Phoenix
Arizona's capital and largest city, Phoenix is known for its hot, sunny, desert climate. It sits in a wide valley known as the Valley of the Sun, which is well named, since Phoenix experiences over 300 days of sunshine per year, and summer temperatures routinely top 100 degrees Farenheit (38 degrees Celcius).The area was first settled by the Hohokam Indians in about 300 B.C. They constructed an elaborate system of canals to bring water from the Salt River to their crops. The Hohokam Indians mysteriously disappeared, and the Valley of the Sun remained empty until 1865, when Camp McDowell was established as a military outpost. In 1870, a settlement was established by Jack Swilling, a Confederate soldier, when he built a mill along the Salt River. One of the town's early settlers, Phillip Darrel Duppa, named the settlement Phoenix, because like the mythological bird which rose from its own...
