New Mexico
. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. Amerindian cultural influences.
|
Digitally colored elevation map of NM |
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.
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 including:
*
Carson National Forest *
Cibola National Forest (headquartered in
Albuquerque)
*
Lincoln National Forest*
Santa Fe National Forest (headquartered in
Santa Fe)
Other protected lands include the following national monuments:
*
Aztec Ruins National Monument at
Aztec*
Bandelier National Monument in
Los Alamos*
Capulin Volcano National Monument near
Capulin*
Carlsbad Caverns National Park near
Carlsbad*
Chaco Culture National Historical Park at
Nageezi*
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail*
El Malpais National Monument in
Grants*
El Morro National Monument in
Ramah*
Fort Union National Monument at
Watrous*
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument near
Silver City*
Old Spanish National Historic Trail*
Pecos National Historical Park in
Pecos*
Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque
*
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument at
Mountainair*
Santa Fe National Historic Trail*
White Sands National Monument near
AlamogordoVisitors 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.
The first inhabitants of New Mexico were
Native Americans of the
Clovis culture. By the time of European contact in the
1500s the region was settled the by the villages of the
Pueblo peoples.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado assembled an enormous expedition at
Compostela, Mexico in
1540â€"
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 wide spread 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, "The 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.
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
Albuquerque in
1706, naming it for the viceroy of New Spain, the Duke 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 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.
|
Route of the Old Spanish Trail |
The
Spanish Trail from
Los Angeles, California to
Santa Fe, New Mexico was primarily used by Hispanos, white traders and ex-trappers living part of the year in or near Santa Fe. Started in about 1829, the trail was an arduous 2400 mile round trip pack train sojourn that extended into Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California and back, allowing only one hard round trip per year. The trade consisted primarily of blankets and some trade goods from Santa Fe being traded for horses in California.
The
Republic of Texas claimed the mostly vacant territory north and east of the
Rio Grande when it successfully 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
Following the
Mexican-American War and the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded its mostly unsettled northern holdings, today known as the
American Southwest and
California to the United States of America in exchange for an end to hostilities, the evacuation of Mexico City and many other areas under American control. Mexico also received $15 million cash, plus the assumption of slightly more than $3 million in outstanding Mexican debts.
The Congressional
Compromise of 1850 halted a bid for statehood under a proposed 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 all of
Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of
Colorado, officially established its capital at
Santa Fe in
1851.
The United States acquired the southwestern boot heel of the state and southern
Arizona below the Gila river in the mostly desert
Gadsden Purchase of 1853. This purchase was desired when it was found that a much easier route for a proposed transcontinental railroad was located slightly south of the Gila river. The Southern Pacific built the second transcontinental railroad though this purchased land in 1881.
During the
American Civil War, Confederate troops from Texas briefly occupied southern New Mexico. Union troops re-captured the territory in early
1862.
Arizona was split off as a separate territory in 1863.
The railway encouraged the great cattle boom of the
1880s and the development of accompanying cow towns. The cattle barons 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 and remains a mainstay of the New Mexican economy.
Centuries of continued conflict with the
Apache and the
Navajo plagued the territory. The
Long Walk of the Navajo, also called the
Long Walk to Bosque Redondo in 1864 harshly repressed the Navajo but did put an end to their raiding. The Navajo returned to most of their lands in 1868. Sporadic Apache raiding continued until Apache chief
Geronimo finally surrendered in
1886.
Albuquerque, on the upper Rio Grande, was 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 between
Socorro and
Alamogordo on
July 16,
1945.
Albuquerque expanded rapidly after the war. High-altitude experiments near
Roswell in
1947 reputedly led to persistent (unproven) claims by a few 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 and at
Livermore, California.
