Human Activity

The first European settlement in Colorado was made by the Spaniard Francisco Escalante in 1776. The man who first stepped foot onto the land was believed to have been James Pursley, a fur trader in 1804. Part of Colorado was turned into the United States control as a part of the Louisiana Purchase. Some of it was then added to Texas after it won independence from Mexico in 1836. And the Western portion was claimed by Mexico in 1848. In 1858, the gold hunting began in Colorado and this brought a movement to form a territorial government. this became complicated due to the fact that parts of the territory was claimed by Kansas, Utah, New Mexico, and Nebraska. however, congress gathered parts of all the states together and soon the territory was called Colorado and achieved statehood in 1876.

Religion in Colorado began with the Spanish explorers who had a claim to the land, but who did not settle, were Roman Catholic, but the first American settlers were mainly Methodists, Episcopalians, and Lutherans. Roman Catholics make up the biggest group in the state with 752,505 members. There were about 72,000 members in the Jewish community in 2000. That same year there were about 72 Buddhist, 7 Hundu, and 12 Muslim congregations in the state. Roughly 60% of the population were not counted as members of any religious organization.