The state’s name actually comes from a misunderstanding. The Navajo Indians were referred to by the Apache as "Yuttahih," meaning "one that is higher up." Europeans misunderstood this term to refer to the tribes living higher in the mountains than the Navajo, the Utes, and the territory was called the “The Land of the Utes” -- Utah.

Utah's thousands of years of prehistory and its centuries of known recorded history are so distinctive and complex that a summary can only hint at the state's rich heritage that dates back some 10,000 years. Archaeological sites have been identified in all corners of the state illustrating the ancient people of Utah were able to adapt to deserts, high mountains, badlands, and marshes.

The first people living in Utah were called the Paleoindians by archaeologists. The Paleoindians were hunters and gatherers who sometimes hunted now extinct mammals like the mammoth. Paleoindian sites have been found across Utah but due to their age, they are very rare.

Mexicans and Spaniards were the first known non-Indians to enter what is now the state of Utah. The recent discovery and translation of the journals of Juan Maria Rivera show that he led no less than two expeditions into the area of present day Utah in 1765, accomplishing the first white man sightings of Hovenweep and the Colorado River, which he reached on the second trip at the site of modern Moab. From 1807 to 1840 mountain men competing for fur explored vast areas of the American West, and their knowledge was eventually passed on to future settlements.

In the 1820s trappers explored most of Utah's rivers and valleys as well as some of the desert land. Jedediah Smith, one of the great explorers, made several significant journeys through Utah and publicized South Pass in Wyoming, over which thousands of later immigrants traveled. In the 1840s United States government explorers and settlers bound for California came into Utah. Among the most notable explorers of the West in this period was John C. Fremont who mapped trails and described the land and plant and animal life of the Great Basin.

When Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his brother Hyrum were assassinated at Carthage, Illinois, in June 1844, Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders decided to abandon Nauvoo, Illinois, and move west. Their exodus began February 4, 1846. In April 1847, the pioneer company of Mormons was on its way from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to Utah. The reports of Fremont and conversations with Father De Smet, a Jesuit missionary to the Indians, helped to influence their choice to head for the Great Basin. An advance party, including three African-Americans, entered Salt Lake Valley July 22, 1847, and the rest of the company on July 24. Planting and irrigating as well as exploration of the surrounding area began immediately.

Between 1847 and 1900, the Mormons founded about 500 settlements in Utah and neighboring states. At the same time, missionaries traveled worldwide, and thousands of religious converts from many cultural backgrounds made the long journey from their homelands to Utah via boat, rail, wagon train, and handcart.

In 1868 Brigham Young contracted with Union Pacific to build part of the transcontinental railroad through Echo and Weber canyons. In the 1870s railroad lines were built to connect many Utah settlements, including mining towns, with the capital. The transcontinental railroad and the branch lines spurred commerce and led to the opening of the mines.

Utah held a Constitutional Convention in 1895, and statehood became a reality on January 4, 1896. In the 1900s, the modern cities emerged as electricity, telephones, and automobiles changed forever pioneer lifestyles. The building of palatial homes, business blocks, power plants, interurban railroads, highways and secondary roads, and housing for average citizens contributed to city development. Population continued to grow and to concentrate along the Wasatch Front in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties, a trend that continues to the present and profoundly affects the state's political, social, economic, and cultural life.

In the decades following World War II, Utah has continued to grow. Cultural institutions such as the Utah Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Opera Company, Ballet West, and Utah Festival Opera (Logan) to name a few, have a solid reputation both locally and nationally. Utah's educational and research centers have developed a variety of scientific and medical innovations, including the artificial heart.

Utah is also a leader in information technology. High-tech companies that have resided in Utah include Iomega, Novell, Correll and Intel Corp. The announcement in 1996 that Salt Lake City would host the 2002 Winter Olympics spurred not only the construction of new sports venues and facilities but the development of $300 to $400 million in fiber optic communications infrastructure upgrades. In 1998 Scarborough Research Corp. stated that Salt Lake City had more personal computers per household than any other city in the United States, advancing Utah's reputation of being savvy to technology.

Tourism has become a major economic factor year-round with the development of Utah's ski industry, national parks, and recreation areas such as Lake Powell and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, created by President Clinton in 1996. Southwestern Utah is also booming, due to its warm climate that is attractive to retirees.

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