Santa Fe

Santa Fe, city (1991 pop. 341,000), capital of Santa Fe prov., NE Argentina, a river port near the Paraná, with which it is connected by canal. On the eastern margin of the Pampa (see under pampas), it is an important shipping point for the agricultural products of much of NW Argentina. The city also has some industry. Founded by the Spanish conquistador Juan de Garay (1573), Santa Fe was the site of the promulgation of the 1853 Argentine constitution. There are several notable churches and a national university.

Santa Fe, city (1990 pop. 55,859), alt. c.7,000 ft (2,130 m), state capital and seat of Santa Fe co., N N.Mex., at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mts. It is an administrative, tourist, resort, and cultural center and a shipping point for farm products and Native American wares. There is printing and publishing, food processing, and the manufacture of furniture, machinery, clothing and textiles, and building materials.

Founded c.1609 by the Spanish on the site of prehistoric Native American ruins, it became a center of Spanish trade with local ethnic groups. A seat of government since its founding, it is the oldest capital city in the United States. In the Pueblo revolt of 1680, the Spanish colonists were driven out; in 1692 they returned under Diego de Vargas. Shortly after Mexico gained independence from Spain (1821), extensive commerce with the United States developed by way of the Santa Fe Trail. In 1846, the region became a U.S. territory. The railroad reached Lamy (the station for Santa Fe, 16 mi/26 km distant) in 1879.

The seat of an archbishopric since 1875, the city, with its many churches, is a Roman Catholic center. Points of interest are the Palace of the Governors (c.1610), which houses a state museum; the Laboratory of Anthropology, with a museum of Spanish colonial art; museums of international folk art, Navajo ceremonial art, and contemporary Native American art; an exhibition hall for contemporary art; and a museum devoted to the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. There are artists' and writers' colonies and many art galleries, the Santa Fe Opera in the summer, the restored Lensic Theater, St. John's College, the College of Santa Fe, a Native American school, and a state school for the deaf. The city is the headquarters for the Santa Fe National Forest and regional headquarters for the National Park Service.

Historic wagon trail from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S. An important commercial route from 1821 to 1880, it was opened by William Becknell and used by merchant wagon caravans. From the Missouri River the trail followed the divide between the tributaries of the Arkansas and Kansas rivers to the site of modern Great Bend, Kan., then proceeded along the Arkansas River. At the western end three routes turned south to Santa Fe, the shortest being the Cimarron Cutoff through the valley of the Cimarron River. When the Santa Fe railroad was completed in 1880, use of the trail ceased.

Learn more about Santa Fe Trail with a free trial on Britannica.com.

City (pop., 2000: 62,203), capital of New Mexico, U.S. It lies at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Founded by the Spanish in 1610, it was the administrative, military, and missionary headquarters of a vast, sparsely populated Spanish colonial province during the 18th century. In the Mexican War in 1846, the city was occupied by U.S. forces under Gen. Stephen Kearny. After New Mexico was ceded to the U.S., Santa Fe became the capital of the territory in 1851. In 1912 it became the state capital. It was the western terminus of the Santa Fe Trail. It is a major tourist centre noted for Indian and Mexican handicrafts, and its large Spanish-American population has made it the cultural capital of the southwest. A popular summer resort, it also attracts winter skiers.

Learn more about Santa Fe with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Santa Fe de Nuevo México (shortened to Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, translated as New Mexico) was a province of New Spain that existed from the late 16th century up through the early 19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico. In theory it had variably-defined borders extending into the present-day states of Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, although actual settlements centered around Santa Fe. For all but the first few years of its existence, its capital was Santa Fe.

The province was founded in 1598 by Juan de Oñate during his expedition northward from New Spain; he established a settlement near Ohkay Oweenge Pueblo. The expedition had been authorized by Phillip II and was motivated in part by a desire to restore the fortunes of the Spanish Empire following the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The Spanish believed that cities of gold, such as the ones of the Aztecs, whom they had previously conquered, lay to the north in the unexplored territory. Oñate was unable to find such cities, however, he embarked on the conquest of the urbanized Puebloan peoples. He later became the first governor of the province. Oñate hoped to turn the province in a separate viceroyalty from New Spain, but he was unsuccessful. The Spanish were expelled from the territory for 12 years following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, returning in 1692 in the "bloodless" reoccupation of Santa Fe by Diego de Vargas. The province fell under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, with oversight by the Viceroy of New Spain. In 1777 with the creation of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas, the province was removed from the purview of the Viceroy and placed solely on the Commandant General.

The province remained in Spanish control until Mexico's declaration of independence in 1821. Under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico it became the federally-administered Territory of New Mexico.

The area of the former province east of the Rio Grande was claimed by the Republic of Texas after 1836, a claim that was disputed by Mexico. In 1844 the Texians sent an expedition, ostensibly for trade but with hopes of occupying the claimed area, but the expedition was captured by Mexican troops; the United States inherited the unenforced claim to the east bank with the Texas Annexation. The US Army under Stephen Kearny occupied the territory in 1846 in the Mexican-American War and Mexico recognized its loss to the United States in 1848 with the Mexican Cession. Texas continued to claim the eastern part, but never succeeded in establishing control except in El Paso; in the Compromise of 1850 it gave up its claim to areas in today's New Mexico. In 1849, President Zachary Taylor proposed that New Mexico immediately become a state to sidestep political conflict over slavery in the territories, but it only became a state in January 1912.

See also

• New Mexico Territory
• History of New Mexico
• Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain