History of New Mexico

Pre-European and European History The history of New Mexico dates back to 20,000 years ago. Before the arrival of the Europeans in the state, the region was inhabited by nomadic groups who were hunter gatherers. These groups were members of the Clovis culture of Paleo-Indians, native Americans of the Mogollon and the Anasazi cultures. The region was inhabited by the Pueblo peoples of Navajo, Apache and Ute in the sixteenth century.

The earliest major expedition in the state was led by a Spanish explorer, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. He found a settlement at Compostela in 1540-1542. Years later in 1563, Francisco de Ibarra visited the state looking for gold mines. He was the first person to use the name Nuevo Mexico. The name was officially adopted by the first governor of the province of New Mexico, Juan de Onate in 1598. Onate established the first permanent settlement at San Juan de los Caballeros colony in the future state of New Mexico, on the Rio Grande near Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.
The Spaniards finally moved to Santa Fe in 1610, and dominated the region for more than two centuries.

The Mexican War of Independence paved way for Mexico to become an independent state. New Mexico gained independence from the long Spanish rule in 1821. The disputes over boundaries went on very long as the Republic of Texas wanted the portion east of the Rio Grande; the demand was made in 1836 when Texas seceded from Mexico. France had originally been the ruler of the extreme northeastern part of New Mexico; the land was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

The new government of Mexico City was unpopular and unable to handle the many revolts happening in the state. This led to the revolt of 1837, and the state was under turmoil.
With the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), New Mexico ceded the American Southwest and California, to the United States of America. The Compromise of 1850 brought California into the Union as a free state.
These disputes over land boundaries caused great violence in the state. The economy of the state continued to grow despite such turmoil.

Mexico was admitted as the forty-seventh US state to the Union on January 6, 1912. The 1920s was a great time for the state as petroleum reserves in the southeast and northwest were discovered and exploited. Also many other natural resources like potash salts were found near Carlsbad. Tourism became an important industry. The onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s, however, devastated the state's economy.
The economy revived during the Second World War with the manufacture of atomic bombs and other weapons. In 1943, a center for atomic research, Los Alamos was built by the US government and this ushered an economic boom.