New Mexico is a U.S. state. Map, sights

For thousands of years, the territory of New Mexico was inhabited by the Indian tribes of Pueblo, Comanche, Navajo and Apache, since 1536 the Spanish conquistadors seized the land. In 1803, the United States acquired the French part of New Mexico, and 40 years later, during military operations, it completely captured the region.

New Mexico was incorporated into the United States as a state in 1912.

Where is the state located

The staff occupies 315 thousand people. km2 is in the west of the country and is adjacent to the states of Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona. In the northwest, the state of Utah adjoins New Mexico, at this point the borders of 4 states form a right angle. The Rio Grande River divides the territories of New Mexico and Mexico.

There are low plateaus in the west of the state, and desert Great Plains in the east. Rocky mountains up to 4,000 m high run through the center of the state. The state is located at an average altitude of 1,700 m above sea level.

New Mexico, a U.S. state, is inhabited by over 2 million people. At the same time, a quarter of the inhabitants live in Albuquerque, while in Santa Fe, the capital of the region, there are about 80 thousand.

Attractions in the state

The list of historical monuments includes almost 50 sites.

Santa Fe

The Barrio de Analco area has been recognized as a national monument since 1968. In the city founded in the XVII century, the Barrio de Analco quarters were occupied by servants, workers and artists.

The building has been preserved according to the principles of the Spanish pueblo:

• the adobe house of 1620;
• Church of St. Miguel 1710;
• 7 houses where workers lived;
• 2 adobe mansions of Crespin and Tudeski of the XVII century.;
• Bandelier House 1867
• St. Michael’s College 1878

The only Gothic building in Santa Fe is the Catholic Church of Loretto, which has a spiral staircase. Another attraction of the city and the state is the Palace of Governors, an adobe structure in the Indian style occupied by the government since the beginning of the XVII century. Nearby is the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi (1869-1886).

In the center of the city there is a square recognized as a historical monument, formed at the beginning of the XVII century. All significant city events are held at Santa Fe Plaza.

Fort Bayard

New Mexico is the U.S. state where the U.S. Army base Fort Bayard is located.

In the base created in 1866, only African Americans, nicknamed Buffalo, served. The fort protected New Mexico from Indian attacks, and now houses a military hospital.

Las Trampas

The city is located at an altitude of 2,140 m in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, its central part is built up according to the plan that was proposed when the settlement was founded in 1751. Residents sought to repel Indian attacks, so all houses are concentrated around an area surrounded by a mud wall.

In the center is the temple of San Jose de Gracia, built in 1760 and considered the best example of Spanish architecture.

Lincoln

In 1960, a small town located in the valley between the Sacramento and Capitan Mountains was recognized as a historical monument as the best preserved cowboy town in the United States, where significant events of the time of Western exploration took place.

The district includes 48 buildings located along Road No. 380, among them:

• saloon;
• doctor’s office;
• the shops;
• courthouse;
• hotel.

There are 6 museums in Lincoln, one is located in the church, built in 1887.

Cumbres and Toltec Railway

In 1880, a 103 km long railroad connected 2 American states — Colorado and New Mexico.

Since 1973, the narrow-gauge railway has been used as a tourist attraction. From May to October, 10 antique steam locomotives transport tourists.

Taos Pueblo

1.5 km from Taos, the oldest Indian village in the United States is located: 4.5 thousand people live on an area of 38 thousand hectares allocated to them. Among the forests there is a sacred Blue Lake for Indians.

The architectural landmark of the Pueblo is a 6-storey residential building, which was built of adobe bricks in 1000-1450.

Acoma Pueblo

60 km from Albuquerque, a community of 4 Indian communities has been preserved, whose historical land occupies over 2 million hectares. The pueblo is located on an inaccessible mountain plateau at an altitude of 110 m, its first buildings date back to the XII century.

After the wars and fires, 300 mud-brick houses with a height of 2-3 floors, stoves for cooking, cisterns for collecting water and an area where residents gather for religious rituals have been preserved. The Estevan del Rey Temple, built in 1629, has an altar decorated with pueblo-style patterns.

Parks

New Mexico, a U.S. state, is known for having 35 state parks. The protected areas cover over 40 thousand hectares. 4.5 million tourists visit them annually.

