idaho Cultural Information
WELCOME TO
Idaho
Nicknamed The “Gem” State because almost every known type of gemstone has been found in the state
Idaho is home to significant numbers of people with historical British, Native American, German, and Mexican ties. The Native peoples of north Idaho are of different language backgrounds and separate from the Uto-Aztecan peoples of the Great Basin and the Shoshoni tribes of southern Idaho
Idaho Motto
Esto perpetua is a Latin phrase meaning “let it be perpetual”. The motto appears on the back of the 2007 Idaho quarter dollar coin.
- Spoken Languages: English: 89.6% • Spanish: 7.8% • Other: 2.6%
- Idaho is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. At 83,569 square miles (216,443 km2), and with more than 1.8 million residents in 2020, it ranks as the 13th least populous and the 7th least densely populated of the 50 U.S. states.
- To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington and Oregon to the west. The state’s capital and largest city is Boise.
- Idaho is divided into several distinct geographic and climatic regions. The state’s north, the relatively isolated Idaho Panhandle, is closely linked with Eastern Washington, with which it shares the Pacific Time Zone—the rest of the state uses the Mountain Time Zone. The state’s south includes the Snake River Plain and the southeast incorporates part of the Great Basin. Idaho is quite mountainous, and contains several stretches of the Rocky Mountains. The United States Forest Service holds about 38% of Idaho’s land, the highest proportion of any state
- Industries significant for the state economy include manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry, and tourism. A number of science and technology firms are either headquartered in Idaho or have factories there, and the state also contains the Idaho National Laboratory, which is the country’s largest Department of Energy facility.
What is idaho Know for?
Idaho is known for being home to some pretty incredible lava tubes – cave-like structures formed by cooled lava flows. These tubes can be found in a few different places around the state, but the most popular spot is Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. This unique landscape is definitely worth a visit, and you can even go exploring in some of the lava tubes if you’re feeling adventurous.
