city, Canyon county, southwestern Idaho, U.S. It lies in the centre of the Boise Valley. Founded in 1886 on the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad (Union Pacific Railroad Company) at the junction of a branch to Boise (20 miles 【32 km】 east), it was a hamlet in the sagebrush desert until irrigation made farming possible starting in the 1890s. A wide variety of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and grains are produced in the surrounding area. Nampa was named for Nampuh (“Bigfoot”), a Shoshone Indian leader. The city is a food-processing and shipping centre, and it has some light industry as well as several technology companies. It sponsors the annual Snake River Stampede, which is one of the leading rodeos in the West. Nampa is the seat of Northwest Nazarene University (1913). Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge is 5 miles (8 km) southwest. Inc. 1890. Pop. (1990) 28,365; (2000) 51,867.