Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/) is the capital and the most populous city of the state of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is a consolidated city-county located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile, or 5,280 feet (1,609 m) above sea level. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station, making it the reference point for the Mountain Time Zone. An interesting thing about the city of Denver is that area-wise it is much smaller than the second most populous city in Colorado, Colorado Springs.

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of the City and County of Denver was 598,707 in 2008, making it the 27th most populous U.S. city. The 10-county Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2008 population of 2,506,626 and ranked as the 21st most populous U.S. metropolitan statistical area and the 12-county Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2008 population of 3,049,562 and ranked as the 16th most populous U.S. metropolitan area. It is also the second largest city in the Mountain West after Phoenix.

The city has the 10th largest central business district in the United States. Denver City was founded in November 1858 as a mining town during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in western Kansas Territory. That summer, a group of gold prospectors from Lawrence, Kansas, arrived and established Montana City on the banks of the South Platte River.

This was the first settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named after the gold-mining town of Auraria, Georgia) and St. Charles City by the summer of 1859.

The Montana City site is now Grant-Frontier Park and includes mining equipment and a log cabin replica.

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