) is in Nevada, United States.
It is the biggest city in Nevada.
Mormon farmers first lived there in 1854. It was called Las Vegas by Spanish people. The name means Fertile Valleys. It had a lot of these in 1854. Around it are deserts.
The US Army built Fort Baker there in 1864. Las Vegas has springs so people used to stop there for water when they were going to Los Angeles or California.
In 1905, 110 acres were sold and Las Vegas was founded.
Gambling was made legal in the state of Nevada in 1931. In 1941, many hotels were built in Las Vegas with casinos in them.
Las Vegas is sometimes called "Sin City" because so many people use the city for gambling and drinking alcohol, two common "sins".
People come to Las Vegas, for vacation, many hotels have different themes and have shows and events to get people to come there.
