New Mexico() is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also part of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S. state.
Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, at 44 percent (2008 estimate), The tribes in the state consist of mostly Navajo and Pueblo peoples. As a result, the demographics and culture of the state are unique for their strong Hispanic, Mexican, and Native American influences. The flag of New Mexico is represented by the red and gold colors, which represent Spain as well as the Zia symbol, an ancient Native American symbol for the sun.
Geography
The state's total area is . The eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and three miles (5 km) west of 103.5° W longitude with Texas.
Carson National Forest
Cibola National Forest (headquartered in Albuquerque)
Lincoln National Forest
Santa Fe National Forest (headquartered in Santa Fe)
Gila National Forest
Gila Wilderness
Areas managed by the National Park Service include:
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
Visitors also frequent the surviving native pueblos of New Mexico. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state. 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.
Climate
The climate of New Mexico is generally semi-arid to arid, though there are areas of continental and alpine climates, and its territory is mostly covered by
mountains, high plains, and
desert. The
Great Plains (High Plains) are located in the eastern portion of the state, similar to the
Colorado high plains in eastern Colorado. The two states share plenty similarities in terrain, with both having plains, mountains, basins, mesas, and desert lands. New Mexico's average precipitation rate is a year. The average annual temperatures can range from in the southeast to less than in the northern mountains. and
Wild turkey,
Meleagris gallopavo subspecies
mexicana. Other fauna present in New Mexico include
black bears,
coyotes,
porcupines,
skunks,
Mexican grey wolves,
deer,
elk,
bison,
javalina,
big horn sheep,
squirrels,
chipmunks,
pronghorn,
western diamondback,
kangaroo rat,
jackrabbit and a multitude of other birds, reptiles, and rodents.
History
Near
Las Cruces]]
and the town of
Los Alamos, New Mexico ]]
The first known inhabitants of New Mexico were members of the
Clovis culture of
Paleo-Indians.
Later inhabitants include
Native Americans of the
Mogollon and the
Anasazi cultures.
By the time of European contact in the 16th century, the region was settled by the villages of the
Pueblo peoples and groups of
Navajo,
Apache and
Ute.
Juan de Oñate officially established the name when he was appointed the first governor of the new
Province of New Mexico in 1598.
on the Rio Grande near
Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. The city, along with most of the settled areas of the state, was abandoned by the Spanish for 12 years (1680–1692) as a result of the successful
Pueblo Revolt. After the death of the Pueblo leader
Popé,
Diego de Vargas restored the area to Spanish rule.
As a part of New Spain, the claims for the province of New Mexico passed to independent Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. Texas was separated from New Mexico by the Comancheria and its only attempt to establish a presence or control in the claimed territory was the failed Texas Santa Fe Expedition. The extreme northeastern part of New Mexico was originally ruled by France, and sold to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Spanish population increased rapidly, possibly to 25,000 by 1800. The Apache and Comanche raids on Hispanic settlers were common until well into the period of U.S. occupation.
Following the Mexican-American War, from 1846–1848 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexico ceded its mostly unsettled northern holdings, today known as the American Southwest and California, to the United States of America. 2000,
}}
During World War II, the first atomic bombs were designed and manufactured at Los Alamos and the first was tested at Trinity site in the desert on the White Sands Proving Grounds between Socorro and Alamogordo.
Demographics
As of 2008, the state had the nation's highest poverty rate.
Population
As of July 1, 2008, the
United States Census Bureau estimated New Mexico's population at 1,984,356, This includes a natural increase since the last census of 114,583 people (that is 235,551 births minus 120,968 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 59,499 people into the state.
