New Mexico ( , ) is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States of America ; its capital and cultural center is Santa Fe , which was founded in 1610 as capital of Nuevo México ( itself established as a province of New Spain in 1598 ) , while its largest city is Albuquerque with its accompanying metropolitan area . It is one of the Mountain States and shares the Four Corners region with Utah , Colorado , and Arizona ; its other neighboring states are Oklahoma to the northeast , Texas to the east-southeast , and the Mexican states of Chihuahua to the south and Sonora to the southwest . With a population around two million , New Mexico is the 36th state by population . With a total area of , it is the fifth-largest and sixth-least densely populated of the 50 states . Due to their geographic locations , northern and eastern New Mexico exhibit a colder , alpine climate , while western and southern New Mexico exhibit a warmer , arid climate . The economy of New Mexico is dependent on oil drilling , mineral extraction , dryland farming , cattle ranching , lumber milling , and retail trade . As of 2018 , its total gross domestic product ( GDP ) was $ 101 billion with a GDP per capita of $ 45,465 . New Mexico 's status as a tax haven yields low to moderate personal income taxes on residents and military personnel , and gives tax credits and exemptions to favorable industries . Because of this , its film industry has grown and contributed $ 1.23 billion to its overall economy . Due to its large area and economic climate , New Mexico has a large U.S. military presence marked notably with the White Sands Missile Range . Various U.S. national security agencies base their research and testing arms in New Mexico such as the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories . During the 1940s , Project Y of the Manhattan Project developed and built the country 's first atomic bomb and nuclear test , Trinity . Inhabited by Native Americans for many thousands of years before European exploration , it was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 as part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain . In 1563 , it was named Nuevo México after the Aztec Valley of Mexico by Spanish settlers , more than 250 years before the establishment and naming of the present-day country of Mexico ; thus , the present-day state of New Mexico was '' not '' named after the country today known as Mexico . After Mexican independence in 1824 , New Mexico became a Mexican territory with considerable autonomy . This autonomy was threatened , however , by the centralizing tendencies of the Mexican government from the 1830s onward , with rising tensions eventually leading to the Revolt of 1837 . At the same time , the region became more economically dependent on the United States . At the conclusion of the Mexican – American War in 1848 , the United States annexed New Mexico as the U.S. New Mexico Territory . It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6 , 1912 . Its history has given New Mexico the highest percentage of Hispanic and Latino Americans , and the second-highest percentage of Native Americans as a population proportion ( after Alaska ) . New Mexico is home to part of the Navajo Nation , 19 federally recognized Pueblo communities of Puebloan peoples , and three different federally recognized Apache tribes . In prehistoric times , the area was home to Ancestral Puebloans , Mogollon , and the modern extant Comanche and Utes inhabited the state . The largest Hispanic and Latino groups represented include the Hispanos of New Mexico , Chicanos , and Mexican Americans . The flag of New Mexico features the state 's Spanish origins with the same scarlet and gold coloration as Spain 's Cross of Burgundy , along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia , a Puebloan tribe . These indigenous , Hispanic , Mexican , Latin , and American frontier roots are reflected in the eponymous New Mexican cuisine and the New Mexico music genre
Trinity
Trinity (nuclear test)
New Mexico