New Mexico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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| State nickname: Land of Enchantment | |||||
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| Other U.S. States | |||||
| Capital | Santa Fe | ||||
| Largest city | Albuquerque | ||||
| Governor | Bill Richardson (D) | ||||
| Senators | Pete Domenici (R)
Jeff Bingaman (D) |
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| Official language(s) | English and Spanish | ||||
| Area | 315,194 km² (5th) | ||||
| - Land | 314,590 km² | ||||
| - Water | 607 km² (0.2%) | ||||
| Population (2000) | |||||
| - Population | 1,819,046 (36th) | ||||
| - Density | 5.79 /km² (45th) | ||||
| Admission into Union | |||||
| - Date | January 6, 1912 | ||||
| - Order | 47th | ||||
| Time zone | Mountain: UTC-7/-6 | ||||
| Latitude | 31°20'N to 37°N | ||||
| Longitude | 103°W to 109°W | ||||
| Width | 550 km | ||||
| Length | 595 km | ||||
| Elevation | |||||
| - Highest point | Wheeler Peak, 13,161 ft, 4,014 m | ||||
| - Mean | 5,692 ft, 1735 m | ||||
| - Lowest point | Red Bluff Reservoir, 2,817 ft, 859 m | ||||
| Abbreviations | |||||
| - USPS | NM | ||||
| - ISO 3166-2 | US-NM | ||||
| Web site | www.state.nm.us | ||||
New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México) is one of the two southwestern states of the USA. Over its relatively long history it has also been occupied by Native American populations, part of the Spanish colony of New Spain, a province of the Republic of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. New Mexico has the highest percentage of people of Hispanic ancestry of any state, some recent immigrants and others descendants of Spanish colonists. The state also has a large Indian population. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and American Indian cultural influences.
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History
Native American Pueblos
Prehistoric Native Americans used the land and minerals of New Mexico to build an early Southwestern culture millennia ago. Prehistoric Native American ruins indicate a presence at modern Santa Fe. Caves in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque contain the remains of some of the earliest inhabitants of the New World. The Pueblo people built a flourishing sedentary culture in the 1200s, constructing small towns in the valley of the Rio Grande and pueblos nearby.
The Spanish encountered Pueblo civilization in the 1500s. Word of the pueblos reached Cabeza de Vaca, a Spaniard who survived a shipwreck on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico while wandering across southern New Mexico with his companion Estabanico in 1528–1536. Fray Marcos de Niza enthusiastically identified the pueblos as the fabulously rich Seven Cities of Cibola, the fabled seven cities of gold. Dispatched from New Spain, conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led a full-scale expedition to find these cities in 1540–1542. Coronado camped near an excavated pueblo today preserved as Coronado State Monument in 1541. His maltreatment of the Pueblo people while exploring the upper Rio Grande valley led to hostility that impeded the Spanish conquest of New Mexico.
The three largest pueblos of New Mexico are Zuni, Santo Domingo, and Laguna pueblos.
Spanish colonization
Juan de Oñate founded the San Juan colony on the Rio Grande in 1598, the first European settlement in the future state of New Mexico. Oñate pioneered the El Camino Real, "The Royal Road" as a 700 mile (1100 km) lifeline 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.
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. As the seat of government of New Mexico since its founding, Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States. Peralta built the Palace of Governors in 1610. Although the colony failed to prosper, some missions flourished. Spanish settlers arrived at the site of Albuquerque in the mid-1600s. Missionaries attempted to convert the natives to Christianity but had little success [1]. The Apache revolted violently in 1676, and the Pueblo uprising of 1680 drove the Spanish to abandon northern New Mexico until the campaign of Diego de Vargas Zapata reestablished Spanish control and returned Spanish colonists in 1692.
While developing Santa Fe as a trade center, the returning settlers founded the old town of Albuquerque in 1706, naming for the viceroy of New Spain, the Duke of Alburquerque. Prior to its founding Albuquerque consisted of several Haciendas and communities along the lower Rio Grande. They constructed the Church of San Felipe de Nerí (1706). The thorough development of ranching and some farming in the 1700s laid the foundations for the state's still-flourishing Hispanic culture.
