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| State of New Mexico |
|
|
| Official language(s) |
None |
| Demonym |
New Mexican |
| Capital |
Santa Fe |
| Largest city |
Albuquerque |
| Largest metro area |
Albuquerque Rio Grande Valley |
| Area |
Ranked 5th in the US |
| - Total |
121,665 sq mi
(315,194 km²) |
| - Width |
342 miles (550 km) |
| - Length |
370 miles (595 km) |
| - % water |
0.2 |
| - Latitude |
31° 20′ N to 37° N |
| - Longitude |
103° W to 109° 3′ W |
| Population |
Ranked 36th in the US |
| - Total |
1,819,046 |
| - Density |
14.98/sq mi
5.79/km² (45th in the US) |
| Elevation |
|
| - Highest point |
Wheeler Peak[1]
13,161 ft (4,011 m) |
| - Mean |
5,692 ft (1,735 m) |
| - Lowest point |
Red Bluff Reservoir[1]
2,842 ft (866 m) |
| Admission to Union |
January 6, 1912 (47th) |
| Governor |
Bill Richardson (D) |
| Lieutenant Governor |
Diane Denish (D) |
| U.S. Senators |
Pete Domenici (R)
Jeff Bingaman (D) |
| Congressional Delegation |
List |
| Time zone |
Mountain: UTC-7/-6 |
| Abbreviations |
NM US-NM |
| Website |
www.newmexico.gov |
The State of New Mexico (pronounced /nuːˈmɛksɨkoʊ/) is located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It has been inhabited by Native American populations and has been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanic Americans, comprising both recent immigrants and descendants of Spanish colonists.[2] It also has the third-highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska and Oklahoma, and the fifth-highest total number of Native Americans after California, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Texas.[3] The tribes represented in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo
peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are
unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and American Indian cultural
influences. The climate of the state is highly arid and its territory
is mostly covered by mountains and desert. At a population density of 15 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth most sparsely inhabited U.S. State.
Geography
- Further information: List of New Mexico counties
Digitally colored elevation map of NM
The state's total area is 121,665 square miles (315,110 km²). The eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and three miles (5 km) west of 103.5° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, with Chihuahua making up about 90% of that. The western border with Arizona runs along the 109° 03' W longitude. The 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners
in the northwestern corner of New Mexico. New Mexico, although a large
state, has little water. Its surface water area is only about
250 square miles (650 km²). New Mexico's average precipitation rate is
only 15 inches (380 mm) a year.
The landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexico's arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, especially towards the north. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande (Big River) in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexico's rivers are the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, and Gila. The Rio Grande is the eighth longest river in the U.S.
Cacti, yuccas, creosote bush, sagebrush, and desert grasses cover the broad, semiarid plains that cover the southern portion of the state.
The Federal government protects millions of acres of New Mexico as national forests including:
Areas managed by the National Park Service include:[4]
Visitors also frequent the surviving native pueblos of New Mexico.
Tourists visiting these sites bring significant monies to the state.
Other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The Gila Wilderness lies in the southwest of the state.
Abandoned house on New Mexico Highway 209 north of Clovis reflects changes in rural America.
- See also: Delaware Basin
History
-
Wagon in the mechanics corral of Fort Union National Monument, New Mexico
The first known inhabitants of New Mexico were members of the Clovis culture of Paleo-Indians.
Indeed the culture is named for the New Mexico city where the first
artifacts of this culture were discovered. Later inhabitants include Native Americans of the Anasazi and the Mogollon cultures. By the time of European contact in the 1500s, the region was settled by the villages of the Pueblo peoples and groups of Navajo, Apache and Ute.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado assembled an enormous expedition at Compostela in 1540–1542 to explore and find the mystical Seven Golden Cities of Cibola as described by Cabeza de Vaca
who had just arrived from his eight-year ordeal traveling from Florida
to Mexico. Coronado's men found several mud baked pueblos in 1541, but
found no rich cities of gold. Further widespread expeditions found no
fabulous cities anywhere in the Southwest or Great Plains. A dispirited
and now poor Coronado and his men began their journey back to Mexico
leaving New Mexico behind.
Over 50 years after Coronado, Juan de Oñate founded the San Juan
colony on the Rio Grande in 1598, the first permanent European
settlement in the future state of New Mexico. Oñate pioneered the
grandly named El Camino Real, "Royal Road," as a 700 mile (1,100 km) trail from the rest of New Spain to his remote colony. Oñate was made the first governor of the new Province of New Mexico. The Native Americans at Acoma revolted against this Spanish encroachment but faced severe suppression.
Pueblo Ruins at Aztec Ruins National Monument.
In 1609, Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of the Province of New Mexico, established the settlement of Santa Fe at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The city, along with most of the settled areas of the state, was
abandoned by the Spanish for 12 years (1680-1692) as a result of the
successful Pueblo Revolt. After the death of the Pueblo leader Popé, Diego de Vargas
restored the area to Spanish rule. While developing Santa Fe as a trade
center, the returning settlers founded the old town of Alburquerque in
1706, naming it for the viceroy of New Spain, the Duke of Alburquerque.
The name later evolved into its present form of Albuquerque.
Mexican province
As a part of New Spain, the claims for the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico following the 1810-1821 Mexican War of Independence.
During the brief 26 year period of nominal Mexican control, Mexican
authority and investment in New Mexico were weak, as their often
conflicted government had little time or interest in a New Mexico that
had been poor since the Spanish settlements started. Some Mexican
officials, saying they were wary of encroachments by the growing United
States, and wanting to reward themselves and their friends, began
issuing enormous land grants (usually free) to groups of Mexican families as an incentive to populate the province.
Small trapping parties from the United States had previously reached
and stayed in Santa Fe, but the Spanish authorities officially forbade
them to trade. Trader William Becknell returned to the United States in November 1821 with news that independent Mexico now welcomed trade through Santa Fe.
William Becknell left Independence, Missouri, for Santa Fe early in 1822 with the first party of traders. The Santa Fe Trail trading company, headed by the brothers Charles Bent and William Bent and Ceran St. Vrain,
was one of the most successful in the West. They had their first
trading post in the area in 1826, and, by 1833, they had built their
adobe fort and trading post called Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River. This fort and trading post, located about 200 miles (322 km) east of Taos, New Mexico, was the only place settled by whites along the Santa Fe trail before it hit Taos. The Santa Fe National Historic Trail follows the route of the old trail, with many sites marked or restored.
Classical
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