Travel Oracles 50 States: New Mexico

As part of my summer series - Travel Oracles 50 States - I am revisiting each os the fifty American states as an overview on travel culture and history. Today: New Mexico

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Joined: Originally colonized by Spain, and in the spring of 1821, Mexico won independence from Spain and established the Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico, and then the United States invaded New Mexico in 1846. The empire's independence lasted until 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War. The land that is now New Mexico became U.S. territory as part of the Gadsen Purchase in 1853, and the road to statehood was protracted and contentious, however, after much effort, on January 6, 1912 New Mexico became the 47th state in the Union. During the civil war it was not yet a state, but held a key location that the Confederacy claimed the southern half of the vast New Mexico Territory in 1861 as its own Arizona Territory and waged the ambitious New Mexico Campaign in an attempt to control the American Southwest and open up access to Union-held California. However, the New Mexico Volunteers provided over 8,000 Union soldiers — more than any other Western state — led by Lt. Col Manuel Chavez, and included several battles like The Battle of Valverde, fought in the Rio Grande bottomlands north of Fort Craig.

Original Indigenous Peoples: The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American tribe in North America, and their reservation is located in northwestern New Mexico, northern Arizona and southeastern Utah. Also the Jicarilla Apaches, Mescalero Apaches and Acoma Pueblo. Before Europeans arrived in New Mexico, the state was populated by Native Americans, who now make up about 11% of its population.

First Settlers: In 1598, Juan de Oñate led a Spanish mission to colonize the state. In the following two centuries, the Pueblo people revolted but Spanish settlers re-colonized the land, and in 1789 a peace treaty was established, leading to 35 years of peace between the Native Americans and the colonizers.

History moment: Santa Fe is the oldest capital in the U.S. Founded between 1607 and 1610 and is America's second oldest city + Constructed in 1610, the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe is the oldest seat of government in the United States. As a U.S. territory it saw a lot of Wild West action and Billy the Kid was shot & buried in Fort Sumner, also famed artist Georgia O’Keeffe famously called NM home. During World War II New Mexico was the site of the top-secret Manhattan Project in which top U.S. scientists raced to create the first atomic bomb, which was tested at the Trinity Bombsite, near Alamagordo, on July 16, 1945. In 1947, Roswell, New Mexico, became a topic of speculation about extraterrestrial life when a local farmer discovered unidentified debris on his property, which some believed was the remains of a crashed alien spacecraft.

Known for: Diverse landscape, Spanish and Native American culture, Cowboy culture & the Wild West, Ancient Pueblo People & Taos Pueblo, Gila Cliff Dwellings, White sands, The Roswell Incident, Birthplace of the nuclear bomb, Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Georgia O’Keeffe homes & Ghost Ranch

Places: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Roswell

Movie setting: Many, many Westerns! High Noon, Young Guns, and hit shows like Breaking bad and Godless

Musicians from: John Denver, The Rondelles, The Shins, Ryan Bingham

Surprising facts: Mentioned above, both Rosewll’s tie to extraterrestrial life and the first atomic bombs were developed and tested here. White Sands National Park contains the largest gypsum dune field in the world. The result of water evaporating from transitory lakes with high mineral content, gypsum deposits are windswept into picturesque white sand dunes spanning 275 square miles. The Spanish language spoken by close to a quarter of a million people throughout New Mexico and southern Colorado is an ancient dialect that is largely Castilian in origin. The federal government is the state’s biggest employer. More than one-third of the land in New Mexico is protected by the federal government and the U.S. government also maintains military and research institutions in the state. Three Air Force bases, White Sands Missile Range and the federal research facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories are located in New Mexico.

One of the most unique and historical states in the union, New Mexico is a confluence of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo culture. Albuquerque is New Mexico's welcoming gateway, Santa Fe is surrounded by mind-expanding mountain views and is filled with streets characterized by low-slung adobe architecture. Venture beyond New Mexico's cities and you'll discover a land of exceptionally diverse scenery, from the natural formations of Carlsbad Caverns, to river gorges with sheer basalt walls, to the aspen-covered slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Also, some of my favorite art and food anywhere! Let’s travel to New Mexico

My Experience: I love visiting NM, and Santa Fe in particular - for the art, architecture, sunsets, food and history. It is also very unique for an American state, and I always learn something new here - I feel like way more people should experience it! I should also mention that one side of our family is Spanish & Indigenous, and first arrived into New Mexico or ‘New Spain’ via Spain over 400 years ago I have written about it in Conde Nast Traveler here and here. Also see some of my previous blog posts on Santa Fe & Taos here

Santa Fe & Taos: As the oldest capital in America, and its second oldest city and contains the oldest seat of government in the United States (The Palace of the Governors). On a plateau at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains—at an elevation of 7,000 feet—Santa Fe brims with reminders of four centuries of Spanish and Mexican rule, and of the Pueblo cultures that have been here for hundreds of years more. The town's placid central Plaza has been the site of bullfights, gunfights, political rallies, promenades, and public markets since the early 17th century. A one-of-a-kind destination, Santa Fe is fabled for its chic art galleries, superb restaurants, and diverse shops selling everything from Southwestern furnishings and cowboy gear to Tibetan textiles and Moroccan jewelry. If Santa Fe had a somewhat provincial, regional vibe at one time, the scene has changed considerably of late, with more and more retail and dining mixing local with international, often cutting-edge, styles. The nearby historic town of Taos has become a draw for artists since the early 20th century, making the pilgrimage here to write, paint, and take photographs. Set on an undulating mesa at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, it's a place of piercing light and spectacular views, where the desert palette changes almost hourly as the sun moves across the sky and Adobe buildings—some of them centuries old—lie nestled amid pine trees and scrub, some in the shadow of majestic Wheeler Peak, the state's highest point, at just over 13,000 feet. Things to do in Santa Fe

Albuquerque: A diverse and charmingly quirky historic town by the Rio Grande. Perfectly set as the gateway to other New Mexico wonders like Zuni, El Morro, and Chaco Canyon, Albuquerque’s own rich history and dramatic terrain—desert volcanoes, unique cottonwood bosque along the broad banks of the river that flows through its very center, and a striking confluence of mountain ranges—have long captured the imagination of folks en route from here to there. Today, vibrant art galleries, growers' markets, a coffee and microbrewery scene, and its world-class museums as well as superb nature trails and spectacular topography—and, absolutely, the seemingly endless blue sky and the joyous hot-air balloons that decorate it—make it a worthy destination of its own. Centuries-old traces of Native American populations past and present abound throughout the Rio Grande Valley, and Albuquerque is no exception. Their trade routes are what drew the Spanish here; sections of what became their Camino Real are still intact. Things to do in Albuquerque

Nature: More than one-third of the land in New Mexico is protected by the federal government, employing people in agencies such as the National Park Service to protect national parks and historic sites. These include two national parks (Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands), two national historical parks (Chaco Culture, Pecos), one national heritage area (Northern Rio Grande) and 11 national monuments.

Ranking in US: Per the annual US News report, New Mexico is currently ranked #48 out of 50 in 2021 and was #46 2019. It seems odd to be low as the state has SO much potential and abundant open space.