Phoenix is the capital of Arizona, and its name refers to the mythical phoenix bird that rises from its own ashes.
The city was founded in the Salt River Valley, where earlier Hohokam communities had built an extensive network of irrigation canals. Jack Swilling helped establish a settlement near the ancient canals in 1867, and the name Phoenix suggested that a new city would rise from the remains of an earlier civilization.
Phoenix became the territorial capital of Arizona in 1889, replacing Prescott. Arizona joined the United States as the 48th state in 1912, and Phoenix remained the capital. It is located in the Sonoran Desert and is part of the large metropolitan area known as the Valley of the Sun.
The city is the most populous capital of any U.S. state. It is also often confused with nearby Tucson, Arizona’s second-largest city, but Tucson has never been the state capital.