<Li> Shoshone Nation--A Numic - speaking nation that inhabited intermountain valleys along the north edge of the state, especially in the Yampa River valley, up through the late 19th century . Areas included North Park and Browns Park . </Li> <Li> Ute Nation--A Numic - speaking nation that has lived in the Southern and the Western Rocky Mountains for many centuries . Their leaders were Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta . They often clashed with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, and resisted the encroachment of these nations into the mountains . Until the 1880s, the Ute controlled nearly all of Colorado west of the continental divide, a situation that eroded after the silver boom of 1879 . After clashing with white settlers in the 1880s in the Meeker Massacre, they were nearly entirely relocated out of the state into Utah, except for two small reservations in southwestern Colorado . </Li> <P> The first Europeans to visit the region were Spanish conquistadors . Juan de Oñate who lived until 1626, founded what would become the Spanish province of Santa Fé de Nuevo México among the pueblos of the Rio Grande on July 11, 1598 . In 1706 Juan de Ulibarri claimed the territory of Colorado . In 1787 Juan Bautista de Anza established the settlement of San Carlos near present - day Pueblo, Colorado, but it quickly failed . This was the only Spanish attempt to create a settlement north of the Arkansas River . Colorado became part of the Spanish province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain . The Spaniards traded with Native Americans who lived there and established the Comercio Comanchero (Comanche Trade) among the Spanish settlements and the Native Americans . </P> <P> In 1803 the United States acquired a territorial claim to the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains by the Louisiana Purchase from France . However, the claim conflicted with Spain's claim to sovereignty over the territory . Zebulon Pike led a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition into the disputed region in 1806 . Pike and his men were arrested by Spanish cavalry in the San Luis Valley, taken to Chihuahua, then expelled from México . </P>

Where was the first post explorer settlement located in colorado