According to directoryaah, the state of New Mexico with its capital Santa Fe is located in the southwest of the USA. It extends from north to south over a length of about 550 kilometers. Its east-west extension is around 595 kilometers.

New Mexico covers a total area of ​​approximately 315,194 square kilometers. This puts the state in fifth place in a size comparison with the other US states. Only Alaska, Texas, California and Montana have a larger territory.

New Mexico borders Colorado to the north and Oklahoma to the northeast. The neighbor to the east and south is Texas. New Mexico shares another part of its southern border with Mexico. To the west lies Arizona. At one point in the northwest, New Mexico meets Utah. There is a four-country corner, also called Four Corners, where New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona meet. It is the only quadrangle of states in the USA and has a memorial, the Four Corners Monument.

The New Mexico area is a plateau crossed by the Rocky Mountains. On average, it is 1,735 meters above sea level. The highest elevation New Mexico is the 4,011 meter high Wheeler Peak in the north of the state. The lowest point is 866 meters above sea level in the Red Bluff Reservoir.

The most important river in the state is the Rio Grande. The river, which is around 3,034 kilometers long and flows through New Mexico from north to south, has its source in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains and finally flows into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the third longest river system in the USA (after the Mississippi and the Yukon Rivers) and forms part of the border between the USA and Mexico in its course.
Other important rivers are the Rio Pecos and the Canadian River. The 1,490 kilometer long Rio Pecos rises near Santa Fe and flows into the Rio Grande. The 1,458-kilometer Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River (2,333 kilometers in length). It rises in Colorado and flows through Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.
There are few natural lakes in New Mexico. The state’s most important man-made reservoir is Elephant Butte.

The landscape of New Mexico is essentially determined by the G of the Rocky Mountains ebirgszüge coined. The vast mountain range of folds is located in western North America and extends over a length of around 5,000 kilometers, from Mexico to Canadaand Alaska. The highest mountain in the Rocky Mountains is in Alaska and is 6,194 meter high Mount McKinley. This is followed by the 5,959 meter high Mount Logan in Canada and the 4,401 meter high Mount Elbert in Colorado. The Rocky Mountains run through the so-called Mountains States. In addition to New Mexico, these also include Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada and Montana.
There are major national parks in the Rocky Mountains, such as Yellowstone National Park and numerous winter sports centers.

The Great Plains border in eastern New Mexico to the Rocky Mountains. The approximately 500 km wide, dry area east of the Rocky Mountains extends from the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta to South Texas. The Great Plains are bounded to the north by the Canadian Shield and to the south by the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico. The Great Plain covers an area of ​​approximately two million square kilometers. On the Rocky Mountains, the plain is about 1,600 meters above sea level and drops to about 600 meters to the east. In addition to New Mexico, they extend over nine other US states: Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana North Dakota and South Dakota. Around half of the United States’ wheat is produced in the Great Plains. Hence the region is often referred to as America’s bread basket.

In western New Mexico, the Colorado Plateau joins the Rocky Mountains. The plateau covers a total area of ​​around 337,000 square kilometers and extends over the southwest of Utah, the north of Arizona as well as over the west of New Mexico and parts of Colorado. The plateau is an average of 1,500 meters above sea level and forms the shape of a shallow bowl.

The southern New Mexico is on the Chihuahuan Desert. It is located in the border area between the USA and Mexico and extends over an area of ​​about 360,000 kilometers. The Chihuahua Desert is a desert basin that is criss-crossed by smaller mountain ranges, such as the Sacramento Mountains. Within the desert there are significant differences in altitude from 600 to 1,675 meters above sea level. The vegetation consists of agaves, yucca and various grasses, among other things.

New Mexico – key data

Land area: 315,194 sq km (5th place in all US states)

Share of water surface: 0.2%

Population: 1.98 million (2008 estimate, ranked 36th of all states in the USA)

Population density: 6.3 people per square kilometer (45th place of all states in the USA)

Member of the USA since: January 6, 1912 (as the 47th state in the USA)

Languages: English (67%), Spanish (29%), Navajo (4%)

Capital: Santa Fe (72,056 residents, 2006, metropolitan area 183,782 residents)

Largest city: Albuquerque (518,271 residents, 2007, metropolitan area 845,913 residents)

Highest point: 4,011 m, Wheeler Peek

Lowest point: 866 m, Red Bluff Reservoir

Governor: Bill Richardson (Democrat)

Lieut. Governor: Diane Denish (Democrat)

Local time: CET -8 h. From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November: CET -7 h.
The time difference to Central Europe is -8 h ​​in both winter and summer.

Postal abbreviation: NM