The 47th state admitted to the US was New Mexico, on January 6th, 1912. New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment" because of its rocky mountains and desert landscapes. About 75% of New Mexico's roads are unpaved. There is more local support to stay with gravel and rutted dirt roads than there is to fill paved roads, so they remain to be unchanged. The state motto is "Crescit Eundo", which means "It grows as it goes". Since 1629, wine grapes have been grown in New Mexico. Today, there are about 50 wineries that produce over a million gallons per year. Smokey the Bear is actually from New Mexico. During World War II, he was invented to help educate America about the dangers of wilderness fires. The first atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945. It was detonated in the desert sand, and the same exact one was dropped onto Nagasaki, Japan a few weeks later. Every October, over 500 hot air balloons take flight at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. It has become the largest festival of its kind in the entire world, and continues to grow every year. Albuquerque has predictable wind patterns that allow the balloons to fly north at low elevations and then south at higher elevations to make trips safe and easy for the passengers. When you drive to the top of the Capulin Volcano National Monument, you can see five different states with 8,000ft high views. New Mexico is so much more than a desert. It has one of the most diverse landscapes in the entire world. The state capitol is Santa Fe, the state bird is the Greater Roadrunner, the state flower is the Yucca Flower, and the state tree is the Piñon Tree.
The first people to inhabit New Mexico arrived about 11,000BCE. They were the Paleo-indians who hunted mastodons, mammoths, and sloths. Native Americans from the Clovis culture arrived soon after that in 9200BCE, followed by the Folsom, Desert I, Desert II, Mogollon, Anasazi, Pueblo, and the Rio Grande. The Pueblo built planned villages with apartment-like structures and many rooms that housed as many as 1000 people. This was the largest apartment building constructed until the 19th century in NYC and Chicago. The Anasazi used irrigation canals, dams, and hillside terracing techniques way before the Spanish first arrived. In the early 1500's, the Spanish explorers heard about these amazing cities with buildings and canals in the North American Southwest. In the early 1500's, they explored, and in January of 1599, Spanish conquistadors came and killed about 800 men, women, and children in The Ácoma Massacre. This established Spanish control in the region. Any survivors became slaves to the Spanish, or were sentenced to prison for 20 years, or had their right feet amputated. In 1680, the Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish colonials drove the Spanish out for 12 years. It was led by a Pueblo leader named Popé, and was the only successful Native American rebellion against a colonizing power in the USA.
In 1848, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War, which allowed New Mexico to be annexed to the USA. The treaty ended the war with New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona (most), and Colorado (most). Mexico was paid $15 million for the land, and were reverted to apply their private claims to the Mexican government. This treaty helped New Mexico to become a state by transferring territory from Mexico to the USA, granting citizenship to Mexican citizens, and acknowledging land grants. In 1886, the surrender of Geronimo, the chief of the Apaches, ended three decades of bloodshed. The population of New Mexico expanded, and the Santa Fe Railroad opened in 1879. An authorized constitutional convention was established in New Mexico in 1910, and they drafted and ratified a state constitution in 1911. In 1912, New Mexico was granted statehood when President Taft signed the bill to admit it as a state. Today, New Mexico has about 263,615 Native American citizens with 23 federally recognized tribes as sovereign nations with their own government, culture, traditions, and values.
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