Española, New Mexico

Rio Arriba County

35-25170

Española is a city in the north of the U.S. state of New Mexico in Rio Arriba County. Española has 9.688 inhabitants and an area of 21.9 km ².

Location

The town lies in a valley between the Jemez Mountains and the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. It lies on the rivers Rio Grande, Rio Chama and Rio Santa Cruz. The city is located about 40 miles north of Santa Fe, approximately 70 km south of Taos and about 40 km east of Los Alamos.

History

The town was founded in 1598 by Juan de Oñate ( 1550-1626 ), who administered the province of Nuevo México of New Spain. Española was the first headquarters on the territory of the present-day United States, was founded by Europeans.

In the 1880s a railway line was built near the village.