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Ne No Nu

New Mexico

geographical name | encyclopedia
Pronounced: \noo mek-si-koh, nyoo mek-si-koh\ | IPA:/nu ˈmɛk sɪˌkoʊ, nyu ˈmɛk sɪˌkoʊ/

Definition of New Mexico

The State of New Mexico (In Spanish: Estado de Nuevo México. In Navajo: Yootó Hahoodzo.), founded on July 12, 1598, at San Juan de los Caballeros as Real de Nuevo México is a mountain state of the United States of America, which joined the Union on January 6, 1912. Formerly a colony and viceroyalty of New Spain and a territory of Mexico and the USA. The capital is Santa Fe (founded 1610) and its largest city is Albuquerque (founded 1706). It is the 5th largest state in the US with approximately 121,590 mi² by area, of which 121,298 mi² is land and 292 mi² is water.The state is located in the American Southwest, part of a region known as the Four Corners consisting of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado.

The hallmarks of New Mexican culture is its Native American Pueblo and Spanish roots, Wild West history, and its placement on several travel routes both historical and modern. This is proudly touted in everything, including mainstays such as the Pueblo Revival architecture, Territorial Revival Style, the Flag of New Mexico, New Mexican cuisine, and New Mexico music. The official language of the state is American English, the most prominent dialect of which is New Mexico English, the second most spoken language is Latin American Spanish and the New Mexico Spanish dialect, and Native American languages are also spoken especially Navajo, but Jicarilla Apache, Keres, Mescalero Apache, Tewa, Tiwa, Towa, and Zuni are also represented.

Examples of New Mexico

Origin of New Mexico

The name of New Mexico comes from a misunderstanding, the Spanish mistook the Pueblos for being related to the mexica (Aztec) people, translating into English as Holy Faith of New Mexico.

New Mexico was first referred to as Cibola in the early-to-mid 1500s by Spanish Explorers due to the mythological seven cities of Cibola, also as Tiguex/Toua/Tiquas on early world maps in mid-to-late 1500s in reference to the Pueblo Tiwa/Towa peoples, Real de Nuevo México by the 1600s, a part of Mexico as the Territorio de Nuevo Mexico in 1824, and the New Mexico Territory in the United States of America in 1848. Its first capitals were San Juan de los Caballeros (1598) and San Gabriel de Yunque-Ouinge (1599) until the official capital was founded at Santa Fe (1610).

The area has encompassed, in the past, parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. New Mexican culture still prevails as an influence in those state’s cultures, and vice versa.


  • First Known Use: 16th century
  • Area: 121,589.48 sq mi.
  • Population: 2,059,179.
  • Capital city: Santa Fe (pop. 67,947).
  • Largest city: Albuquerque (pop. 545,852).
  • Metropolitan areas: Albuquerque Metro (pop. 907,679). Las Cruces Metro (pop. 209,233). Santa Fe Metro (pop. 144,170). Farmington Metro (pop. 130,004), and Clovis-Portales (pop. 63,224). Micropolitan: Gallup, Roswell, Alamogordo, Hobbs, Carlsbad-Artesia, Clovis, Española, Taos, Silver City, Las Vegas, Deming, Grants, Ruidoso, Portales, and Los Alamos. Other: Tucumcari and Lincoln.
  • Time zone: Mountain Time Zone (UTC-07:00)
  • Flag: The Zía Pueblo sun symbol in Spanish red on a field of Spanish yellow.
  • State songs: “O Fair New Mexico”, “Asi es Nuevo México”, “Land Of Enchantment”, “Mi Lindo Nuevo Mexico”,  and”Under the New Mexico Skies”.
  • Government: The United States Constitution and the Constitution of New Mexico. Represented at a federal level in Washington D.C. by the Federal executive branch lead by the President of the United States (commander-in-chief of the United States Military), as well as a Federal legislative branch and Federal judicial branch. Executive branch: Governor of New Mexico (commander-in-chief of New Mexico National Guard). Legislative branch: New Mexico Senate and the New Mexico House of Representatives. Judicial branch: New Mexico Supreme Court, New Mexico Court of Appeals, and 13 New Mexico District Courts.
  • Currency: The US Dollar ($).
  • Trade routes: Historic trade routes include El Camino Real, Santa Fe Trail, Atchison-Topeka-Santa Fe Railway, Route 66, and the modern trade routes the Interstate (I-25, I-40, and I-10) and the Albuquerque International Airport.
  • Foreign relations: Represented by the United States of America for international relations. There are several consulates and honorary located in New Mexico. Consulates: Mexico. Honorary Consulates: Azerbaijan, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Sri Lanka.
  • Ethnic/Racial makeup: Hispanic of any race 47.3%. Non-Hispanic White 39.4%, Hispanic White 28.97%, Native American 10.4%, African American 2.5%, Multi-racial 2.4%, Asian American 1.6%, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0.2%.
  • Languages: The most widely spoken language, by a large margin, is English 63.96%, with the dialects of New Mexico English dialect at 32.8% and American English at 31.16%. Spanish is the second most popular language, with the most popular dialects being Latin American Spanish and New Mexican Spanish. Navajo 3.5%, Keres 0.68%, Zuni 0.48%, other Native American languages 0.56%, including Tiwa, Hopi, Jemez, Jicarilla, Mescalero-Chiricahua, and Apache. Other languages under 0.05% represented in New Mexico are: German, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Italian, Russian, Polish, Persian, Portuguese, Laotian, Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, Thai, Hindi, Tamil, Mandarin, and Hungarian.
  • Religions (by adherents): Christian (Catholic, Protestant, Latter-day Saints, Non-denominational), Atheism, Muslim, Buddhism (Mahayana, Theravada), Judaism (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox), Native American religion, Neopaganism, Bahá’í.