Vegas history

At one time, Las Vegas was a wetland with an abundance of plants. But when the marshes began to dry out and the water disappeared, the region turned into an arid desert.

In the 19th century, the traveler Antonio Armijo paved the way from New Mexico to California. His group moved to Los Angeles, but turned off the traditional road, settling a hundred miles northeast of modern Las Vegas.

The intelligence group went in the direction of the West - to search for water for travelers. The found land was named Las Vegas, which means “meadows” in honor of the green grasses growing in the valley.

The whole of the next century, immigrants from Mexico were leaking to Las Vegas. Mormons traveled to the city to protect the postal route, they built buildings, engaged in farming, mined metal.

In 1890, developers decided that Las Vegas would connect major cities on the Pacific coast. In 1905, the railroad was built and a boom began in Vegas: salons, shops and hotels appeared everywhere. The official foundation date is May 15, 1905.

The growth of the world capital of gambling

In Las Vegas, the spirit of the Wild West was in full swing. And at the same time there was a desire to have fun to the fullest - the addiction to gambling, drinking and prostitutes became fundamental among the inhabitants. Such widespread disregard for the laws has become an excellent breeding ground for crime, since many of the bandits quickly rooted in the city.

By 1931, gambling became legal again in Nevada, and with the beginning of the construction of the Hoover Dam, labor arrived in Las Vegas. Along Fremont Street, the only paved road in the city, new casinos and cabarets opened to attract workers. In 1941, the first hotel opened - El - Rancho Vegas.

Tourists flocked to the booming Las Vegas casino scene to see performances by such famous artists as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

Entertainment and casinos and now the largest source of income in Las Vegas. After billions of dollars of reconstruction, the construction of new restaurants and the completion of prestigious venues for events, Las Vegas continues to flourish. Las Vegas receives about 40 million visitors annually.

Interesting Facts

Las Vegas was created to entertain, saturate and distract you from the real world beyond its glittering borders. This is a real American city, full of restaurants, shopping streets, nightlife and entertainment. If you decide to go on a tour, you should know these interesting facts about this world capital of gambling:

• Las Vegas was originally founded as an outpost and in the early 1900s became a popular railway city. At that time it was a transit point for mining in the vicinity.
• Most of the first major events in Las Vegas occurred in the 1940s after the legalization of gambling in 1931. Its legalization led to the development of large casino-hotels, the earliest of which were controlled by the mafia and were associated with organized crime.
• By the end of the 1960s, businessman Howard Hughes acquired many of the casinos, and organized crime was ousted from the city. Tourism from all over the United States has grown significantly over this time.
• The main sectors of the Las Vegas economy are tourism and gambling. It also led to the growth of the relevant service sectors in the economy. Here are the two largest Fortune 500 companies in the world - MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment.
• Unlike many major US cities, there is not a single professional major league team in Las Vegas. This happened mainly because of concerns about sports betting and competition for other sights of the city.