Mexican province
Napoleon Bonaparte of France sold the vast Louisiana Purchase, which extended into the northeastern corner of New Mexico, to the United States in 1803. As a part of New Spain, the remainder of the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico following the 1810-1821 Mexican War of Independence.
Small trapping parties from the United States had previously reached Santa Fe, but the Spanish rulers forbade them to trade. Trader William Becknell returned to the United States in November 1821 with news that independent Mexico welcomed trade through Santa Fe.
Becknell left Independence, Missouri, for Santa Fe early in 1822 with the first party of traders. Wagon caravans thereafter made the 40- to 60-day annual trek along the 780 mile (1,260 km) Santa Fe Trail, usually leaving in early summer and returning after a 4 to 5 week stay in New Mexico. The Trail divided into Mountain and Cimarron Divisions southwest of Dodge City, Kansas. The rugged Mountain Division passed over Raton Pass and rejoined the more direct Cimarron Division near Fort Union, New Mexico. The dry southern Cimmaron route offered poor short grass and little wildlife. The Santa Fe National Historic Trail follows the route of the old trail, with many sites marked or restored.
American frontiersman Kit (Christopher) Carson, apprenticed to a saddler in the Santa Fe Trail outfitting point of Old Franklin, ran away from his job in 1826. He joined a caravan for Santa Fe, and made Taos, his home and headquarters as he made a living as a teamster, cook, guide, and hunter for exploring parties until 1840.
The breakaway Republic of Texas claimed the territory north and east of the Rio Grande when it seceded from Mexico in 1836. New Mexico authorities captured a group of Texans who embarked an expedition to assert their claim to the province in 1841.
American territory
American General Stephen W. Kearny marched down the Santa Fe Trail and entered Santa Fe without opposition in 1846 during the Mexican-American War, and his forces occupied the city, making New Mexico, which included present-day Arizona, a captive United States territory. Kearny asserted that his occupation was only of the eastern part of New Mexico (Texas, annexed by the United States in 1845, claimed all land on its side of the Rio Grande). He also protected citizens under martial law by the Kearny Code, essentially Kearny's promise that religious and legal conditions would not be disrupted by the United States. Though the reality of occupation soon included western New Mexico, the Kearny Code became one of the bases of New Mexico's legal code during its territorial period, the longest in United States history.
While Kearny's entrance into New Mexico was relatively peaceful, the region did not remain that way. General Kearny continued on to California according to U.S. wartime strategy, guided by Kit Carson, but leaving an occupying force behind. After Kearny's departure, a rebellion broke out in the town and pueblo of Taos, where Taos Indians killed Governor Charles Bent and all but two Americans in the town on January 19, 1847. Retaliating quickly, a U.S. detachment under Colonel Sterling Price marched on Taos, attacked the town, and concentrated cannon fire upon the church, the center of the insurgency, resulting in the deaths of 150 insurgents and the capture of some 400 more. Six leaders were arraigned and, on February 9, hanged for their role in the Taos Revolt. A series of skirmishes between mountain-based rebels and U.S. forces continued well into 1847, with casualties totaling more than 300 rebels and thirty "Anglos," as Americans were often called.
Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, Mexico ceded much of its northern holdings, today known as the American Southwest to the United States of America in exchange for an end to hostilities and $15 million, plus the assumption of slightly more than $3 million in outstanding Mexican debts. New Mexico, the name given to the territory between Texas and California, was to quickly become a state according to the treaty, but the U.S. Senate unilaterally amended that provision during ratification proceedings. The Senate also struck out Article X of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which assured that land grants authorized by the Mexican government would be recognized and protected by the U.S. government. The decision to strike down Article X remains a controversial one, especially in some of the region's Hispanic communities, as it eventually led to millions of acres of land, timber, and water being removed from Mexican-issued land grants and placed in the public domain. Spanish-issued land grants, including those made to the Pueblos, have survived acquisition attempts.
