Utah is one of the fifty states of the United States, in the west of the country, inland with no coast. Its capital and biggest city is Salt Lake City. Say it 'YOO-taw'. The adjective for people and things from there is 'Utahn', though many people simply say 'from Utah'.

Two things make Utah stand out. The first is religion. It is the centre of the Mormon church — properly, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — whose members travelled west in the 1840s to settle the valley by the Great Salt Lake. A large share of the state's people are members, and that shapes daily life in visible ways: the church's headquarters is in Salt Lake City, and the state's alcohol laws are stricter than in most of the country.

The second is the land. Utah is dry, high, and famously beautiful — red rock deserts, deep canyons, stone arches, and mountains that get heavy snow. Its national parks, such as Zion and Arches, draw visitors from all over the world, and the ski resorts near Salt Lake City are why the city hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002. The Great Salt Lake itself is far saltier than the sea, salty enough to float in.

Though actually, learners often picture Utah as one thing — a quiet religious desert — and that is out of date. Salt Lake City is a modern, growing city, and the area south of it has so many technology companies that people call it Silicon Slopes.