Located in the remote Chihuahuan Desert the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is located 26 miles southeast of
Carlsbad. Here nuclear wastes are buried deep in carved out salt formation disposal rooms mined 2,150 feet underground in a 2,000-foot thick salt formation that has been stable for more than 200 million years. WIPP began operations on March 26, 1999.
| Historical populations |
|---|
Census
year | Population |
|---|
|
| 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 |
|
New Mexico Population Density Map |
As of 2005, New Mexico has an estimated population of 1,928,384, which is an increase of 25,378, or 1.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 109,338, or 6.0%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 74,397 people (that is 143,617 births minus 69,220 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 37,501 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 27,974 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 9,527 people.
As of 2004, 10% of the residents of the state were foreign-born, and more than 2% of state residents were undocumented.
Race and ancestry
The racial/ethnic makeup of New Mexico:
*44.7%
White non-Hispanic
*42.1%
Hispanic *9.5%
Native American *1.9%
Black *1.1%
Asian *3.6%
Two or more races Note: People of Hispanic origin may belong to any race. Numbers above add to over 100 percent due to some Hispanics being counted twice.New Mexico has the highest percentage of people of
Hispanic ancestry of any state, some recent immigrants and others descendants of
Spanish colonists and Indians. The state also has a large
U.S. Amerindian population. A few Hispanos of colonial ancestry, thoroughly mixed with recent Mexican immigrants, are present in most of the state, especially northern, central, and northeastern New Mexico. Mexican immigrants, legal or illegal, are prominent in southern parts of the state. The northwestern corner of the state is primarily occupied by American Indians, of which Navajos and Pueblos are the largest tribes. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong American, Colonial Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. Amerindian cultural influences.
According to the Census the five largest ancestry groups in New Mexico are:
Spanish (24%),
Mexican (18.1%),
German (9.9%),
Native American (9.5%), and
English (7.6%). Many are mixtures of all of these groups and more.
Note: The accuracy of these figures is disputed. See for further information.7.2% of New Mexico's population was reported as under 5, 28% under 18, and 11.7% were 65 or older. Females make up approximately 50.8% of the population.
Languages
New Mexico is commonly thought to have
Spanish as an official language alongside
English, due to the widespread usage of Spanish in the state. Although the original state constitution of 1912 provided for a temporarily bilingual government, New Mexico has no official language. Nevertheless, the state government publishes election ballots and a driver's manual in both languages, and in 1995 New Mexico adopted a "State Bilingual Song", titled "
New Mexico-Mi Lindo Nuevo México". [
1]
Religion
New Mexico has the highest percentage of Roman Catholics of any
Western state. Like many other states in the region, New Mexico has a higher-than-average percentage of people who claim no religion in comparison to other
U.S. states.
*
Christian – 81%
**
Roman Catholic – 41%
**
Protestant – 35%
***
Baptist – 10%
***
Presbyterian – 4%
***
Pentecostal – 3%
***Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
**
LDS (Mormon) – 4%
**Other Christian – 1%
*Other Religions – 1%
*Non-Religious – 19%
New Mexico belongs to the
Ecclesiastical Province of Santa Fe. New Mexico has three
dioceses, one of which is an
archdiocese:
*
Archdiocese of Santa Fe*
Diocese of Gallup*
Diocese of Las CrucesThe 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, 48
th in the nation. [
2]
| New Mexico Industries by 2004 Taxable Gross Receipts (000s) |
|---|
| Retail Trade | 12,287,061 |
| Construction | 5,039,555 |
| Other Services (excluding Public Administration) | 4,939,187 |
| Professional, Scientific and Technology Services | 3,708,527 |
| Accommodation and Food Services | 2,438,460 |
| Wholesale Trade | 2,146,066 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 1,897,471 |
| Utilities | 1,654,483 |
| Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction | 1,238,211 |
| Manufacturing | 926,372 |
| Information and Cultural Industries | 849,902 |
| Unclassified Establishments | 725,405 |
| Real Estate and Rental and Leasing | 544,739 |
| Finance and Insurance | 254,223 |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 221,457 |
| Public Administration | 159,013 |
| Educational Services | 125,649 |
| Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 124,017 |
| Admin & Support, Waste Management & Remediation | 73,062 |
| Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting | 71,853 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | 48,714 |
|
| Totals | 39,473,429 |
| Source: State of New Mexico Department of Labor [3] |
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 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. [
4]. After the Spanish introduced refined silver alloys they were incorporated into the Indian jewelry designs. 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.