Bottomless lakes

The park near Roswell was opened in 1933 and became the first public nature reserve in New Mexico. On 5.5 km2 in the Pecos River Valley there are 9 lakes with an area of 0.15 to 10.5 hectares. The reservoirs are surrounded by rocks and salt marshes, fed by groundwater that seeps through the Seven Rivers karst ridges.

The depth of the lakes reaches 6-27 m. There is a recreational area with a beach near Lake Lea.

Carlsbad Caves

Located 35 km from Carlsbad, the 190 km2 park attracts tourists with underground galleries in the Guadalupe mountain spur. Formed 250 million years ago, karst caves form a labyrinth explored over 190 km. The caves go down to a depth of 500 m.

Several caves are equipped and open to the public. Paths and lighting have been laid in the largest underground hall with a height of over 80 m and a length of 1.2 km. An elevator is provided for descending to the depth. Swallows and more than 1 million swallows live in karst dungeons. individuals of bats.

White Sands

In the Chihuahua Desert, 580 km2 is reserved for the White Sands National Park. The area is notable for the dunes, which are constantly moving and changing shape.

Snow-white dunes are formed by the smallest particles of gypsum sand, which cements after rains, creating a dense layer with patterns on the surface. Human footprints left 10 thousand years ago, as well as the prints of a mammoth and a giant sloth, have been preserved on the slopes.

About 800 species of animals and 300 plant species have adapted to live in difficult conditions, and at least a third are endemic. The park has repeatedly become a filming location for films.

Elephant Butte

In 1964, a national park was created around an artificial lake on the Rio Grande River on an area of 100 km2. The reservoir is the largest in the state and contains over 2 billion tons. tons of water, providing irrigation of fields and electricity supply to the state.

Before the creation of an artificial reservoir, the uneven flow of water in the Rio Grande provoked drought or flooding. The dam is 500 m long and 92 m high and is considered an architectural monument.

The park was named after the remnant rock, shaped like an elephant. The geological formation is part of the crater of an ancient volcano. Fish are caught in the reservoir, pelicans live.

Gila National Forest

In the south-west of New Mexico, 11 thousand km2 is occupied by a forest area. The reserve in the Gila River Valley was founded in 1899, subsequently the Datil and Big Berros forest territories were annexed to it, the Blue Range and Aldo Leopold deserts and hot springs are located within the protected area.

The Gila Forest is home to rare and endangered species of birds and animals:

• Cougar;
• The grey fox;
• The white-nosed coati;
• pronghorn;
• grey wolf;
• The snow sheep;
• The deer is a mule.

Recreation areas and campsites have been made in the forest, over 5,000 km of marked trails have been laid, including the 160-kilometer Centennial Loop route.

Chaco Park

Located in northern New Mexico, the park covers 137 km2 in the Chaco Canyon, where Indian tribes lived in the X–XII centuries. The preserved buildings of the pre-Columbian period make an indelible impression with their monumentality.

The Pueblo Indians erected multi-storey buildings with walls up to 1 m thick, and from 40 to 700 families lived in such houses. The settlements were connected by stone roads up to 6 m wide. Archaeologists discovered workshops for the production of turquoise jewelry, places for ritual ceremonies and petroglyphs.

In total, there are more than 3,000 architectural monuments in the park. The museum’s collection contains about 1 million artifacts dating back to 2900 BC.

Historical Park Pecos

There is a historical territory near Santa Fe, where the following objects have been preserved:

• ruins of Indian household and ceremonial buildings of the XI–XVII centuries.;
• Spanish Church of Nuestra Senhora 1619;
• The Glorienta Pass, where the battles took place in 1862.;
• a cattle farm established in the 1920s;
• a historic road connecting the southern regions of America.

The park occupies 2.7 thousand hectares.

Monuments

On the territory of the American state there are natural and cultural monuments that reflect the history of New Mexico and the peculiarities of the peoples living in it.

Archaeological sites

New Mexico, a U.S. state, has many remnants of Native American settlements, including those of the pre-Columbian period. The ruins of the Pueblo settlement near Los Alamos have been listed as historical monuments since 1916. The ruins were named Bandelier in honor of the archaeologist who discovered them.