The Compromise of 1850 halted a bid for statehood under an antislavery constitution. Texas transferred eastern New Mexico to the federal government, settling a lengthy boundary dispute. Under the compromise, the American government established the New Mexico Territory on September 9, 1850. The territory, which included Arizona and parts of Colorado, officially established its capital at Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1851. The people of New Mexico would determine whether to permit slavery under a constitution at statehood, but the status of slavery during the territorial period provoked considerable debate. Some (including Stephen A. Douglas) maintained that the territory could not restrict slavery, as under the earlier Missouri Compromise, while others (including Abraham Lincoln) insisted that older Mexican legal traditions, which forbade slavery, took precedence. Regardless of its status, slavery never took a significant hold.
Native American plundering led Kit Carson to abandon his intent to retire to a sheep ranch near Taos. Carson accepted an 1853 appointment as U.S. Indian agent with a headquarters at Taos, and fought the Indians with notable success.
The United States acquired the southwestern bootheel of the state and much of southern Arizona in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. With this purchase, the United States established its sovereignty over all of the present state of New Mexico.
During the American Civil War, Confederate troops from Texas first occupied southern New Mexico. Union troops re-captured the territory in early 1862. Kit Carson helped to organize and command the 1st New Mexican Volunteers to engage in campaigns against the Apache, Navajo, and Comanche in New Mexico and Texas as well as participating in the Battle of Valverde against the confederates. The Arizona Territory split as a separate entity in 1863. Confederate troops withdrew after the Battle of Glorieta Pass where Union regulars, Colorado Volunteers (The Pikes Peakers), and New Mexican Volunteers defeated them.
The Roman Catholic Church established an archbishopric center in Santa Fe in 1875. The Santa Fe Railroad reached Lamy, New Mexico, 16 miles (26 km) from Santa Fe in 1879 and Santa Fe itself in 1880, replacing the storied Santa Fe Trail. The new town of Albuquerque, platted in 1880 as the Santa Fe Railroad extended westward, quickly enveloped the old town.
The railway encouraged the great cattle boom of the 1880s and the development of accompanying cow towns. Cattlemen feuded between each other and with authorities, most notably in the Lincoln County War. Outlaws included Billy the Kid. The cattle kingdom could not keep out sheepherders, and eventually homesteaders and squatters overwhelmed the cattlemen by fencing in and plowing under the "sea of grass" on which the cattle fed. Conflicting land claims led to bitter quarrels among the original Spanish inhabitants, cattle ranchers, and newer homesteaders. Despite destructive overgrazing, ranching survived as a mainstay of the New Mexican economy.
Conflict with the Apache and the Navajo plagued the territory until Apache chief Geronimo finally surrendered in 1886.
Albuquerque, on the upper Rio Grande, incorporated in 1889.
Statehood
Congress admitted New Mexico as the 47th state in the Union on January 6, 1912. The admission of the neighboring State of Arizona on February 14, 1912 completed the contiguous 48 states.
The United States government built the Los Alamos Research Center in 1943 amid the Second World War. Top-secret personnel there developed the atomic bomb, first detonated at Trinity site in the desert on the White Sands Proving Grounds vaguely near Alamogordo on July 16, 1945.
Albuquerque expanded rapidly after the war. High-altitude experiments near Roswell in 1947 reputedly led to persistent claims that the government captured and concealed extraterrestrial corpses and equipment. The state quickly emerged as a leader in nuclear, solar, and geothermal energy research and development. The Sandia National Laboratories, founded in 1949, carried out nuclear research and special weapons development at Kirtland Air Force Base south of Albuquerque.
The controversial Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, deep in salt formations near Carlsbad readied for storage of nuclear wastes during the 1990s.
Law and government
The capital of New Mexico is Santa Fe. The Constitution of 1912, as amended, dictates the form of government in the State.
Governor Bill Richardson and Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, both Democrats, will face re-election in 2006. Governors serve a term of four years and may seek reelection. For a list of past governors of the State of New Mexico, see List of New Mexico Governors.
