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State of New Mexico Estado de Nuevo México
[[Image:|100px|State seal of New Mexico]] Flag of New Mexico Seal Nickname(s): Land of Enchantment / Tierra del Encanto Motto(s): Crescit undo
Capital	Santa Fe
Largest city	Albuquerque
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°North
- Longitude	103°W to 109°W
Population	Ranked 36th in the US
- Total	1,928,384
- Density	14.98/sq mi  5.79/km² (45th in the US)
Elevation
- Highest point	Wheeler Peak[1] 13,161 ft  (4,014 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	{{{Lieutenant Governor}}}
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

New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México) is a southwestern state of the United States of America. Inhabited since prehistoric times by Native American groups, it has also been a province of the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, a Mexican province, and a U.S. territory. New Mexico is home to the highest percentage of Hispanic Americans and the second-highest percentage of Native Americans of any U.S. state. Due to its relatively long history and diverse population, the state has a unique cultural background incorporating a variety of Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo influences.

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the state population was 1,954,599 in 2006, a 7.45% increase since 2000.^[2]

I'm holding my shit right now :0 so i can't write well.

Main article: History of New Mexico

Human occupation of New Mexico stretches back 10,000 years or more to the Clovis culture of hunter-gatherers who left behind stone tools and other artifacts. The region was later inhabited by the agricultural Ancient Pueblo Peoples, who built large stone and adobe settlements. By the time of European contact in the 1500s, the region had been settled by the Pueblo Peoples.

Contents 1 Spanish colonization 2 Mexican province 3 American territory 4 Statehood 5 Geography 5.1 Terrain 5.2 Protected lands 5.3 Climate 6 Demographics 6.1 Population 6.2 Race and ancestry 6.3 Languages 6.4 Religion 7 Economy 7.1 State taxes 8 Culture 9 Education 10 Transportation 11 Law and government 11.1 Politics 12 Important cities and towns 13 Military 14 Miscellaneous topics 14.1 State symbols 15 Culture 15.1 Tourism 16 Notable Artists who live in New Mexico 17 Famous Artists 18 See also 19 Notes 20 References 21 Further reading 22 External links

[edit] Spanish colonization

One of the first Europeans to visit New Mexico was Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who mounted an ambitious expedition in 1540-42 to search for the mythical Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. Coronado explored much of present-day New Mexico as well as Arizona and Kansas but failed to locate any fabulous cities and subsequently returned to Mexico.

Over fifty years later, Juan de Oñate was sent by King Philip II to colonize the upper Rio Grande valley. Upon his arrival in 1598, Oñate founded San Juan, the first permanent European settlement in the future state of New Mexico, and became the first governor of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

Pedro de Peralta, a later governor, established the settlement of Santa Fe in 1609. New Mexico was abandoned by the Spanish for twelve years following the successful Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which was led by Popé. Diego de Vargas restored the area to Spanish rule in 1692. Returning settlers founded Albuquerque in 1706.

[edit] Mexican province

As a part of New Spain, control over the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico following the 1810-21 Mexican War of Independence. During its 26-year period of nominal rule, the Mexican government showed little interest in the province and its involvement there was minimal.

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. The Santa Fe Trail was established the following year and remained a vital commercial link until the arrival of the railroad in 1880. Another important trade route during this period was the Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles.

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 on an expedition in 1841 to assert their claim to the province.

[edit] American territory

Following the 1846-48 Mexican-American War, Mexico's northern holdings, including most of New Mexico, were forcibly ceded to the United States. New Mexico made a bid for statehood in 1850 under a proposed antislavery constitution, but this was halted by the Compromise of 1850. Under the compromise, the American government established the Territory of New Mexico on September 9, 1850. The territory, which included most of the future states of New Mexico and Arizona as well as parts of Colorado, officially established its capital at Santa Fe in 1851. The United States acquired southern Arizona and the southwestern bootheel of New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.

During the American Civil War, Confederate troops from Texas entered southern New Mexico in 1861 and established a Confederate territory with its capital at Mesilla. The Confederates briefly occupied the Rio Grande valley as far north as Santa Fe before Union troops from Colorado recaptured the territory at the 1862 Battle of Glorieta Pass. Arizona was split off as a separate territory in 1863.

Conflict with the Apache and Navajo continued to plague the territory. The 1864 Long Walk harshly repressed the Navajo but did not 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.

The railroad arrived in New Mexico in the early 1880s, bringing with it people, goods, and ideas from other parts of the country. Albuquerque and Las Vegas quickly became booming railroad towns. The railway encouraged the great cattle boom of the 1880s and the development of accompanying cow towns. Cattlemen feuded both with each other and with authorities, most notably in the Lincoln County War. Conflicting land claims led to quarrels between the original Spanish inhabitants, cattle ranchers, and newer homesteaders. Despite destructive overgrazing, ranching survived as a mainstay of the New Mexican economy.