Among the monuments in Bandelier are:

• ceremonial Indian structures;
• rock paintings;
• residential buildings of the pueblo;
• 2 km of stone road;
• the remains of a pottery school.

In 1923, similar remains of Indian settlements of the XI-XIII centuries near the city of Aztec were recognized as a monument. Nearby, near the San Juan River, there are the Solmon ruins, which are a monument of the culture of the Chacoan Indians. The complex of 150 rooms built into the ground and 100 more buildings placed on top of them belong to the XI century.

Natural monuments

In 1990, the territory near Albuquerque received the status of a national monument, where on an area of 30 km2 there are:

• 5 inactive volcanoes;
• 25 thousand petroglyphs carved in prehistoric times by Indians, as well as by Spanish settlers;
• archaeological sites of the Pueblo.

Natural objects include the inactive Capulin volcanic massif with a height of 2500 m and the El Malpais volcanic field. In 1906, El Morro, a cliff near the city of Grants, was included among the natural monuments. The sandstone rock and a small lake under it have served as a resting place for travelers for centuries, the oldest petroglyphs left on the rock date back to the XI-XII centuries.

Historical monuments

Among the notable monuments of New Mexico, the Cross of the Martyrs, erected in Santa Fe in 1920, is noted. The 7.5 m high cross commemorates the death of 21 priests during the Indian uprising in 1680.

In 1928, 12 figures of the Virgin Mary were installed along the Old Trails Highway, one in each of the 12 states. The sculptures were made by A. Leimbach. In New Mexico, a statue of the Madonna is located in the park of Albuquerque. In 1940, a monument was erected in Sandoval County to the battalion in which Mormons served during the Mexican-American War of 1846.

Many monuments to historical figures were demolished in 2020 during the riots related to the murder of D. Floyd. The protesters smashed monuments to Juan de Onyate, Diego de Vargas, H. Serra, Keith Carson and other historical figures.

Symbols of the state

In the USA, each state has its own symbolic designations that in some way characterize the nature, history or culture of the region. Official symbols include the flag and coat of arms.

The flag of New Mexico is a yellow cloth on which the sun is depicted in an Indian symbol. The coat of arms, adopted in 1913, features 2 birds of prey. The golden eagle holds a cactus and a snake in its beak, it is a reflection of Aztec myths. The larger American eagle symbolizes the U.S. patronage of local tribes and their traditions.

New Mexico is the only region that has a symbolic issue. The question “Red or green?” and the answer to it (both) are associated with chili pepper, which has become a symbol of the distinctive culture of New Mexico. Unofficially, the state is called “Enchanted Land”, this is reflected in the car license plates, which indicate Land of Enchantment.

There are other symbolic designations in New Mexico:

New Mexico, a U.S. state, has its own motto, which sounds like “Growing on the go.” This symbolizes the constant economic and cultural growth of the state.

Interesting facts

• For the first time, the territories were designated as New Mexico (“New Mexico”) by the Spaniard Francisco de Ibarra, who described his travels in the XVI century.
• Every year, Albuquerque becomes the venue of the festival, during which up to 500 balloons are lifted into the air.
• A museum dedicated to gangster and murderer Bill the Kid, who became a symbol of the Wild West, has been opened in Fort Sumner.
• One of the 2 American laboratories where nuclear weapons were created was opened in Los Alamos in 1943. The test of such weapons also took place in New Mexico 2 years later.
• In 1980, an antenna system of 27 radio telescopes was built near Socorro, called the Ultra-Large Antenna Array. The diameter of each antenna is 25 m.
• German V-2 rocket launchers were tested at the White Sands missile range in the late 1940s, and the Columbia shuttle landed for the only time in NASA history.
• Every summer, Roswell hosts a festival dedicated to aliens from outer space. It was here in 1947 that an unidentified flying object was recorded falling, which was considered an alien ship.

Many natural, cultural and historical attractions attract tourists to New Mexico. In this region of the USA, you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of adventure films, attend a flamenco festival or taste Mexican cuisine. There are many authentic Indian settlements in the state

Video about the state

New Mexico. The Big trip:

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