Santa Fe, New Mexico, is located in the upper Rio Grande Valley of the southwestern United States. The state capital and an important tourist, arts, and culture center, it has a population of approximately 63,000 people and is part of a metropolitan area of more than 140,000. The present site of Santa Fe has been home to human beings for longer than 12,000 years, and initial Spanish settlements began there in the early seventeenth century. The community officially recognizes 1610 as the year Governor Don Pedro de Peralta founded the new capital city of La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís.

Annexed to the United States in 1848, Santa Fe has a long history of cultural, economic, and political importance. It ...