Las Vegas
Las Vegas, city in the desert landscape of southeastern Nevada, USA; 583,800 residents (2010). Nicknames Sin City and Armageddon in Neon.
With a visitor number of almost 20 million per year, Las Vegas is one of the largest tourist cities in the United States and world-renowned for its entertainment life and its many gaming casinos. Gambling, legalized in 1931 at the same time as the state of Nevada enacted liberal laws for liquor licensing, prostitution, marriages, and divorce, gained serious importance after World War II, when one flashy hotel casino after another was built. 
Of importance for the city’s growth were the 1905 railroad connection (the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City stretch), the construction of Hoover Dam in the 1930’s (electricity and water supply), and the construction in the 1940’s of large military installations north and west of the city. In addition, the area’s mining (lead, zinc, manganese, silver, gold) and the rapid industrial development, mostly chemicals, in the suburb of Henderson.
Reno
Reno, a city in western Nevada, USA, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains near the border with California; city population 225,200 (2010). The city, known as “Las Vegas in Mini Format”, is a major tourist center, based on skiing, gambling and the state’s liberal laws for divorce and marriage. In addition, Reno is an important trading center and home of the University of Nevada with Desert Research Institute. Since the 1960’s, the population has more than doubled.
Carson City
Carson City, the capital of Nevada, USA, named after the legendary explorer Kit Carson in 1858; 55,300 residents (2010). After a past as a typical “Wild West” city, characterized by the mining activities at the large silver deposits in Comstock Lode (closed 1950), Carson City has developed into a regular administrative city. Pga. nearby gambling casinos and the opportunities for skiing and sailing on Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains attract it many tourists.