7.5% of New Mexico's population was reported as under 5 years of age, 25.3% under 18, and 13.1% were 65 or older. Females make up approximately 50.7% of the population.
|-
! Rank
! align=center | City
! County
! Population
|-
| 1
| align=left | Albuquerque
| Bernalillo
| align=right | 528,497
|-
| 2
| Las Cruces
| Doña Ana
| align=right | 93,570
|-
| 3
| Rio Rancho
| Sandoval
| align=right | 84,000
|-
| 4
| Santa Fe
| Santa Fe
| align=right | 73,720
|-
|
| South Valley (CDP)
| Bernalillo
| align=right | 46,902
|-
| 5
| Roswell
| Chaves
| align=right | 46,576
|-
| 6
| Farmington
| San Juan
| align=right | 43,420
|-
| 7
| Alamogordo
| Otero
| align=right | 35,984
|-
| 8
| Clovis
| Curry
| align=right | 32,899
|-
| 9
| Hobbs
| Lea
| align=right | 30,838
|-
| 10
| Carlsbad
| Eddy
| align=right | 26,259
|}
{| style="width:510px;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+ 10 Most Populous New Mexico Counties
2009 Census Bureau estimates
|-
! Rank !! style="text-align:center;"|County !! Population
within
county limits !! Land Area
sq. miles!! Largest city
|-
| 1 ||align=left | Bernalillo || 642,527 || 1,166 || Albuquerque
|-
| 2 ||align=left | Doña Ana || 206,419 || 3,807 || Las Cruces
|-
| 3 ||align=left | Santa Fe || 147,532 || 1,909 || Santa Fe
|-
| 4 ||align=left | Sandoval || 125,988 || 3,710 || Rio Rancho
|-
| 5 ||align=left | San Juan || 124,131 || 5,514 || Farmington
|-
| 6 ||align=left | Valencia || 72,207 || 1,068 || Los Lunas
|-
| 7 ||align=left | McKinley || 70,724 || 5,449 || Gallup
|-
| 8 ||align=left | Chaves || 63,060 || 6,071 || Roswell
|-
| 9 ||align=left | Otero || 62,776 || 6,627 || Alamogordo
|-
| 10 ||align=left | Lea || 59,155 || 4,393 || Hobbs
|}
Race and ancestry
According to the Census Bureau, 1.5% of the population is Multiracial/Mixed-Race, a population larger than both the Asian and NHPI population groups.
with 83% of these native-born and 17% foreign-born. The majority of Hispanics in New Mexico claim a
Spanish ancestry, especially in the northern part of the state. These people are the descendants of Spanish colonists who arrived during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. The state also has a large
Native American population, second in percentage behind that of
Alaska.
According to estimates from the United States Census Bureau's 2006-2008 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimate, New Mexico's population was 1,962,226. The number of New Mexicans of different single races were: White, 1,375,334 (70.1%); Black, 43,931 (2.2%); American Indian or Alaskan Native, 182,136 (9.3%); Asian, 26,767 (1.4%), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 854 (0.1%), and 273,778 (14.0%) of some other race. There were 59,415 (3.0%) of two or more races. There were 873,171 (44.5%) Hispanics or Latino (of any race).
According to the 2000 United States Census,
the most commonly claimed ancestry groups in New Mexico were: Spaniards (18.7%), Mexican (16.3%), American Indian (10.3%), and German (9.8%)
Languages
According the
2000 U.S. Census, 28.76% of the population aged 5 and older speak
Spanish at home, while 4.07% speak
Navajo. Speakers of
New Mexican Spanish dialect are mainly descendants of
Spanish colonists who arrived in New Mexico in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
known as "Sky City" ]]
New Mexico is commonly thought to have Spanish as an official language alongside English, due to the widespread usage of Spanish in the state. Although the original state constitution of 1912 provided for a temporarily bilingual government, New Mexico has no official language. Nevertheless, the state government publishes a driver's manual as well as ballots in both languages (though it is required to publish ballots in Spanish by federal law).
The constitution provided that, for the following twenty years, all laws passed by the legislature be published in both Spanish and English, and thereafter as the legislature should provide.
Prior to 1967, notices of statewide and county elections were required to be printed in English and "may be printed in Spanish."
Additionally, many legal notices today are required to be published in both English and Spanish.
In 1995, New Mexico adopted a State Bilingual Song, New Mexico - Mi Lindo Nuevo México.
Religion
Religious affiliations
walls were constructed around A.D. 1610.]]
near Española. The Spanish name for the church is "La Iglesia de Santa Cruz de la Canada".]]
According to a report compiled by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, the largest denominations in 2000 were the Catholic Church with 670,511; the Southern Baptist Convention with 132,675; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 42,261 (66,178 year-end 2009); and the United Methodist Church with 41,597 adherents. According to a 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center, the most common self-reported religious affiliation of New Mexico residents are:
*Roman Catholic – 26%
Protestant - 42%
*Mainline – 15%
*Evangelical – 25%
*Other Protestant – 2%
LDS (Mormon) – 3%
Jewish – 2%
Buddhist – 2%
Other Religions – 3%
Unaffiliated – 22%
Catholic Church hierarchy
Within the hierarchy of 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
Economy
circulated in late 2008.]]
Oil and gas production, tourism, and federal government spending are important drivers of the state economy. State government has an elaborate system of tax credits and technical assistance to promote job growth and business investment, especially in new technologies.
Economic indicators
In 2007 New Mexico's
Gross Domestic Product was $76.178 billion (preliminary figure).
In 2007 the
per capita personal income was $31,474 (rank 43
rd in the nation).
In 2005 the percentage of persons below the
poverty level was 18.4%.
The New Mexico Tourism Department estimates that in Fiscal Year 2006 the travel industry in New Mexico generated expenditures of $6.5 billion.
As of November 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 8.5%.
Oil and gas production
New Mexico is a leading
crude oil and
natural gas producer in the United States. The
Permian Basin (part of the
Mid-Continent Oil Field) and
San Juan Basin lie partly in New Mexico. In 2006 New Mexico accounted for 3.4% of the
crude oil, 8.5% of the dry
natural gas, and 10.2% of the
natural gas liquids produced in the United States.
In 2000 the value of oil and gas produced was $8.2 billion.
Federal government
is flown by the
49th Fighter Wing at
Holloman AFB.]]
Federal government spending is a major driver of the New Mexico economy. In 2005 the federal government spent $2.03 on New Mexico for every dollar of tax revenue collected from the state. This rate of return is higher than any other state in the Union.
Many of the federal jobs relate to the military; the state hosts three air force bases (Kirtland Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, and Cannon Air Force Base); a testing range (White Sands Missile Range); and an army proving ground and maneuver range (Fort Bliss – McGregor Range). A May 2005 estimate by New Mexico State University is that 11.65% of the state's total employment arises directly or indirectly from military spending.
Other federal installations include the technology labs of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.
Economic incentives
New Mexico provides a number of economic incentives to businesses operating in the state, including various types of tax credits and tax exemptions. Most of the incentives are based on job creation.
New Mexico law allows governments to provide land, buildings, and infrastructure to businesses to promote job creation. Several municipalities have imposed an Economic Development Gross Receipts Tax (a form of Municipal Infrastructure GRT) that is used to pay for these infrastructure improvements and for marketing their areas.
The state provides financial incentives for film production. The New Mexico Film Office estimated at the end of 2007 that the incentive program had brought more than 85 film projects to the state since 2003 and had added $1.2 billion to the economy.
State taxes
Beginning in 2008, personal
income tax rates for New Mexico range from 1.7% to 4.9%, within four income brackets.
Beginning in 2007, active-duty military salaries are exempt from the state income tax.
New Mexico imposes a Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) on many transactions, which many even include some governmental receipts. This resembles a sales tax but unlike the sales taxes in many states it applies to services as well as tangible goods. Normally, the provider or seller passes the tax on to the purchaser, however legal incidence and burden apply to the business, as an excise tax. GRT is imposed by the state and there may an additional locality component to produce a total tax rate.
As of July 1, 2008 the combined tax rate ranged from 5.125% to 8.4375%.
Property tax is imposed on real property by the state, by counties, and by school districts. In general, personal-use personal property is not subject to property taxation. On the other hand, property tax is levied on most business-use personalty. The taxable value of property is 1/3 of the assessed value. A tax rate of about 30 mills is applied to the taxable value, resulting in an effective tax rate of about 1%. In the 2005 tax year the average millage was about 26.47 for residential property and 29.80 for non-residential property. Assessed values of residences cannot be increased by more than 3% per year unless the residence is remodeled or sold.
