Mapping New Mexico

With a state as vast as ours, maps and atlases are an ongoing fascination for many of us. However, if you'd like to get to know the state aside from roads and topography, there are a couple of great online resources to start with.

The New Mexico Humanities Council has put together the Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps. This online resource has maps from the 1500s to the early Twentieth Century. A great feature of these maps is the ability to switch back and forth between the historic map and New Mexico today. You can also see the older map superimposed on today's physical map for reference. Biographical information about the mapmaker is provided, and all the maps are put into a larger historical context with a wealth of primary source documentation.

If literature is more your passion, the New Mexico Office of the State Historian has a literary map of the state. You can click on a place name, and links to literary excerpts appear for each one. History, memoir, poetry, and fiction are all used to verbally map each place. For example, clicking on Chimayó brings up a prose excerpt by Cristina Ortega, and poetry by Adán V. Baca and Estevan Rael-Gálvez. It's easy to lose track of time on this site as you read about places you've been to, or click on places you've never heard of and read what has touched others about it.

After studying up on the history and literature of the Land of Enchantment, you'll soon be pulling out those road atlases to plan your next adventure!