State known for its highly varied climate and geography, ranging from forested mountains to sparse deserts; the northern and eastern regions exhibit a colder alpine climate, while the west and south are warmer and more arid.
Cathedral Basilica of St Francis de Assisi
Santa Fe, NM
Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks NM
VitaleBaby at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
National Monuments
Aztec Ruins · Bandelier · Capulin Volcano · El Malpais · El Morro · Fort Union · GIla Cliff Dwellings · Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks · Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks · Petroglyph · Prehistoric Trackways · Rio Grande Del Norte · Salinas Pueblo Missions
Carlsbad Caverns NP
Daniel Mayer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Thomas Shahan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
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Landmark and Landscapes Northeast New Mexico
Blue Hole · Cimarron Canyon State Park · Pecos National Historical Park · Valles Caldera National Preserve · Wheeler Peak
Bureau of Land Management, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
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Landmark and Landscapes Northwest New Mexico
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness · Bisti / De-Na-Zin Wilderness · Chaco Culture National Historical Park · Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano · Indian Pueblo Cultural Center · Ojito Wilderness · Shiprock · Jemez Historic Site
John Fowler, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Overview
New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México; Navajo: Yootó Hahoodzo) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region of the western U.S. with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. The state capital is Santa Fe, which is the oldest capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo México in New Spain; the largest city is Albuquerque.
Its climate and geography are highly varied, ranging from forested mountains to sparse deserts; the northern and eastern regions exhibit a colder alpine climate, while the west and south are warmer and more arid; the Rio Grande and its fertile valley runs from north-to-south, creating a riparian climate through the center of the state that supports a bosque habitat and distinct Albuquerque Basin climate. One-third of New Mexico's land is federally owned, and the state hosts many protected wilderness areas and national monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
New Mexico's economy is highly diversified, with major sectors including oil drilling, mineral extraction, dryland farming, cattle ranching, acequia and landrace agriculture, lumber, retail, scientific research laboratories, technological development, and the arts, especially textiles and visual arts. Due to its large area and economic climate, New Mexico has a significant U.S. military presence, most notably the White Sands Missile Range, and many U.S. national security agencies base their research and testing arms in the state, such as the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, known as Project Y during the 1940s; here, the Manhattan Project was responsible for the world's first atomic bomb and first nuclear test, Trinity.
In prehistoric times, New Mexico was home to Ancestral Puebloans, Mogollon, and the modern Comanche and Utes. Spanish explorers and settlers arrived in the 16th century, naming the territory Nuevo México after the Aztec Valley of Mexico, more than 250 years before the establishment and naming of the present-day country of Mexico; thus, the state did not derive its name from Mexico. Isolated by its rugged terrain and the relative dominance of its indigenous people, New Mexico was a peripheral part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Following Mexican independence in 1821, it became an autonomous region of Mexico, though this autonomy was increasingly threatened by the centralizing policies of the Mexican government, culminating in the Revolt of 1837; at the same time, the region became more economically dependent on the United States. At the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the U.S. annexed New Mexico as part of the larger New Mexico Territory. It played a central role in American westward expansion, and was admitted to the Union in 1912.
New Mexico's history has contributed to its unique demographic and cultural character. One of only six majority-minority states, it has the nation's highest percentage of Hispanic and Latino Americans and the second-highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska. New Mexico is home to part of the Navajo Nation, 19 federally recognized Pueblo communities, and three different federally recognized Apache tribes. Its large Hispanic population includes Hispanos, who descend from early Spanish settlers, as well as Chicanos and Mexicans. The New Mexican flag, which is among the most recognizable in the U.S., reflects the state's eclectic origins, bearing the scarlet and gold coloration of Spain's Cross of Burgundy along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Puebloan tribe. The confluence of indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, Hispanic, and American influences is also evident in New Mexico's unique cuisine, music genre, and architecture.
Despite its popular depiction as mostly arid desert, New Mexico has one of the most diverse landscapes of any U.S. state, ranging from wide, auburn-colored deserts and verdant grasslands, to broken mesas and high, snow-capped peaks. Close to a third of the state is covered in timberland, with heavily forested mountain wildernesses dominating 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, in the rugged, pastoral north. The Great Plains extend into the eastern third of the state, most notably the Llano Estacado ("Staked Plain"), whose westernmost boundary is marked by the Mescalero Ridge escarpment. The northwestern quadrant of New Mexico is dominated by the Colorado Plateau, characterized by unique volcanic formations, dry grasslands and shrublands, open pinyon-juniper woodland, and mountain forests. The Chihuahuan Desert, which is the largest in North America, extends through the south.
Over four-fifths of New Mexico is higher than 4,000 feet (1,250 meters) above sea level. The average elevation ranges from up to 8,000 feet (2,500 metes) above sea level in the northwest, to less than 4,000 feet in the southeast. The highest point is Wheeler Peak at over 13,160 feet (4,011 meters) in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, while the lowest is the Red Bluff Reservoir at around 2,840 feet (866 meters), in the southeastern corner of the state.