Transportation
New Mexico has long been an important corridor for
trade and
migration. The builders of the ruins at
Chaco Canyon also created a radiating network of roads from the mysterious settlement. Chaco Canyon's trade function shifted to
Casas Grandes in the present-day Mexican state of
Chihuahua, however, north-south trade continued. The pre-
Columbian trade with
Mesoamerican cultures included northbound exotic birds, seashells and copper. Turquoise, pottery, and salt were some of the goods transported south along the
Rio Grande. Present-day New Mexico's pre-Columbian trade is especially remarkable for being undertaken on foot. The north-south trade route later became a path for colonists with horses arriving from
New Spain as well as trade and communication. The route was called
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
.]]
The Santa Fe Trail was the 19th century US territory's vital commercial and military highway link to the Eastern United States. All with termini in Northern New Mexico, the Camino Real, the Santa Fe Trail and the Old Spanish Trail are all recognized as National Historic Trails. New Mexico's latitude and low passes made it an attractive east-west transportation corridor. As a territory, the Gadsden Purchase increased New Mexico's land area for the purpose of the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad, that of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Another transcontinental railroad was completed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The railroads essentially replaced the earlier trails but brought on a population boom. Early transcontinental auto trails later crossed the state bringing more migrants. Railroads were later supplemented or replaced by a system of highways and airports. Today, New Mexico's Interstate Highways approximate the earlier land routes of the Camino Real, the Santa Fe Trail and the transcontinental railroads.
Road
.]]
New Mexico has had a problem with drunk driving, but that has lessened. According to the Los Angeles Times, for years the state was the country's worst in alcohol-related crash rates, but ranked 25th in alcohol-related fatal crash rates, as of July 2009.
The automobile changed the character of New Mexico, marking the start of large scale immigration to the state from elsewhere in the United States. Settlers moving West during the Great Depression and post-World War II American culture immortalized the National Old Trails Highway, later U.S. Route 66. Today, the automobile is heavily relied upon in New Mexico for transportation.
New Mexico had 59,927 route miles of highway as of the year 2000, of which 7,037 receive federal-aid. In that same year there were of freeways, of which 1000 were the route miles of Interstate Highways 10, 25 and 40. The former number has increased with the upgrading of roads near Pojoaque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces to freeways. The fatality rate, in terms of persons killed per 100 million lane miles traveled, in the year 2000 was 1.9 percent. This is approximately the same as Wyoming, but higher than Massachusetts (0.8 percent) and lower than Mississippi (2.7 percent). Notable bridges include the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos. As of 2001, 703 highway bridges, or one percent, were declared "structurally deficient" or "structurally obsolete".
Rural and intercity public transportation by road is provided by Americanos USA, LLC, Greyhound Lines and several government operators.
Urban mass transit
The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is a commuter rail system serving the metropolitan area of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It began operation on July 14, 2006.
Rail
There were 2,354 route miles of railroads in the year 2000, this number increases with the opening of the
Rail Runner's extension to Santa Fe. In addition to local railroads and other tourist lines, the state jointly owns and operates a heritage
narrow-gauge steam railroad, the
Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway, with the state of
Colorado. Narrow gauge railroads once connected many communities in the northern part of the state, from
Farmington to Santa Fe. The first railroads incorporated in 1869. The privately-operated state owned railroad began operations in July 2006. The
BNSF Railway's entire line from
Belen to
Raton, New Mexico was sold to the state, partially for the construction of phase II of this operation, which opened in December 2008. Phase II of Rail Runner extended the line northward to
Santa Fe from the
Sandoval County station, the northernmost station under Phase I service. The service now connects
Santa Fe,
Sandoval,
Bernalillo, and
Valencia Counties. The trains connect Albuquerque's population base and
central business district to downtown Santa Fe with up to eight roundtrips in a day. The section of the line running south to
Belen is served less frequently. Rail Runner operates scheduled service seven days per week.
