City and capital of Colorado, USA, on the
South Platte river, near the foothills of the
Rocky mountains; population (1980) 492,365,
Denver-Boulder metropolitan area 1,850,000.
It is a processing and distribution centre
for a large agricultural area and for natural
resources (minerals, oil, gas). It was the
centre of a gold and silver boom in the 1870s
and 1880s, and for oil in the 1970s. Denver
was founded 1858 with the discovery of gold,
becoming a mining-camp supply centre; coal is
also mined nearby. There is a university, a
mining school, many medical institutions, and
the US mint.