In addition to the Rio Grande, which is tied for the fourth-longest river in the U.S., New Mexico has four other major river systems: the Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, and Gila. Nearly bisecting New Mexico from north to south, the Rio Grande has played an influential role in the region's history; its fertile floodplain has supported human habitation since prehistoric times, and European settlers initially lived exclusively in its valleys and along its tributaries. The Pecos, which flows roughly parallel to the Rio Grande at its east, was a popular route for explorers, as was the Canadian River, which rises in the mountainous north and flows east across the arid plains. The San Juan and Gila lie west of the Continental Divide, in the northwest and southwest, respectively. With the exception of the Gila, all major rivers are dammed in New Mexico and provide a major water source for irrigation and flood control.
Aside from its rivers, New Mexico has few sizeable natural bodies of water; there are several artificial lakes and reservoirs, the largest being Elephant Butte Reservoir, which was created by the damming of the Rio Grande. At its height in the early 20th century, the reservoir was the largest man-made lake in the world.
Flora and fauna
Owing to its varied topography, New Mexico has six distinct vegetation zones that provide diverse sets of habitats for many plants and animals. The Upper Sonoran Zone is by far the most prominent, constituting about three-fourths of the state; it includes most of the plains, foothills, and valleys above 4,500 feet, and is defined by prairie grasses, low piñon pines, and juniper shrubs. The Llano Estacado in the east features shortgrass prairie with blue grama, which sustain bison. The Chihuahuan Desert in the south is characterized by shrubby creosote. The Colorado Plateau in the northwest corner of New Mexico is high desert with cold winters, featuring sagebrush, shadescale, greasewood, and other plants adapted to the saline and seleniferous soil.
The mountainous north hosts a wide array of vegetation types corresponding to elevation gradients, such as piñon-juniper woodlands near the base, through evergreen conifers, spruce-fir and aspen forests in the transitionary zone, and Krummholz, and alpine tundra at the very top. The Apachian zone tucked into the southwestern bootheel of the state has high-calcium soil, oak woodlands, Arizona cypress, and other plants that are not found in other parts of the state. The southern sections of the Rio Grande and Pecos valleys have 20,000 square miles (52,000 square km) of New Mexico's best grazing land and irrigated farmland.
New Mexico's varied climate and vegetation zones consequently support diverse wildlife. Black bears, bighorn sheep, bobcats, cougars, deer, and elk, which live in habitats above 7,000 feet, while coyotes, jackrabbits, kangaroo rats, javelina, porcupines, pronghorn antelope, western diamondbacks, and wild turkeys live in less mountainous and elevated regions. The iconic roadrunner, which is the state bird, is abundant in the southeast. Endangered species include the Mexican gray wolf, which is being gradually reintroduced in the world, and Rio Grande silvery minnow.
Conservation
New Mexico and 12 other western states account for 93% of all federally owned land in the U.S. Roughly one-third of the state, or 24.7 million of 77.8 million acres, is held by the U.S. government, the tenth-highest percentage in the country. More than half this land is under the Bureau of Land Management, while another third managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
New Mexico was central to the early-20th century conservation movement, with Gila Wilderness being designated the world's first wilderness area in 1924. The state also hosts nine of the country's 84 national monuments, the most of any state after Arizona; these include the second oldest monument, El Morro, which was created in 1906, and the Gila Cliff Dwellings, proclaimed in 1907.
National Forests in New Mexico
- Carson National Forest
- Cibola National Forest
- Lincoln National Forest
- Santa Fe National Forest
- Gila National Forest
- Gila Wilderness
Areas managed by the National Park Service include:
- 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
- Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
- Old Spanish National Historic Trail
- Organ Mountains—Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces
- Manhattan Project National Historical Park
- 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 Park near Alamogordo
- Rio Grande del Norte National Monument near Taos
- Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains
Residents are concentrated in the north-central region of New Mexico, anchored by the state's largest city, Albuquerque. Centered in Bernalillo County, the Albuquerque metropolitan area includes New Mexico's third-largest city, Rio Rancho, accounting for one-third of all New Mexicans. It is adjacent to Santa Fe, the capital and fourth-largest city.
New Mexico's other major center of population is in south-central area around Las Cruces, its second-largest city and the largest city in both Doña Ana County and the southern region of the state.
The state hosts 23 federally recognized tribal reservations, of which 11 hold off-reservation trust lands. The vast majority are concentrated in the northwest, followed by the north-central region.
Route 66
The most famous route in New Mexico, if not the United States, was U.S. 66, colloquially known as the nation's "Mother Road" for its scenic beauty and for its reliance by migrants fleeing West from the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The road crossed through northern New Mexico, connecting the cities of Albuquerque and Gallup, before being replaced by I-40 in 1985. Much of U.S. 66 remains in use for tourism and has been preserved for historical significance.
Culture
New Mexican culture is a unique fusion of indigenous, Spanish, Hispanic, and American influences. In addition to thousands of years of indigenous heritage, the state was among the earliest territories in the Americas to be settled by Europeans; centuries of Spanish and then Mexican settlement, often intermingled with an enduring indigenous presence, are reflected in the state's demographics, cuisine, dialect, and identity.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "New Mexico", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0