With the rise of rail transportation many settlements grew or were founded and the territory became a tourist destination. As early as 1878, the ATSF promoted tourism in the region with emphasis on Native American imagery. Named trains often reflected the territory they traveled: Super Chief, the streamlined successor to the Chief;, were some of the named passenger trains of the ATSF that connoted New Mexico.
Passenger train service once connected nine of New Mexico's present ten most populous cities (the exception is Rio Rancho), while today passenger train service connects two: Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Front Range Commuter Rail is a project to connect Wyoming and New Mexico with high-speed rail.
is a commuter rail operation train that runs along the Central Rio Grande Valley.]]
Amtrak's Southwest Chief passes through daily at stations in Gallup, Albuquerque, Lamy, Las Vegas, and Raton, offering connections to Los Angeles, Chicago and intermediate points. The Southwest Chief is the fastest Amtrak long distance train, being permitted a maximum speed of in various places on the tracks of the BNSF Railway. It also operates on New Mexico Rail Runner Express trackage. The Southwest Chief is the successor to the Super Chief and El Capitan. The Sunset Limited is the successor to the Southern Pacific Railroad's train of the same name and operates exclusively on Union Pacific trackage in New Mexico.
Aerospace
The
Albuquerque International Sunport is the state's primary port of entry for air transportation.
Upham, near Truth or Consequences is the location of the world's first operational and purpose-built commercial spaceport, Spaceport America. Rocket launches began in April 2007. Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company, plans to make this their primary operating base.
Law and government
{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="1" style="float:right; width:290px; margin:0 0 1em 1em; background:#f4f5f6; border:#c6c7c8 solid; font-size:90%;"
|-
| colspan="2" style="background:#e7d9a9; text-align:center;"| State of New Mexico Elected Officials
|-
| style="width:40%;"| Governor
| Susana Martinez (R)
|-
| Lieutenant Governor
| John Sanchez (R)
|-
| Secretary of State
| Dianna Duran (R)
|-
| Attorney General
| Gary King (D)
|-
| State Auditor
| Hector Balderas (D)
|-
| State Treasurer
| James B. Lewis (D)
|-
| State Land Commissioner
| Ray Powell (D)
|}
The Constitution of 1912, as amended, dictates the form of government in the state.
On March 18, 2009, the Governor signed the law abolishing the death penalty (although the repeal is not retroactive to capital crimes committed before it took effect) in New Mexico after the assembly and senate vote the week before, thus becoming the 15th U.S. state to abolish the penalty.
Governor Susana Martinez and Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez, both Republicans, were elected in 2010. Their terms expire in January 2015. Governors serve a term of four years and may seek re-election for one additional term (limit of two terms). New Mexico has had more governors than any other state in the United States. Juan de Oñate was appointed by the Spanish crown as the first governor of New Mexico in 1598. Since then, New Mexico has had Spanish, Mexican, and American governors, therefore New Mexico has seen more governors then any other U.S state. For a list of past governors, see List of New Mexico Governors.
Other constitutional officers, all of whose terms also expire in January 2015, include Secretary of State Dianna Duran, Attorney General Gary King, State Auditor Hector Balderas, State Land Commissioner Ray Powell, and State Treasurer James B. Lewis. King, Balderas, Lewis, and Powell are Democrats. Duran is a Republican.
in Santa Fe.]]
The New Mexico State Legislature consists of a 70-seat House of Representatives and a 42-seat Senate.
New Mexico's members of the United States Senate are Democrats Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall. Democrats Martin Heinrich, and Ben R. Luján represent the first and third congressional districts, respectively, and Republican Steve Pearce represents the second congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. See New Mexico congressional map.
Politics
New Mexico is considered a
swing state, whose population has favored both
Democratic and
Republican presidential candidates in the past. The current governor is
Susana Martinez (R), who succeeded
Bill Richardson (D) on January 1, 2011 after he served two terms as governor from 2003 to 2011. Prior to Richardson,
Gary E. Johnson (R) served as governor from 1995 to 2003. In previous presidential elections,
Al Gore carried the state in 2000;
George W. Bush won New Mexico's five electoral votes in 2004, and the state's electoral votes were won by
Barack Obama in 2008.
