List of Colorado placenames of Native American origin
The following list includes settlements, geographic features, and political subdivisions of Colorado whose names are derived from Native American languages.
Listings[edit]
Counties[edit]
- Arapahoe County – named for the Arapahoe people.[1][2]
- Village of Arapahoe
- Arapahoe City
- Cheyenne County – named for the Cheyenne people.
- Village of Cheyenne Wells
- Cheyenne Mountain State Park
- Kiowa County – named for the Kiowa people.[3]
- Montezuma County – named for the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II of Mexico.
- Ouray County - named Ute chief Ouray[4][5][6][7][8]
- City of Ouray
- Mount Ouray
- Saguache County – name comes from the Ute language noun "sawup" /səˈwʌp/ meaning "sand dunes".[a]
- City of Saguache
- Saguache Creek
- Yuma County – named for the Quechan people of Arizona and California.
- City of Yuma
Settlements[edit]
- Cheraw
- Chipita Park
- Comanche Creek – named after the Comanche people.
- Cotopaxi – named after the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador.
- Dakota Ridge – named after the Dakota people.
- Erie – named after Erie, Pennsylvania
- Fort Massachusetts named after the state of Massachusetts.
- Fort Namaqua
- Fort Uncompahgre – from the Ute word for "red lake"[10][11]
- Genesee
- Kinikinik – named for the kinnickinnick plant.
- Kiowa – named after the Kiowa people.[12]
- Kokomo – named after Kokomo, Indiana.
- Manitou Springs
- Niwot – named after Chief Niwot.[13][14][15]
- Olathe – named after Olathe, Kansas.
- Pagosa Springs
- Peoria – named after the Peoria people.
- Shawnee – named after the Shawnee people.
- Southern Ute – named after the Southern Ute people.
- Towaoc
- Yampa – named after the Snake Indian word for perideridia.
Bodies of water[edit]
- Apishapa River – Ute word for "smelly".[2]
- Arikaree River – named after the Arikara people.[2]
- Arkansas River – named after the state of Arkansas.[2]
- Canadian River – named after the country of Canada.
- Chamita River
- Cochetopa Creek
- Illinois River named after the state of Illinois.
- Michigan River – named after the state of Michigan.
- Navajo River – named after the Navajo people.
- Pawnee Creek – named after the Pawnee people.
- Piceance Creek – from the Shoshone word piasonittsi, meaning "tall grass".[16]
- Rio Chama
- Tennessee Creek – named after the state of Tennessee.
- Tomichi Creek
Other[edit]
- Amache National Historic Site – named after Amache Prowers.
- Mount Antero – named after Antero, a Ute chief.
- Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge
- Comanche National Grassland named after the Comanche people.
- Neota Wilderness
- Rawah Wilderness
- Weminuche Wilderness named after the Weminuche people.
See also[edit]
- List of place names in the United States of Native American origin
- Bibliography of Colorado
- Geography of Colorado
- History of Colorado
- Index of Colorado-related articles
- List of Colorado-related lists
- Outline of Colorado
Notes[edit]
- ^ The name "Saguache" is pronounced /səˈwætʃ/. This name comes from the Ute language noun "sawup" /səˈwʌp/ meaning "sand dunes". The Spanish language version of this name is usually spelled "Saguache", while the English language version is usually spelled "Sawatch".[9]
References[edit]
- ^ Gannett (1905), p. 27.
- ^ a b c d Dawson (1954), p. 7.
- ^ Gannett (1905), p. 176.
- ^ "Ouray's History Timeline: From the Great Unconformity to the Utes and Miners". Ouray, Colorado. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ "MOUNT OURAY RESET". NGS Data Sheet. National Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "Mount Ouray, Colorado". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "Mount Ouray". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
- ^ Lowers, Mary (29 August 2013). "Chief Ouray & the Utes in southern Colorado & northern New Mexico". The Crestone Eagle. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ Merkl, Dameon (February 26, 2013), "What's in a Colorado name pronunciation?", The Denver Post, retrieved September 4, 2022
- ^ Benson, Maxine (1994). 1001 Colorado Place Names. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0632-7.
- ^ In the journal of Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante's 1776 expedition,"The Diary and Itinerary of Fathers Domínguez and Escalante -- English Translation". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2013-01-27. the author states that the Native American name for the river was Ancapagari, which translated to Spanish as Laguna Colorado and referred to a hot, bad tasting, red lake from which its waters came. The Spanish name for the river at that time was Rio de San Francisco, apparently so named by explorer Juan Maria de Rivera on one of his two earlier expeditions (1761 and 1765).
- ^ "Profile for Kiowa, Colorado, CO". ePodunk. Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ^ "Chief Niwot: The Story of "Left Hand" and the Boulder Valley Curse". Visit Longmont Colorado. Archived from the original on 13 November 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ Zukowski, Jennifer (21 September 2015). "Boulder History: Chief Niwot". Your Boulder. Tangible Digital LLC. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ Gannett (1905), p. 184.
- ^ CASTANEDA, TERRI (November 2006). "Native American Placenames of the United States:Native American Placenames of the United States". The Public Historian. 28 (4): 100–102. doi:10.1525/tph.2006.28.4.100. ISSN 0272-3433.
Sources[edit]
- Dawson, John Frank (1954). Place names in Colorado: why 700 communities were so named, 150 of Spanish or Indian origin. Denver, Colorado: The J. Frank Dawson Publishing Co.
- Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States (2nd ed.). Washington: Government Printing Office.
External links[edit]
Colorado at Wikipedia's sister projects
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Travel information from Wikivoyage
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