Virgin Galactic, the first company to develop commercial flights into space, has decided to put its world headquarters and mission control in southern New Mexico (25 miles or 40 km south of
Truth or Consequences).
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.
The personal
income tax rates for New Mexico range from 1.7 percent to 5.3 percent, within 4 income brackets. New Mexico does not have a
sales tax. Instead, it has a 5 percent gross receipts tax. In almost every case, the business passes along the tax to the consumer, so that the gross receipts tax resembles a sales tax. The combined gross receipts tax rate varies throughout the state from 5.125 percent to 7.8125 percent. The total rate is a combination of all rates imposed by the state, counties and municipalities. Beginning Jan. 1, 2005, New Mexicans no longer pay taxes on most food purchases; however, there are exceptions to this program. Also beginning Jan. 1, 2005, the state eliminated the tax on certain medical services. In general, taxes are not assessed on
personal property. Personal household effects, licensed vehicles, registered aircraft, certain personal property warehoused in the state and business personal property that is not depreciated for federal income tax purposes are exempt from the
property tax. Property tax rates vary substantially and depend on the type of property and its location. The state does not assess tax on intangible personal property. There is no
inheritance tax, but an inheritance may be reflected in a taxpayer's modified gross income and taxed that way.
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 Bottling
**
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology **
U.S. Army (
Fort Bliss)
:
Source: Economic Research & Analysis Bureau New Mexico Department of Labor [5]Passenger Trains
The
New Mexico Rail Runner Express is a
commuter rail system serving the metropolitan area of
Albuquerque, New Mexico. It began operation on July 14,
2006. The system is in Phase I of planed development, operating on an existing
BNSF Railway right of way from
Belen to
Bernalillo. Phase II, scheduled to open in
2008, will extend the line northward to
Santa Fe.
Amtrak's
Southwest Chief passes through daily at stations in
Gallup,
Albuquerque,
Lamy,
Las Vegas, and
Raton, offering connections to
Los Angeles,
Flagstaff,
Kansas City, and
Chicago. The only true transcontinental train in the United States, The
Sunset Limited makes stops three times a week in
Lordsburg, and
Deming.
Roadways
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, 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, State Auditor Domingo Martinez, State Land Commissioner Pat Lyons, and State Treasurer
Douglas Brown. Vigil-Giron, Madrid and Martinez are Democrats. Lyons is a Republican and Brown is a Republican serving as interim State Treasurer following the indictment and resignation of his predecessor, Democrat
Robert Vigil.
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.
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 state in the
United States House of Representatives.
Politics
In national politics, New Mexico has given its 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 in New Mexico 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 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 predominantly Hispano/Spanish counties of Northern New Mexico (Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos, Mora, San Miguel, and Guadalupe).
Major political parties in New Mexico include the
Democratic and
Republican Parties; minor qualified parties include the
Green Party of New Mexico, the
Constitution Party, and
Libertarian Party.
New Mexico's largest cities are
Albuquerque,
Las Cruces,
Santa Fe,
Rio Rancho, and
Roswell.
Colleges and universities
*College of Santa Fe
*College of the Southwest
*Diné College
*Eastern New Mexico University
*New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
*New Mexico Highlands University | valign=top |
*New Mexico Military Institute
*New Mexico State University
*San Juan College
*St. John's College, Santa Fe
*University of New Mexico
*Western New Mexico University |} | Welcome to New Mexico |
 | Hasta la Vista |
State symbols (*)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 simply say, "both".
(**)The second USS New Mexico, SSN-779, is scheduled to be constructed.
*In 1947, a craft of unknown origin crashed at or near Roswell, New Mexico. Allegedly, in 1949, another craft of unknown origin crashed near this city. 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.