[edit] 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.

During World War II, many of America's top scientists worked in absolute secrecy at Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop the atomic bomb. This project culminated in the detonation of the first nuclear weapon at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945.

After the war, New Mexico emerged as a leader in nuclear, solar, and geothermal energy research and development. Sandia National Laboratories, established in 1949, carried out nuclear research and special weapons development at Kirtland Air Force Base. The 1947 Roswell incident, an alleged UFO crash, was much publicized.

[edit] Geography

See also: 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.

New Mexico covers an area of 121,665 sqare miles (315,194 km²), ranking as the fifth largest state after Alaska, Texas, California, and Montana.

[edit] Terrain

The New Mexico landscape ranges from desert basins to broken mesas to forested mountain ranges. The eastern portion of the state is part of the Great Plains. The region along the Texas border which lies south of the Canadian River is known as the Llano Estacado (Staked Plain). North central New Mexico is mountainous, containing the southernmost subranges of the Rockies. The most prominent of these are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which contain the state's highest point, Wheeler Peak.

In central New Mexico is the fertile Rio Grande valley, which is relatively densely populated and also contains much of the state's farmland. The riparian forest which lines the riverbanks in the central part of the state is known as the bosque. The southern and western parts of the state consist primarily of semiarid plains punctuated by rugged mountain ranges like the Organ and Sacramento mountains. Creosote bush, sagebrush, cactus, yucca, and desert grasses predominate.

New Mexico is roughly bisected from north to south by the Rio Grande. Other major rivers include the Pecos, San Juan, Gila, and Canadian rivers. The Great Divide traverses New Mexico from north to south. New Mexico's mean altitude is 5,692 feet (1,735 m).

[edit] Protected lands

The Federal government protects millions of acres of 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 Alamogordo

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

[edit] Climate

The climate of New Mexico is sunny and dry. The main factor in the climate of the state is elevation. Areas at the same elevation in the northern and southern extremes of the state may differ by only 3 °F, while areas only a few miles apart, but differing in elevation by 4000 feet may have mean annual temperatures which are 15 °F apart. Summers in New Mexico are hot below 5000 feet in elevation with daytime highs frequently exceeding 100 °F. At the highest elevations, the upper 70's °F is the summertime normal high temperature. The summertime peak is often reached earlier than in the rest of the United States as July and August often bring monsoon moisture to the state as moisture from the Gulf of Mexico comes into the state. Summer nights are comfortable as the temperature drops rapidly as the sun sets. The winters bring cooler temperatures than might be expected for a state at its latitude with daytime highs in the south part of the state only reaching around 55 °F in lower elevations in the south, while many higher elevations in the north barely average above freezing.^[3] Nights throughout the state tend to be below freezing in the winter. As a general rule, precipitation in New Mexico increases with elevation with the southern desert and the San Juan Valley receiving less than 10 inches per year, while the highest areas of the state receive more than 20 inches per year. Most of the precipitation across the state falls during the monsoon season in July and August. The exception is the area of the state west of the Continental divide which has wetter winters than the rest of the state.

Severe weather is an occasional problem in the state. The entire state is subject to frequent summer thunderstorms in July and August. The northeast portion of the state is most affected by thunderstorms averaging 70 thunderstorm days per year, which is higher than anywhere else in the United States except for the Gulf Coast, Florida, and the adjacent sections of Colorado. These thunderstorms are brief, but can be intense with strong winds, hail, and deadly cloud to ground lightning. Tornadoes are not uncommon in New Mexico with the eastern part of the state more vulnerable. The state, on rare occasions, is affected by the remnants of tropical cyclones, both from storms coming from the western Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Gulf of California. When this happens, the result is usually a heavy downpour with little or no wind damage.

[edit] Demographics

See also: List of cities in New Mexico and New Mexico locations by per capita income

[edit] Population

As of 2006, New Mexico had an estimated population of 1,954,599, a 1.36% increase since 2005 and a 7.45% increase since the 2000 census.

