New Mexico is among the four cornered states that are at right angle to each other at the northwestern part, namely; Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. New Mexico is bordered by Oklahoma to the northeast, Texas to the east, and Mexico to the south. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, a Spanish gold explorer, passed through the region now known as New Mexico in 1540-1542. The first Spanish settlement was founded in the Rio Grande River by Juan de Onate in 1598. Santa Fe was then founded in 1610 and became the capital of New Mexico.
The United States overtook the land of New Mexico in 1848, as a result of the Mexican War, and acquired the rest in the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. The territory was captured by the Union troops from the confederates during the civil war. In the wake of the 1886 Geronimo surrendering, most of the Indian conflicts and the Apache wars in the region were put to an end. New Mexico's land area remains consistent with earlier figures at approximately 121,590 square miles, maintaining its position as the 5th largest state in the United States by area. The most recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau for July 1, 2023, indicate that New Mexico has a population of 2,114,371. This shows a slight decrease of 0.1% from the population estimate based on April 1, 2020, which was 2,117,525. This contrasts with the increase from the 2010 census, indicating a more complex demographic trend in recent years. The capital of the state is Santa Fe and the largest city is Albuquerque. New Mexico was admitted into the state union on January 6, 1912 as the 47th state. New Mexico has been a leader since 1945 in research and development activities which are normally carried out at the Los Alamosa Scientific laboratories Laboratory and Sandia Laboratories in the geothermal, nuclear and solar areas. The state richest natural resource is the Minerals and New Mexico is known to be one of the country’s leaders in production of uranium and potassium salts. Also contributing to the state revenue are; Petroleum, gold, silver, gas, zinc, copper, lead, and molybdenum. Manufacturing industry in the state include food, chemicals, transport equipment, wood, electrical equipment, and glass products.
Landmarks in New Mexico includes Abo Pueblo Ruins, known to be a 0.5mile trail located in Abo, Torrance county; Acoma Pueblo, popularly called the sky city, the oldest inhabited community in the country is built on a 367 foot sandstone mesa and located in Cibola county; Indian Pueblo cultural center, it’s a 10,000sq. Ft. museum with history and artifacts of pueblo culture; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science located in Albuquerque in Bernalillo County; New Mexico State Capitol, popularly known as the round house and the only Capitol structure in the country that is round; Old town Albuquerque, most buildings in this town have turned into restaurant, the town is also a popular tourist destination; Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument; White Sands National Monument, this site is a white sand site of 275 square miles.
New Mexico is an interesting place to live as you can pick more positives than negative things from the state. There are so many interesting activities in the state like the Balloon Fiesta which happens in every fall in October and some other amazing outdoor adventures. With beautiful environments, it will be nice to raise your family in the state.
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