There are many New Mexicans who also speak a unique dialect of Spanish. New Mexican Spanish has 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 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 Opera which presents five operas in repertory each July to August, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival held each summer, and the restored Lensic Theater a principal venue for many kinds of performances. The weekend after Labor Day boasts the burning of Zozobra, a sixty-foot marionette, and Fiesta de Santa Fe.
Writer D.H. Lawrence lived near Taos in the 1920s at the D.H. Lawrence Ranch where there is a shrine said to contain his ashes.TourismNew Mexico's top tourist attractions:
* Santa Fe
** Plaza of Santa Fe
** Loretto Chapel
** San Miguel Mission
** Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
** Georgia O'Keeffe 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
* The Pinos Altos "ghost town", located near Silver City:Several places, incl. a house and bar are haunted. A "light" was also seen in the area, now the light no longer exists or it is obscured by powerful lighting from new housing, traffic. This was a gold mining town in the 1800s and early 1900s.
* Roswell (UFO Landing Site) and the International UFO Museum, Roswell
* Billy the Kid Museum, Fort Sumner
* El Malpais National Monument, Acoma Pueblo & Misson, and Laguna Pueblo & Mission
* Historic Lincoln, Ruidoso, and Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation
* Very Large Array, Datil
* Black Jack Ketchum in Clayton
The state also has a number of casinos located on Native American Indian Reservations that attract thousands of visitors each year.* Hubert Howe Bancroft. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Vol. XVII. (History of Arizona and New Mexico 1530-1888) (1889); reprint 1962. online edition
* Warren Beck. Historical Atlas of New Mexico 1969.
*Thomas E. Chavez, An Illustrated History of New Mexico, 267 pages, University of New Mexico Press 2002, ISBN 0826330517
* Joseph G. Dawdon III. Doniphan's Epic March; The 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican War, Kansas Press [6]
* Lynne Marie Getz; Schools of Their Own: The Education of Hispanos in New Mexico, 1850-1940 (1997)
*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
* Nancie L. González; The Spanish-Americans of New Mexico: A Heritage of Pride (1969)
* Ramón A. Gutiérrez; When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500-1846 (1991)
* Paul L. Hain; F. Chris Garcia, Gilbert K. St. Clair; New Mexico Government 3rd ed. (1994)
* Jack E. Holmes, Politics in New Mexico (1967),
*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
* Howard R. Lamar; The Far Southwest, 1846-1912: A Territorial History (1966, repr 2000)
* Robert W. Larson, New Mexico's Quest for Statehood, 1846-1912 (1968)
* George I. Sánchez; Forgotten People: A Study of New Mexicans (1940; reprint 1996)
*Marc Simmons, New Mexico: An Interpretive History, 221 pages, University of New Mexico Press 1988, ISBN 0826311105 - good introduction
* Ferenc M. Szasz; and Richard W. Etulain; Religion in Modern New Mexico (1997)
* David J. Weber, The Mexican Frontier, 1821-1846: The American Southwest under Mexico (1982)References* Hubert Howe Bancroft; The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft published in 1883-1890 all 39 volumes are on-line including two volume of History of the North Mexican States and Texas, and all western states plus plus. There is an extensive collection of contemporary (first hand) history at: 1st-hand-history.org [7]
* Richard Ellis, ed. New Mexico Past and Present: A Historical Reader. 1971. primary sources
*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), stories
* Sante Fe Trail: 72 References Kansas Historical Society [8]
* David J. Weber; Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican Americans (1973), primary sources to 1912*List of ZIP Codes in New Mexico
* Scouting in New Mexico
* New Mexican Food
*Santa Fe Unlimited
*Taos Unlimited
* New Mexico Government
* New Mexico Tourism Department
* Museum of New Mexico website
* US Census Bureau
* New Mexico Employment Data
* Rio Grande Foundation Includes a spend-o-meter for the state government.
* Bureau of Elections New Mexico Major and Minor Political Parties
*New Mexico State Facts
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