<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> This history of Las Vegas covers both the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Las Vegas Valley . </P> <P> The name Las Vegas was given to the area in 1821 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico . At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas; Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish . The flows from the wells fed the Las Vegas Wash, which runs to the Colorado River . </P> <P> The prehistoric landscape of the Las Vegas Valley and most of Southern Nevada was once a marsh with water and vegetation . The rivers that created the marsh eventually went underground, and the marsh receded . The valley then evolved into a parched, arid landscape that only supported the hardiest animals and plants . </P>

Where does the name las vegas come from
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