New Mexico is a southwestern state in the United
States of America. Over its relatively long history it has
also been occupied by Native American populations, part of
the Spanish colony of New Spain, a province of Mexico, and
a U.S. territory. 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 a large Native American population. As
a result, the demographics and culture of the state are
unique for their strong Spanish, Mexican, and American
Indian cultural influences.
Prehistoric Native Americans used the land and minerals of
New Mexico to build an early Southwestern culture
millennia ago. Prehistoric Native American ruins indicate
a presence at modern Santa Fe. Caves in the Sandia
Mountains near Albuquerque contain the remains of some of
the earliest inhabitants of the New World. The Pueblo
people built a flourishing sedentary culture in the 1200s,
constructing small towns in the valley of the Rio Grande
and pueblos nearby. The Spanish encountered Pueblo
civilization in the 1500s.
Juan de Oņate founded the San Juan colony on the Rio
Grande in 1598, the first European settlement in the
future state of New Mexico. Oņate pioneered El Camino
Real, "The Royal Road" as a 700 mile (1100 km) lifeline
from the rest of New Spain to his remote colony. Oņate was
made the first governor of the new Province of New Mexico.
In 1609, Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of the
Province of New Mexico, established the settlement of
Santa Fe at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. As
the seat of government of New Mexico since its founding,
Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States.
Napoleon Bonaparte of France sold the vast Louisiana
Purchase, which extended into the northeastern corner of
New Mexico, to the United States in 1803. As a part of New
Spain, the remainder of the province of New Mexico passed
to independent Mexico following the 1810-1821 Mexican War
of Independence.
The breakaway Republic of Texas claimed the territory
north and east of the Rio Grande when it seceded from
Mexico in 1836. New Mexico authorities captured a group of
Texans who embarked an expedition to assert their claim to
the province in 1841.
American General Stephen W. Kearny marched down the Santa
Fe Trail and entered Santa Fe without opposition in 1846
during the Mexican-American War, and his forces occupied
the city, making New Mexico, which included present-day
Arizona, a captive United States territory.
The United States acquired the southwestern bootheel of
the state and much of southern Arizona in the Gadsden
Purchase of 1853. With this purchase, the United States
established its sovereignty over all of the present state
of New Mexico.
During the American Civil War, Confederate troops from
Texas first occupied southern New Mexico. Union troops
re-captured the territory in early 1862. Kit Carson helped
to organize and command the 1st New Mexican Volunteers to
engage in campaigns against the Apache, Navajo, and
Comanche in New Mexico and Texas as well as participating
in the Battle of Valverde against the confederates. The
Arizona Territory split as a separate entity in 1863.
Confederate troops withdrew after the Battle of Glorieta
Pass where Union regulars, Colorado Volunteers (The Pikes
Peakers), and New Mexican Volunteers defeated them.
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.
