10 Enchanting New Mexico Facts

New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment" and boasts terrific natural beauty. Find out more about the state with our interesting New Mexico facts.

10 Enchanting New Mexico Facts

1. Until 2010, New Mexico law banned "idiots" from voting.

2. Archaeologists call the early indigenous New Mexicans “Basketmakers," in reference to their skill at weaving baskets that were so air-tight they were used to hold water and for cooking.

3. New Mexican turquoise has been mined so heavily that only a small amount remains, causing some pieces of turquoise to be worth thousands of dollars.

4. The black-footed ferret, possibly the rarest mammal in all of North America, is found in New Mexico.

5. Both the first nuclear bomb and the first hydrogen bomb were created in the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico.

6. Until the 19th century, the monumental structures built by the ancient Puebloans at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, were the largest buildings in North America.

7. The town of Roswell, New Mexico, has built upon its UFO lore by erecting a UFO museum, adorning their streetlights with aliens, constructing a flying-saucer McDonald's, and placing a fake family of stranded aliens on a roadside.

8. New Mexico's nickname is the “Land of Enchantment," due to its beautiful and varied scenery, which ranges from mountains and forests to lakes, rivers, and deserts.

9. John Denver, Jeff Bezos, and Georgia O’Keefe were all New Mexico-born.

10. New Mexico received its name from the Spanish conquistadors, who called it a “Neuva” or “New” Mexico, in hopes that the region would prove to be as rich as they had found Mexico.