Santa Fe

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Capital of New Mexico, in Santa Fe County, on the Santa Fe River, 65 km/40 mi west of Las Vegas; population (2000 est) 62,200. It is situated in the Rio Grande Valley, over 2,000 m/6,500 ft above sea level, on the western slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Santa Fe is the cultural and tourist capital of the southwest, home to many artists, theatre, and opera. Precision instruments, pottery, and American Indian jewellery and textiles are produced.

History
Santa Fe is the second oldest US city, and the oldest capital in the USA. It was inhabited by a small number of Spanish settlers from 1607 and was founded on a prehistoric Tiwa pueblo site. However, it was truly settled later in 1610, by a party led by Don Pedro de Paralta, governor of New Mexico. It was evacuated in 1680 after a Pueblo Indian revolt, but was retaken in 1692. During the 18th century it was the headquarters of a large Spanish colonial frontier province. Santa Fe was capital of the Mexican province of New Mexico after the Mexicans took control from the Spanish in 1821 and was later a trading post on the 19th-century Santa Fe Trail. It was occupied by US troops under General Stephen Watts Kearny in 1846 before being ceded to the USA in 1848. It became the territorial capital in 1851. It expanded with the coming of the railway to nearby Albuquerque in 1880 and became state capital in 1912 on New Mexico's admission to the Union.

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