In 2005, 7.0% of New Mexico's population was under 5 years of age, 25.8% was under 18, and 12.1% was 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.2% of the population.^[4]

The center of population of New Mexico is located in Torrance County, just south of Manzano and about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) northwest of Mountainair.^[5]

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1850	61,547		—
1860	87,034		41.4%
1870	91,874		5.6%
1880	119,565		30.1%
1890	160,282		34.1%
1900	195,310		21.9%
1910	327,301		67.6%
1920	360,350		10.1%
1930	423,317		17.5%
1940	531,818		25.6%
1950	681,187		28.1%
1960	951,023		39.6%
1970	1,016,000		6.8%
1980	1,302,894		28.2%
1990	1,515,069		16.3%
2000	1,819,046		20.1%

[edit] Race and ancestry

In 2005 the state's racial composition was 69.5% White, 9.6% Native American, 1.9% Black, 1.3% Asian/Pacific Islander, 3.2% mixed race, and 14.5% other races. 43.6% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Because non-Hispanic whites make up less than half the state population, New Mexico is considered a majority-minority state.

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 the second highest percentage of Native Americans after Alaska.^[6] The largest Native American groups in New Mexico are the Navajo and Pueblo peoples.

At the 2000 census, the state's largest named ancestry groups were Mexican (18.1%), Native American (10.5%), German (9.9%), English (7.6%), and Irish (7.3%).

[edit] Languages

63.5% of New Mexicans aged 5 or above speak English at home, 28.8% speak Spanish, and 4.1% speak Navajo. The five Pueblo languages, Keres, Zuni, Tewa, Tiwa, and Towa, are together spoken by 1.4% of the population, though most speakers of these languages also speak English.^[7]

Though the state constitution does not specify an official language, English and Spanish can be considered New Mexico's de facto official languages. Government services and materials are published in both languages. In 1989 the state legislature adopted a non-binding English Plus resolution, which endorses the teaching and use of other languages as well as English. In 1995 the state adopted an official state bilingual song, Mi Lindo Nuevo México. ^[8]

[edit] Religion

According to a 2001 survey, 40% of New Mexico's population was Roman Catholic and 10% was Baptist. Other religious groups included Presbyterians (4%), Pentecostals (3%), Latter-day Saints (3%), Methodists (2%), Lutherans (2%), and the Church of Christ (2%). Christians with other or unspecified denominational affiliations and non-denominational Christians accounted for 9% of the population, bringing the total Christian population to 75%. Three percent of the survey respondents listed "other," 18% listed "no religion," and 3% refused to answer.^[9]

Within the Catholic church, 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 Cruces

[edit] Economy

In 2005, New Mexico's gross domestic product was $68.9 billion USD, ranking 38th in the United States.^[10] The state's per capita income was $27,912, ranking 45th in the nation.^[11]

The New Mexico economy has historically depended mainly on agriculture and raw materials, but in recent decades has come to emphasize high-tech industries, which accounted for 77% of the state's total exports in 2005. Seven percent of New Mexicans are employed in the tech sector, representing the sixth highest concentration of tech workers in the United States.^[12] The retail, construction, and government sectors are also important.^[13]

Federal government spending is a major economic driver in New Mexico. The federal government spends two dollars on the state for every dollar of tax revenue collected, which is the highest rate of return of any state.^[14]

Historically, agriculture has been a mainstay of the New Mexico economy. The state has over 40 million acres of farmland, the vast majority of which is used for grazing sheep and cattle.^[15] New Mexico also has a large number of dairy farms and is the nation's seventh largest producer of milk.^[16] Only 3% of the state's land is suitable for crop farming.^[17] Crops include cotton, sorghum, wheat, corn, pinto beans, potatoes, onions, and peanuts.^[18] New Mexico is one of the country's leading producers of pecans^[19] and chile peppers.

The mining industry is also significant despite production declines in recent years. New Mexico is the nation's largest producer of potash, zeolite, and perlite, third largest producer of copper, fifth largest producer of pumice, sixth largest producer of molybdenum, tenth largest producer of gold and silver, and eleventh largest producer of coal. Over $660 million worth of coal and $470 million worth of copper were extracted in 2005, making them the state's top mineral commodities. New Mexico also has the nation's second-largest uranium reserves and was a top producer during 1953-80, but no uranium recovery operations are currently active.^[20]

Manufacturing is concentrated in the Albuquerque area. The most common manufactured goods are electronic components, fabricated metal products, mineral products, food, and machinery.^[21] In the transportation sector, New Mexico is home to Millennium Transit Services and Eclipse Aviation.

[edit] State taxes

Personal income tax rates for New Mexico range from 1.7% to 5.3%, within four income brackets.

New Mexico does not have a sales tax. Instead, it has a 5% 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% to 7.8125%. 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.

[edit] Culture

I'll do this later.

[edit] Education

New Mexico has six public universities, the largest of which are the University of New Mexico, with approximately 24,000 students, and New Mexico State University, with 16,000 students. Both are major research institutions, along with New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The state's other public universities are New Mexico Highlands University, Western New Mexico University, and Eastern New Mexico University.

