Etymology

The name of the mountains is a translation of an Amerindian name that is closely

related to Algonquian; the Cree name "as-sin-wati", is given as, when seen from
across the prairies, they looked like a rocky mass. The first mention of their
present name by a European was in the journal of Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre
in 1752, where they were called "Montagnes de Roche".[1][2]

Geography
See also: Geography of the United States Rocky Mountain System
The Rocky Mountains are commonly defined as stretching from the Liard River in
British Columbia south to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Other mountain ranges
continue beyond those two rivers, including the Selwyn Mountains in Yukon, the
Brooks Range in Alaska, and the Sierra Madre in Mexico, but those are not part of
the Rockies, though they are part of the American Cordillera. The United States
definition of the Rockies includes the Cabinet and Salish Mountains of Idaho and
Montana. Their counterparts north of the Kootenai River, the Columbia Mountains,
are considered a separate system in Canada, lying to the west of the huge Rocky
Mountain Trench. This runs the length of British Columbia from its beginnings in
the middle Flathead River valley in western Montana to the south bank of the Liard
River.[3] The Rockies vary in width from 70 to 300 miles (110 to 480 kilometers).
Also west of the Rocky Mountain Trench, farther north and facing the Muskwa Range
across the trench, are the Stikine Ranges and Omineca Mountains of the Interior
Mountains system of British Columbia. A small area east of Prince George, British
Columbia on the eastern side of the Trench, the McGregor Plateau, resembles the
Rockies but is considered part of the Interior Plateau.

The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains near Denver, Colorado

The eastern edge of the Rockies rises dramatically above the Interior Plains of
central North America, including the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico and
Colorado, the Front Range of Colorado, the Wind River Range and Big Horn Mountains
of Wyoming, the Absaroka-Beartooth ranges and Rocky Mountain Front of Montana and
the Clark Range of Alberta. In Canada geographers define three main groups of
ranges: the Continental Ranges, Hart Ranges and Muskwa Ranges (the latter two flank
the Peace River, the only river to pierce the Rockies, and are collectively
referred to as the Northern Rockies). The Muskwa and Hart Ranges together comprise
what is known as the Northern Rockies (the Mackenzie Mountains north of the Liard
River are sometimes referred to as being part of the Rocky Mountains but this is an
unofficial designation).

The Tetons are a rugged subrange in Wyoming

The western edge of the Rockies includes ranges such as the Wasatch near Salt Lake
City and the Bitterroots along the Idaho-Montana border. The Great Basin and
Columbia River Plateau separate these sub-ranges from distinct ranges further to
the west, most prominent among which are the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range and Coast
Mountains. The Rockies do not extend into the Yukon or Alaska, or into central
British Columbia, where the Rocky Mountain System (but not the Rocky Mountains)
includes the Columbia Mountains, the southward extension of which is considered
part of the Rockies in the United States. The Rocky Mountain System within the
United States is a United States physiographic region; the Rocky Mountain System is
known in Canada as the Eastern System.

The Rocky Mountains are notable for containing the highest peaks in central North
America. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert located in Colorado at 14,440
feet (4,401 m) above sea level. Mount Robson in British Columbia, at 12,972 feet
(3,954 m), is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.
Mount Robson in British Columbia.
The Continental Divide of the Americas is located in the Rocky Mountains and
designates the line at which waters flow either to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.
Triple Divide Peak (8,020 feet (2,440 m)) in Glacier National Park is so named
because water that falls on the mountain reaches not only the Atlantic and Pacific,
but Hudson Bay as well. Farther north in Alberta, the Athabasca and other rivers
feed the basin of the Mackenzie River, which has its outlet on the Beaufort Sea of
the Arctic Ocean. See Rivers of the Rocky Mountains for a list of rivers.

Human population is not very dense in the Rocky Mountains, with an average of four
people per square kilometer and few cities with over 50,000 people. However, the
human population grew rapidly in the Rocky Mountain states between 1950 and 1990.
The 40-year statewide increases in population range from 35% in Montana to about
150% in Utah and Colorado. The populations of several mountain towns and
communities have doubled in the last 40 years. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, increased
260%, from 1,244 to 4,472 residents, in 40 years.[4]