Other Constitutional officers, all of whose terms also expire in January 2007, include Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Attorney General Patricia A. Madrid, and State Treasurer Robert E. Vigil. All three are Democrats.
A state house of representatives with 70 members and a state senate with 42 members comprise the state legislature. The Democratic Party generally dominates state politics, and as of 2004 50% of voters were registered Democrats, 33% were registered Republicans, and 17% did not affiliate with either of the two major parties.
In national politics, however, New Mexico occupies the dead center, giving its 5 electoral votes to all but two Presidential election winners since statehood. In these exceptions, New Mexicans supported Republican President Gerald Ford over Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Democratic Vice President Al Gore over Texas Governor George W. Bush (by just 366 popular votes) in 2000. No presidential candidate has won an absolute majority here since George H. W. Bush in 1988, and no Democrat has done so since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. In the last four elections, New Mexico supported Democrats in 1992, 1996, and 2000. New Mexico was one of only two states to support Al Gore in 2000 and George Bush in 2004 (the other state was Iowa). In 2004, George W. Bush narrowly won the state's 5 electoral votes by a margin of 0.8 percentage points with 49.8% of the vote. Democrat John Kerry won in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, two northwestern Indian counties, and by large margins in the six predominately Hispano/Spanish counties of Northern New Mexico (Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos, Mora, San Miguel, and Guadalupe).
New Mexico sends Democrat Jeff Bingaman to the United States Senate until January 2007 and Republican Pete V. Domenici until January 2009. Republicans Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson and Democrat Tom Udall represent the Land of Enchantment in the United States House of Representatives.
Geography
See: List of New Mexico counties
The eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103 °W with Oklahoma, and 3 miles (5 km) west of 103 °W with Texas. Texas also lies south of most of New Mexico, although the southwestern boot-heel borders the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. The western border with Arizona runs along 109 °W. The 37 °N parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the northwestern corner of New Mexico.
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. Part of the Rocky Mountains, the broken, north-south oriented Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) range flanks both sides of the Rio Grande from the rugged, pastoral north through the center of the state. Government lands include the Cibola National Forest, headquartered in Albuquerque, and the Santa Fe National Forest, headquartered in Santa Fe.
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 beautiful New Mexico as national forests and monuments. The natural attractions of New Mexico include Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the Aztec Ruins National Monument. Thousands of tourists annually visit the White Sands National Monument, Bandelier, Capulin Volcano National Monument, El Morro.
The rich history of New Mexico also attracts visitors to such places as Fort Union, Gila Cliff Dwellings, and Salinas Pueblo Missions national monuments and Chaco Culture National Historical Park. 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.
- See also: Delaware Basin
Interstate freeways & US highways
| Interstate Freeways | Interstate 10 |
| Interstate 25 | |
| Interstate 40 | |
| U.S. Highways East–West Routes |
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| U.S. Highway 550 | |
| U.S. Highway 54 | |
| U.S. Highway 56 | |
| U.S. Highway 60 | |
| U.S. Highway 62 | |
| U.S. Highway 64 | |
| U.S. Highway 66 (Historic Route 66) |
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| U.S. Highway 70 | |
| U.S. Highway 80 | |
| U.S. Highway 180 | |
| U.S. Highway 380 | |
| U.S. Highway 82 | |
| U.S. Highway 84 | |
| U.S. Highways North–South Routes |
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| U.S. Highway 285 | |
| U.S. Highway 491 |
See also: List of New Mexico highways
Economy
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Mexico's total state product in 2003 was $57 billion. Per capital personal income in 2003 was $24,995, 48th in the nation. [2]
Cattle and dairy products top the list of major animal products of New Mexico. Cattle, sheep, and other livestock graze most of the arable land of the state throughout the year.
Limited but scientifically controlled dryland farming prospers alongside cattle ranching. Major crops include hay, nursery stock, pecans, and chile peppers. Hay and sorghum top the list of major dryland crops. Farmers also produce onions, potatoes, and dairy products. New Mexico specialty crops include piñon nuts, pinto beans, and chiles.
