Carson City, officially the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City, is an independent city and the capital of the state of Nevada. The majority of the population of the town lives in Eagle Valley, on the eastern edge of the Carson Range, a branch of the Sierra Nevada. The town is about 30 miles (48 km) south of Reno. The town originated as a stopover for California bound emigrants, but began to develop as a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains northeast of the town. The city has served as the capital of Nevada since the state was formed in 1864. For much of Carson's history the town served as a hub for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, although the tracks were removed in the 1950s. Prior to 1969, Carson City was also the county seat of Ormsby County. In 1969, the county was abolished and Carson City and a few small surrounding settlements within the former county were merged into a newly formed independent city called Carson City Consolidated Municipality. With the consolidation, the city limits today extend west across the Sierra Nevada to the California state line in the middle of Lake Tahoe. The population was 55,274 at the 2010 census.

Nevada (ⁱ/nəˈvædə/ or /nəˈvɒdə/) is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 35th most populous, and the 9th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in one single county, Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area, where the state's three largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada's capital is Carson City.

Nevada is largely desert and semiarid, with much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountains lie on the western edge. Approximately 86% of the state's land is owned by the US government under various jurisdictions, both civilian and military.

The name Nevada is derived from the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains, which means "snow-capped mountain range" in Spanish. The land comprising the modern state was inhabited by Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe tribes prior to European contact. It was subsequently claimed by Spain as a part of Alta California until the Mexican War of Independence brought it under Mexican control. The United States gained the territory in 1848 following its victory in the Mexican-American War and the area was eventually incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a population boom that was an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864.