Historic and little known facts

Welcome to the New Mexico Facts page. New Mexico has a long and varied history and a bright future. It has a wealth of natural resources as well as tourist resources of state and national parks and wilderness set-asides that can be enjoyed year round.  Native Americans and Hispanics have lived here for centuries. This page is dedicated to revealing all that make up the history of this state. New Mexico has variously been part of "New Spain," "New Mexico" (the country), the "New Mexico Territory," and the state of "New Mexico." Europeans were here before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. By the time Lewis and Clarke made their trek from Missouri to "New Mexico," the town of Santa Fe was already an historic town, and the oldest church in the United States is located there. Fact: In some isolated areas of north-central New Mexico, some descendants of Spanish conquistadors still speak a modified form of 16th-century Spanish used nowhere else in the world today. Fact: New Mexico was first wine producing region in the United States—not California. Grapevines were first planted in what's now New Mexico in 1629 by two missionaires south of Socorro (south-central New Mexico). Wine production began in 1633, and provided sacramental wine for more than 40 years. Today, the state has 19 wineries, producing almost 350,000 gallons of wine annually. Fact: Santa Fe was originally made the capital of New Mexico (not the state) by the Spanish in 1610. The Palace of the Governors, which now houses the state history museum, was built the same year and remains standing. It took more than 300 years, however, before the territory became a state in 1912. Fact: Artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 - 1986) found inspiration in the landscape of northern New Mexico and bought two properties there: a house at Ghost Ranch in 1940 and another in nearby Abiquiu. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe houses the largest public collection O'Keeffe's work, with more than 140 paintings, watercolors, pastels, and sculptures. Fact: Although his term as territorial governor of New Mexico Territory from 1878 to 1881 was plagued by lawlessness and attempts by special interests to wrest political control, Lew Wallace found time to complete his historical novel Ben Hur: A Tale of Christ (1880). The former Civil War general spent seven years researching the book, which later became motion pictures in 1907, 1925, and 1959. A New Mexico Time Line 1536  Cabeza de Vaca enters New Mexico from Texas  1539 Franciscan friar, Marcos de Niza, explores New Mexico  1540  Fran Vasquez Coronado explored New Mexico  1590 First attempt to colonize New Mexico made by the Spaniard Gaspar de Sosa  1598 Juan de Oñate founded the first permanent Spanish colony at San Juan  1609 Governor Pedro de Peralta established Santa Fe  1610 Pedro de Peralta, governor of New Mexico, founds Santa Fe, moves capital there  1680 The Pueblo Indians revolted and drove the Spaniards out of northern New Mexico  1692 Diego de Vargas reconquered New Mexico for Spain  1901  Tomas Ketchum hung  1909 Oil discovered near Datyon  1912 New Mexico Statehood  1916 Mexican bandits raided Columbus  1922 Geologists discovered oil in the southeastern and northwestern regions of New Mexico  1930  Carlsbad Caverns National Park  1940 Conchas Dam on Canadian River completed  1945 The first atomic bomb was exploded at Trinity Site near Alamogordo  1949 Los Alamos, sight of an atomic research laboratory, becomes 32nd county  1950 Paddy Martinez,a Navajo Indian,found uranium in the northwest region  1960 Large molybdenum deposit found near Questa  1962 Navajo Dam on San Juan River completed  1970 Completion of the San Juan-Chama project brought water to north-cental New Mexico

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