Democratic strongholds in the state include the Santa Fe Area, the west and south sides of the Albuquerque Metro Area, Northern and West Central New Mexico, and most of the Native American reservations, particularly the Navajo Nation. Republicans have traditionally had their strongholds in the eastern and southern parts of the state (Little Texas), Rio Rancho, and Albuquerque's Northeast Heights.
Education
.]]
Due to the state's various research facilities, New Mexico had the highest concentration of Ph.D holders of any state in 2000.
Primary and secondary education
The
New Mexico Public Education Department oversees the operation of primary and secondary schools.
Colleges and universities
Culture
s and a bleached white cow's skull hang in a market near Santa Fe]]
With a Native American population of 134,000 in 1990, New Mexico still ranks as an important center of Native American 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 (6,500,000 ha), 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.
More than one-third of New Mexicans claim Hispanic origin, many are descendants of colonial settlers, and converted Sephardic Jews. They settled in the northern portion of the state. Most of the 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 Castilian vocabulary considered archaic elsewhere, adopts numerous Native American words for local features, and contains much Anglicized vocabulary for American concepts and modern inventions.
Albuquerque has the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, as well as hosts the famed annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta every fall.
Art and literature
A large artistic community thrives in Santa Fe, and has included such people as Bruce Nauman, Richard Tuttle, John Connell and Steina Vasulka. The capital city has museums of Spanish colonial, international folk, Navajo ceremonial, modern Native American, and other modern art. Another museum honors late 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.
; viewed from the mezzanine.]]
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 50 ft (15 m) marionette, during Fiestas de Santa Fe.
In the mid-20th century there was a thriving Hispano school of literature and scholarship being produced in both English and Spanish. Among the more notable authors were: Angélico Chávez, Nina Otero-Warren, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, Aurelio Espinosa, Cleofas Jaramillo, Juan Bautista Rael, and Aurora Lucero-White Lea.
As well, 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.
Silver City, in the southwestern mountains of the state, was originally a mining town, and at least one nearby mine still operates. It is perhaps better known now as the home of and/or exhibition center for large numbers of artists, visual and otherwise.
Sports
and the New Mexico Mustangs play in the Santa Ana Star Center]]
Notable professional sports teams based in New Mexico include the professional teams Albuquerque Isotopes, Triple A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers (baseball), New Mexico Thunderbirds, NBA D-League (basketball), New Mexico Mustangs, North American Hockey League (ice hockey), and the New Mexico Renegades, Western States Hockey League (ice hockey). The state universities field teams in many sports; teams include the University of New Mexico Lobos and the New Mexico State Aggies.
Olympic gold medalist Tom Jager, who is an advocate of controversial high-altitude training for swimming, has conducted training camps in Albuquerque (elevation 5,312 ft (1,619.1 m)) and Los Alamos (7320 ft (2,231 m)).
See also
References
Further reading
caprock at Sunrise]]
Primary sources
Ellis, Richard, ed. New Mexico Past and Present: A Historical Reader. 1971. primary sources
Tony Hillerman, The Great Taos Bank Robbery and other Indian Country Affairs, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1973, trade paperback, 147 pages, (ISBN 0-8263-0530-X), fiction
External links
;State Government
New Mexico Government
* New Mexico's Blue Book On-Line – State of New Mexico, Secretary of State (print almanac of statistics and information)
*Bureau of Elections New Mexico Major and Minor Political Parties
New Mexico State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by New Mexico state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at University of New Mexico (statistical information about the New Mexico economy)
;U.S. Government
Energy Profile for New Mexico– Economic, environmental, and energy data
New Mexico – Science In Your Backyard – United States Geological Society
"American Southwest" – Discover Our Shared Heritage travel itinerary – National Park Service
New Mexico dataset – United States Census Bureau
New Mexico state facts – Economic Research Service – United States Department of Agriculture
;Directory
;Tourism
Flora of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico
Category:States of the United States
Category:States and territories established in 1912
Category:Former Spanish colonies
