New Mexico (Spanish: Nuevo México) is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States. The state's capital is Santa Fe and its largest city is Albuquerque. New Mexico borders Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Texas. It also borders the state of Oklahoma to the northeast, and Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south.
In January 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state admitted into the Union, becoming the 47th U.S. state.
The climate for most of the state is generally semi-arid. In the summer it can be very hot in southern New Mexico. The temperature is sometimes over 100 °F (37.8 °C) with lows over 70 °F (21.1 °C). It occasionally snows in the northern part of the state in the winter. It is drier in the southern portion of the state, and it rarely snows. New Mexico is usually affected by the North American monsoon from mid-June to late September.
New Mexico is the long-time home of the Pueblo people, a group of Native Americans. The area was named Nuevo México (New Mexico) by the Spanish in the mid-1500s and officially settled in 1598, its capital, Santa Fe, was selected in 1610. In the late 1600s, the Pueblo people revolted against the Spanish. The Spanish returned twelve years later and made a better attempt at giving the Pueblos better representation in New Mexico’s society and government. One such Spanish governor of New Mexico, who is most well-known for his work with Native Americans, was Tomás Vélez Cachupín.
When Mexico became independent in the early 1800s, New Mexico was part of it. Mexican rule was unpopular in New Mexico, which led to another revolt called the Chimayo Rebellion.
In 1846, the United States and Mexico went to war over a border dispute in Texas (a former state of Mexico that was its own country for a time and then joined the United States), and the Americans won the war. The peace treaty the two countries signed gave what is now called the American Southwest to the United States. While most of what was then Northern Mexico did not have a large amount of people living in it, New Mexico had population centers in Pueblo and Spanish towns, especially along the Rio Grande River and in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The New Mexican citizens living there were allowed to stay if they agreed to become US citizens, and over 90% did so.
After some time as a territory, the area became a state in 1912.
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