New Mexico Office of the State Historian

TOPIC: Origin and first use of term, "New Mexico"

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Subject: Origin and first use of the term, "New Mexico"
Posted: November 20, 2008 12:27 AM MST
Comments: Please tell me the origin and first common use of the term, "New Mexico". Specifically, I'm trying to determine whether the term was in use by American soldiers in 1846 in Santa Fe
Posted By: Harlan


Subject: New Mexico
Posted: November 20, 2008 10:28 PM MST
Comments: The term was used way before American soldiers in 1846 in Santa Fe. The real term is Nueva Mexico as a reference to a new land north of Mexico and used when putting together the Spanish expeditions to the north. Please note that the sound of the letter X in old Castillian is the same as the J sound in modern Castillian hence the name today in Castillian of Mejico and not Mexico.
Posted By: Antonio J Valdes


Subject: New Mexico
Posted: December 16, 2008 10:53 AM MST
Comments: As Historian Marc Simmons states, sixteenth-century Spaniards in the pursuit of fantastic myths and the Seven Cities of Gold led to the discovery, exploration and naming of New México. The idea of a new México was taken directly from the riches discovered in the indigenous Méxica which Spaniards renamed México.
Posted By: Miguél A. Torrez




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