New Mexico
State in southwestern USA; nicknamed Land of Enchantment
Area:
315,000 sq km/121,590 sq mi
Capital:
Santa Fe
Towns and Cities:
Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Roswell
Physical:
More than 75% of the area lies over 1,200 m/3,900 ft above sea level;
Great Plains; Rocky Mountains ; Rio Grande; Carlsbad Caverns national
park (a World Heritage Site)
Features:
Aztec ruins; Navaho and Hopi Native American reservations; White Sands
and Gila Cliff Dwellings national monuments; Chaco Culture national
historic park (a World Heritage Site), with remains of pueblos, including
Pueblo Bonito, the largest prehistoric Native American dwelling excavated
in the SW, dating from the 12th century; Native American pueblos around
Santa Fe and Albuquerque; Fort Sumner State Monument; Petroglyph national
monument, with over 17,000 ancient rock drawings; Pecos national historic
park; Albuquerque, dating from 1706, with San Felipe de Neri church,
and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, with the largest collection of
Native American arts and crafts in the SW; Santa Fe, with Spanish mission-style
architecture, the pueblo-style Palace of the Governors, St Francis Cathedral,
museums of Native American arts, the Institute of American Indian Arts,
and San Miguel Mission (1625), the oldest church still in use in the
USA; Taos Pueblo (a World Heritage Site), home of the Tiwa-speaking
Native Americans, one of the oldest communities in the USA; Taos art
centre; Kit Carson home and museum, Taos; Ranchos de Taos, with San
Francisco de Asis Church, an early mission church; Los Alamos National
Laboratory, an atomic and space research centre; White Sands Missile
Range (also used by space shuttle); Kiowa Ranch, site of the writer
D H Lawrence's stay in the Sangre de Cristos Mountains; Santa Fe Opera
Company, which performs in an outdoor theatre in the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains
Products:
Uranium, potash, copper, oil, natural gas, petroleum and coal products;
sheep farming; cotton; pecans; vegetables
Population:
(1995) 1,685,400
Famous People:
Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, Georgia O'Keeffe
History:
Explored by Francisco de Coronado for Spain 1540-42; Spanish settlement
1598 on the Rio Grande; Santa Fe founded 1610; most of New Mexico
ceded to the USA by Mexico 1848; became a state 1912. The first
atomic bomb, a test device, was exploded in the desert near Alamogordo
16 July 1945. Oil and gas development and tourism now contribute
to the state economy.
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