The state also has three private four-year colleges: the College of Santa Fe, the College of the Southwest, and St. John's College.

New Mexico ranks 41st in the United States for percentage of high school graduates, with 82% of the adult population having completed high school. Twenty-five percent of New Mexicans have a bachelor's degree or higher, ranking 29th in the nation.^[22]

[edit] Transportation

See also: List of New Mexico highways

See also: List of airports in New Mexico

The major freeways in New Mexico are Interstate 10, Interstate 25, and Interstate 40. I-10 and I-25 intersect in Las Cruces, while I-25 and I-40 intersect in Albuquerque.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief makes daily stops in Gallup, Albuquerque, Lamy, Las Vegas, and Raton. The Sunset Limited stops three times a week in Lordsburg and Deming.

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is a commuter rail system serving the Albuquerque metropolitan area. An extension to Santa Fe is scheduled for 2008.

The state's only major airport is Albuquerque International Sunport. Other airports with scheduled commercial service include Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Clovis, Farmington, Hobbs, Roswell, Santa Fe.

[edit] Law and government

The Constitution of 1912, as amended, dictates the form of government in the state.

Governor Bill Richardson and Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish, both Democrats, won 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 sent Democrat Jeff Bingaman to the United States Senate until January 2013 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Important cities and towns

New Mexico's largest cities are Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Farmington, Santa Fe, and Rio Rancho.

Further information: List of cities in New Mexico

[edit] Military

In addition to the National Guard, New Mexico has a State Defense Force. See Militia and State Defense Force.

[edit] Miscellaneous topics

[edit] State symbols

State motto	"Crescit eundo" ("It Grows as It Goes")	1912
State nicknames	"Land of Enchantment" (Spanish: "Tierra del Encanto" or "Tierra Encantada")	19_?
	"The Colorful State"	19_?
	"The Spanish 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	chili and frijol	1965
State gem	turquoise	1967
State grass	blue grama	1973
State fossil	coelophysis	1981
State cookie	bizcochito	1989
State insect	tarantula wasp	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 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.
• Taos, New Mexico is known for a humming noise. See Taos Hum.

[edit] 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.

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. In August, the city hosts the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, which is the oldest and largest juried Native American art showcase in the world.

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 fifty-foot marionette, during Fiestas 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.

[edit] Tourism

New Mexico tourist attractions:

• Santa Fe
  • Plaza of Santa Fe
  • Loretto Chapel
  • San Miguel Mission
  • Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
  • Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
  • El Rancho de las Golondrinas (Spanish Colonial living history museum)
  • Santa Fe Indian Market
• Taos Pueblo, Taos art colony, and Taos 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
  • New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
  • Rio Grande Zoo
  • Sandia Peak Tramway
  • National Atomic Museum
  • Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
  • Expo New Mexico, formerly the New Mexico State Fairgrounds
• Chaco Culture National Historical Park, San Juan Basin
• Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, Chama
• Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Silver City
• The Pinos Altos "ghost town", located near Silver City (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
• Socorro
  • Very Large Array
  • Bosque del Apache
  • El Camino Real Heritage Center
  • Mineralogical Museum
  • Quebradas Region
• Black Jack Ketchum in Clayton
• World Headquarters and Mission Control of the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, Upham (under construction)

The state also has a number of casinos located on Native American Indian Reservations that attract thousands of visitors each year.

[edit] Notable Artists who live in New Mexico

• Dan Namingha
• Mark Spencer
• Antonio Roybal
• Elias Rivera
• Francisco Benitez
• Ray Martin Abeyta
• Frederico Vigil
• Jean Claude Gaugy

[edit] Famous Artists

• R. C. Gorman
• Georgia O'Keefe
• James Tenney, composer
• Agnes Martin
• Bruce Nauman
• Joel Peter Witkin
• Rudolfo Anaya, novelist
• Fray Angelico Chavez, poet and painter
• Eric Sloan
• Dan Namingha, Hopi artist
• Henrietta Wyeth
• Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, novelist

[edit] See also

• List of ZIP Codes in New Mexico
• Scouting in New Mexico
• New Mexican Food
• Dinetah
• New Mexico State Police

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Find more about New Mexico on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Dictionary definitions
	Textbooks
	Quotations
	Source texts
	Images and media
	News stories
	Learning resources

• New Mexico Government
• Documentary Film, Villa de Albuquerque
• The Santa Fe New Mexican Newspaper
• New Mexico Tourism Department
• Museum of New Mexico website
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of New Mexico
• US Census Bureau
• 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