BCE 10000-9000 Clovis people The Clovis people are in New Mexico by the end of the last Ice Age (12,000 to 11,200 years ago), although recent research suggests that date may be pushed back even further.
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BCE 9000-8000 Folsom people Folsom people flourish throughout the Southwest at the end of the last Ice Age.
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CE 700-1300 Anasazi culture evolves into Chaco Civilization Anasazi or Ancestral Pueblo culture centered on the Four Corners area are best known for their occupation of stone and adobe dwellings, such as cliff dwellings and Great Houses.
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CE 1200-1500s Pueblo Indians along the Rio Grande Most of the Rio Grande Valley and immediately adjacent areas of New Mexico were sparsely populated before 1300, a date used as a beginning for the establishment of many of the Pueblo villages that continue to be lived in today.
CE 1450s-1550s Navajos and Apaches in the Southwest Navajos and Apaches, Athabascan-speaking groups, arrive in the Southwest. Earliest evidence of Navajos in the Upper San Juan area indicates they raise corn and produce grey ceramic ware. Apaches also enter the area.
1598 Spanish Colonization of New Mexico Juan de Oñate leads the Spanish colonization of the province of New Mexico. He establishes his first capital in San Juan de los Caballeros at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Chama River.
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1680 Pueblo Revolt On 10 August 1680, the united Pueblo people carry out a general rebellion that drives the Spaniards out of the New Mexico colony eighty-two years after they settled there.
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1692 Spanish Recolonization of New Mexico Diego de Vargas leads a ceremonial reconquest of New Mexico in 1692. The following year Spanish colonists resettle New Mexico after a dozen years in exile in El Paso del Norte.
1786 Peace between Spaniards and Comanches Governor Juan Bautista de Anza and Ecueracapa, leader of the Cuchanec band and spokesman for all the Comanches, conclude a peace treaty that establishes a peace lasting almost thirty-five years until the advent of Mexican independence.
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1807 First Exploration of New Mexico from United States Zebulon Montgomery Pike leads an exploratory expedition to the Southwest to map the Red River. He and his party are captured in what was then northern New Mexico and taken to Santa Fe and Chihuahua before being released.
1821 Mexican Independence Mexico wins independence from Spain in the spring of 1821, but the news does not reach Santa Fe until December when all local government officials swear allegiance to Mexico.
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1846 US invasion of New Mexico Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearny led United States forces invading and occupying New Mexico in 1846. Forces under Alexander Doniphan clashed with Mexican troops, routing them at the Battle of Brazito on Christmas Day.
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico lost almost half of its territory, including parts of present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
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1850 New Mexico becomes a US territory The Compromise of 1850 grants New Mexico territorial status on 9 September 1850. President Millard Fillmore signs into law the Organic Act, admitting New Mexico into the Union as a territory and allowing for the formation of a territorial government.
1879 Railroad reaches New Mexico The first passenger train into New Mexico carried members of the Colorado legislature to Otero on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line on 13 February 1879. One year later, the line was extended through Mora, San Miguel, and Santa Fe Counties.
1912 New Mexico becomes the 47th state New Mexico becomes a state of the United States of America. On 6 January 1912, President William H. Taft signs the proclamation making New Mexico the 47th state.
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1943-45 Manhattan Project The United States Army builds Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret project to develop atomic weapons. Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer leads successful development of devices deployed against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on 6 and 9 August 1945.
1967 Tierra Amarilla Courthouse raid The Alianza Federal de Mercedes, led by Reies López Tijerina, raids the Rio Arriba County Courthouse on 5 June 1967 in an attempt to bring attention to the usurpation of Hispanic land grants by Anglo landowners and the United States government.
1980 Intel opens microchip plant in Rio Rancho In 1980, Intel opened a semiconductor fabrication plant in Rio Rancho. Fueled by high-paying jobs at Intel, Rio Rancho became one of fastest-growing cities in the United States.
2010 Susana Martinez becomes the thirty-first governor of New Mexico. Governor Martínez becomes the first elected female governor of New Mexico and the first Hispanic woman governor in the United States.
State Records Center and Archives
State Records Center and Archives