There are lots of fun facts about Phoenix, Arizona. Did you know that:

• Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the United States. Nearly 1.5 million people live here!
• The city of Phoenix, like the mythical bird, was born from something that came before it. Phoenix is built on the ruins of a Hohokam village.
• Phoenix is nicknamed the Valley of the Sun because the sun shines 300 days a year.
• Phoenix is situated in the Sonoran Desert and it is located on the banks of the once flowing Salt River.
• The Phoenix area is surrounded by 4 mountain ranges; McDowell, White Tank, Superstition and Sierra Estrella.
• Jack Swilling, the founding father of Phoenix, got his idea for canals from the Hohokam. They were the first people to use irrigation to make the area known as Phoenix inhabitable.
• Phoenix was part of the territory of New Spain until the end of the Mexican-American War and it was clamed by both the Confederates and U.S. government during the American Civil War.