In the desert and semiarid portions of the state, the scant rainfall evaporates rapidly, generally leaving insufficient water supplies for large-scale irrigation. The Carlsbad and Fort Sumner reclamation projects on the Pecos River and the nearby Tucumcari project provide adequate water for limited irrigation in those areas. Located upstream of Las Cruces, the Elephant Butte Dam and Reservoir provides a major irrigation source for the extensive farming along the Rio Grande. Other irrigation projects use the Colorado River basin and the San Juan River.
Lumber mills in Albuquerque process pinewood, the chief commercial wood of the rich timber economy of northern New Mexico.
New Mexicans derive much of their income from mineral extraction. Even before European exploration, Native Americans mined turquoise for making jewelry, and later silver [3]. New Mexico produces uranium ore, manganese ore, potash, salt, perlite, copper ore, beryllium, and tin concentrates. Natural gas, petroleum, and coal are also found in smaller quantities.
Industrial outputs, centered around Albuquerque, include electric equipment; petroleum and coal products; food processing; printing and publishing; and stone, glass, and clay products. Defense-related industries include ordnance. Important high-technology industries include lasers, data processing, and solar energy.
Federal government spending is a major driver of the New Mexico economy; and provides more than a quarter of the state's jobs. Many of the federal jobs relate to the military; the state hosts three air force bases (Kirtland Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, and Cannon Air Force Base), a testing range (White Sands Missile Range), an army proving ground and maneuver range (Fort Bliss Military Reservation - McGregor Range) national observatories, and the technology labs of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL conducts electronic and industrial research next to Kirtland AFB, on the southeast side of Albuquerque. These installations also include the missile and spacecraft proving grounds at White Sands. In addition to the military employers, other federal agencies such as the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service, and the United States Bureau of Land Management are a big part of the states rural employment base.
Tourism provides many service jobs. For top attractions see: Tourism.
The private service economy in urban New Mexico has boomed in recent decades. Since the end of World War II Albuquerque has gained an ever-growing number of retirees, especially among armed forces veterans and government workers. The city is also increasingly gaining notoriety as a health conscious community, and contains many hospitals and a high per capita number of massage and alternative therapists. The warm, semiarid climate has contributed to the exploding population of Albuquerque, attracting new industries to New Mexico. By contrast, many heavily Native American and Hispanic rural communities remain economically underdeveloped.
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- Source: State of New Mexico Department of Labor [4]
Largest employers
(Not ranked by size)
- Northern
- College of Santa Fe
- Boy Scouts of America
- U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- Mesa Air Group
- Navajo Nation
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Central
- PNM Resources and PNM Electric & Gas Services
- Presbyterian Health Plan
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Intel
- University of New Mexico
- New Mexico State Government
- Eastern
- Albertson's Supermarket
- Kmart Corporation
- U.S. Postal Service
- Wal-Mart
- Navajo Refining Company
- U.S. National Park Service (NPS)
- Allsup's Convenience Stores
- Southwestern
- Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
- Lockheed Engineering and Sciences
- New Mexico State University
- Lovelace Healthcare
- Pepsi Cola Bottling
- NM Institute of Mining and Technology
- U.S. Army (Fort Bliss)
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- Source: Economic Research & Analysis Bureau New Mexico Department of Labor [5]
Demographics
| Historical populations | |
|---|---|
| Census year |
Population |
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| 1850 | 61,547 |
| 1860 | 87,034 |
| 1870 | 91,874 |
| 1880 | 119,565 |
| 1890 | 160,282 |
| 1900 | 195,310 |
| 1910 | 327,301 |
| 1920 | 360,350 |
| 1930 | 423,317 |
| 1940 | 531,818 |
| 1950 | 681,187 |
| 1960 | 951,023 |
| 1970 | 1,016,000 |
| 1980 | 1,302,894 |
| 1990 | 1,515,069 |
| 2000 | 1,819,046 |
According to the Census Bureau, as of 2004, the population of New Mexico was 1,903,289. The state's population had grown 388,000 (25.6%) since 1990. As of 2004, 10% of the residents of the state were foreign-born, and more than 2% of state residents were illegal aliens.
