Welcome to Santa Fe!

Outside Magazine chose Santa Fe as one of the 30 Best Towns in America. And the bestselling 1,000 Places to See Before You Die book includes Santa Fe, praising the city's art and artisan markets, cuisine, opera, spas and the Georgia O'Keeffe Trail (which includes the O'Keeffe Museum, Ghost Ranch and tours of her house in Abiquiu). The readers of Conde Nast Traveler also put Santa Fe near the top of their must-see list. Few places appeal to so may different people. Art galleries, the Santa Fe Opera, local history, excellent food, accessible natural wonders, excellkent lodging choices make Santa Fe a prime destination for many.

The City of Santa Fe was originally occupied by a number of Pueblo Indian villages with founding dates between 1050 to 1150.

Santa Fe was the capital of Nuevo Mexico, a province of New Spain explored by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and established in 1515. New Mexico was first claimed for the Spanish Crown in 1540, almost 70 years before the founding of Santa Fe. Coronado and his men also traveled to the Grand Canyon and through the Great Plains on their New Mexico expedition.

Spanish colonists first settled in northern New Mexico in 1598. Don Juan de Oñate became the first Governor and Captain-General of New Mexico and established his capital in 1598 at San Juan Pueblo, 25 miles north of Santa Fe. The city of Santa Fe was founded by Don Pedro de Peralta, New Mexico's third governor. Peralta gave the city its full name, "La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís", or "The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saiont Francis of Assisi."

A settlement on the site that would become Santa Fe was first established by Juan Martinez de Montoya ca. 1607-1608. The town was formally founded and made a capital in 1610, making it the oldest capital city and perhaps tied with Jamestown, Virginia (1607) for second oldest surviving American city founded by European colonists, behind St. Augustine, Florida (1565).

Except for the years 1680-1692, when, as a result of the Pueblo Revolt, the Native Americans drove the Spaniards out of the area known as New Mexico, later to be reconquered by Don Diego de Vargas, Santa Fe remained Spain's provincial seat until the outbreak of the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. In 1824 the city's status as the capital of the Mexican territory of Santa Fé de Nuevo México was formalized in the 1824 Constitution.

Santa Fe and the United States

In 1841, a small military and trading expedition set out from Austin, Texas, with the aim of gaining control over the Santa Fe Trail. Known as the Santa Fe Expedition the force was poorly prepared and was easily repelled by the Mexican army. In 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico, and Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny led the main body of his Army of the West of some 1,700 soldiers into the city to claim it and the whole New Mexico Territory for the United States. By 1848 it officially gained New Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

In 1851, Jean Baptiste Lamy arrived in Santa Fe and began construction of the Saint Francis Cathedral. For a few days in March 1862, the Confederate flag of General Henry Sibley flew over Santa Fe, until he was defeated by Union troops.

In 1912, New Mexico became the country's 47th state, with Santa Fe as its capital. Today, it is a thriving community with strict building codes, a progressive mentality regarding water use and green architecture, and a haven for artists and art lovers.

Geography

Santa Fe is located at 35º40'2"N, 105º57'52"W. The city has a total area of 37.4 square miles, of which, 37.3 square mile of it is land and 0.1 square miles of it (0.21%) is water.

Santa Fe is located at 7,000 feet (2134 m) above sea level, making it the highest state capital in the United States.

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