The shape of the land gave our state its name. In Spanish, Montana means “mountain.” This makes sense because the western 40 percent of the state is mountainous.
Most of the rest of the state is part of the Great Plains. The Great Plains are a huge grassland stretching from Montana in the west to the Missouri River in the east. It is from these largely flat grassy fields that Montana gets its most well-known nickname – Big Sky Country. The Treasure State is another of Montana’s pet names. It refers to our plentiful mineral resources. The nickname the Last Best Place refers to our unspoiled landscape. It’s all here in Montana, the fourth-largest state in the country – bigger than New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia put together.