Race and Ancestry
The racial makeup of New Mexico:
- 44.7% White non-Hispanic
- 42.1% Hispanic
- 9.5% Native American
- 1.9% Black
- 1.1% Asian
- 3.6% Mixed race
The five largest ancestry groups in New Mexico are: Spanish/Hispano (24%), Mexican (18.1%), English) (7.6%), Native American (9.5%), and German (9.9%).
The Hispanos of colonial Spanish ancestry are present in most of the state, especially northern, central, and northeastern New Mexico. Mexicans are prominent in southern part of the state. The northwestern corner of the state is primarily American Indian, of which Navajos and Pueblos are the largest tribes. New Mexico has the largest Hispanic population of any state, the second largest proportion of American Indians, and the largest percentage of residents of Spanish origin (24%).
7.2% of New Mexico's population were reported as under 5, 28% under 18, and 11.7% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 50.8% of the population.
Lists
For a list of notable New Mexicans see: List of people from New Mexico. For a list of cities and towns, in New Mexico, with a population greater than 3,000, see: Cities & towns in New Mexico. See also: New Mexico locations by per capita income.
Religion
New Mexico has the highest percentage of Catholics of any Western state. And like many other Western states, New Mexico has a higher-than-average percentage of people who claim no religion in comparison to other U.S. states.
- Christian – 80%
- Roman Catholic – 41%
- Protestant – 35%
- Baptist – 10%
- Presbyterian – 4%
- Pentecostal – 3%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
- Mormon – 3%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 19%
Roman Catholicism
New Mexico belongs to the Ecclesiastical Province of Santa Fe. New Mexico has three dioceses, one of which is an archdiocese:
Culture
With a Native American population of 134,000 in 1990, New Mexico still ranks as an important center of American Indian culture. Both the Navajo and Apache share Athabaskan origin. The Apache and some Ute live on federal reservations within the state. With 16 million acres (65,000 km²), mostly in neighboring Arizona, the reservation of the Navajo Nation ranks as the largest in the United States. The prehistorically agricultural Pueblo Indians live in pueblos scattered throughout the state, many older than any European settlement.
More than one-third of New Mexicans claim Hispanic origin, the vast majority of whom descend from the original Spanish colonists in the northern portion of the state. Most of the considerably fewer recent Mexican immigrants reside in the southern part of the state.
At least one-third of New Mexicans are also fluent in a unique dialect of Spanish. New Mexican Spanish is rife with vocabulary often unknown to other Spanish speakers. Because of the historical isolation of New Mexico from other speakers of the Spanish language, the local dialect preserves some late medieval Castillian vocabulary considered archaic elsewhere, adopts numerous Native American words for local features, and contains much Anglicized vocabulary for American concepts and modern inventions.
The tranquil climate and startling panoramas have attracted Americans seeking health and retirement.
The presence of various indigenous Native American communities, the long-established Spanish and Mexican influence, and the diversity of Anglo-American settlement in the region, ranging from pioneer farmers and ranchers in the territorial period to military families in later decades, make New Mexico a particularly heterogeneous state.
There are natural history and atomic museums in Albuquerque, which also hosts the famed Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
A large artistic community thrives in Santa Fe. The capital city has museums of Spanish colonial, international folk, Navajo ceremonial, modern Native American, and other modern art. Another museum honors resident Georgia O'Keeffe. Colonies for artists and writers thrive, and the small city teems with art galleries. Performing arts include the renowned Santa Fe summer opera, and the restored Lensic Theater. Writer D.H. Lawrence resided in Taos. The weekend after Labor Day boasts the burning of Zozobra, a sixty-foot marionette, and Fiesta de Santa Fe.
Tourism
New Mexico's top tourist attractions:
- Santa Fe
- Plaza of Santa Fe
- Loretto Chapel
- San Miguel Mission
- St. Francis Cathedral
- Georgia O'Keefe Museum/Gallery
- El Rancho de las Golondrinas (Spanish Colonial living history museum)
- Taos Pueblo, Taos art colony, and Ski Valley
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- White Sands National Monument, the Trinity Site, and Missile Range, Alamogordo
- Albuquerque:
- Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
- Old Town Albuquerque
- Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
- Rio Grande Zoological Park
- Sandia Peak Tramway
- National Atomic Museum
- Indian Pueblo Culture Center
- Chaco Culture National Historical Park, San Juan Basin
- The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, Chama
- Gila Cliff Dwellings, Silver City
- Roswell (UFO Landing Site) and the International UFO Museum, Roswell
- Billy the Kid Museum, Fort Sumner
- El Malpais National Monumant, Acoma Pueblo & Misson, and Laguna Pueblo & Misson
- Historic Lincoln, Ruidoso, and Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation
- Very Large Array (VLA), Datil
The state also has a number of casinos located on Native American Indian Reservations that attract thousands of visitors each year.
Major cities and towns
New Mexico's largest cities are Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, and Roswell. For a list of cities and towns, in New Mexico, with a population greater than 3,000, see: Cities & towns in New Mexico.
Education
Colleges and universities
Miscellaneous information
Official state symbols
| State motto | "Crescit eundo" ("It Grows as It Goes") |
1912 |
| State nicknames | "Land of Enchantment" (Spanish: "Tierra de Encanto" or "Tierra Encantada") |
19_? |
| "The Colorful State" | 19_? | |
| State songs | "O Fair New Mexico" | 1917 |
| "Asi Es Nuevo México" | 1971 | |
| "New Mexico-Mi Lindo Nuevo México" | 1995 | |
| State flower | Yucca flower | 1927 |
| State tree | Two-Needle Piñon pine | 1949 |
| State bird | Greater roadrunner | 1949 |
| State fish | Cutthroat trout | 1955 |
| State animal | black bear | 1963 |
| State vegetables | chile and frijol | 1965 |
| State gem | turquoise | 1967 |
| State grass | blue gramma | 1973 |
| State fossil | coelophysis | 1981 |
| State cookie | bizcochito | 1989 |
| State insect | tarantula hawk | 1989 |
| State ballad | "Land of Enchantment" | 1989 |
| State poem | A Nuevo México | 1991 |
| State question * | "Red or Green?" | 1999 |
| State ship | "USS New Mexico (BB-40)" | 1918-1946 |
| "USS New Mexico (SSN-779)" | **2006 |
(*)The official State Question refers to a question commonly heard at restaurants, where waiters will ask customers "red or green?" in reference to which kind of chile pepper or "Chile sauce" the customers want served with their meal. This type of "chile" is usually distinct from Salsa, as the Chile sauce is much finer and thicker and more commonly served with meals. Natives are more likely to refer to the Chile sauce put on their meal as just plain "Chile", and not as any form of "salsa" (which is usually reserved by natives in English for the salsa served with chips; everything else is just "Chile"). If the diner wants both they can answer with, "Christmas" (or "Navidad" in Spanish), in reference to the two traditional colors of Christmas - Red and Green. However, most natives are simply say, "both".
(**)The second USS New Mexico, SSN-779, is scheduled to be constructed.
Further reading
- Thomas E. Chavez, An Illustrated History of New Mexico, 267 pages, University of New Mexico Press 2002, ISBN 0826330517
- Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, David R. Maciel, editors, The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History of New Mexico, 314 pages - University of New Mexico Press 2000, ISBN 0826321992
- Tony Hillerman, The Great Taos Bank Robbery and other Indian Country Affairs, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1973, trade paperback, 147 pages, (ISBN 082630530X)
- Paul Horgan, Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History, 1038 pages, Wesleyan University Press 1991, 4th Reprint, ISBN 819562513 - Pulitzer Prize 1955
- Robert W. Kern, Labor in New Mexico: Strikes, Unions, and Social History, 1881-1981, University of New Mexico Press 1983, ISBN 0826306756
- Marc Simmons, New Mexico: An Interpretive History, 221 pages, University of New Mexico Press 1988, ISBN 0826311105 - good introduction
External links
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