A report on Southwestern United States

Panoramic view of the southwestern United States

The Chihuahuan desert terrain mainly consists of basins broken by numerous small mountain ranges.

The Delicate Arch at Arches National Park

Ancestral Puebloans ruins at Chaco Canyon

Map of Paleo-Indians in the American Southwest and Mexico

1846 map: Mexican Alta California (Upper California) in pink.

Split of Arizona and New Mexico territories, in 1866, after small portion ceded to Nevada

The second transcontinental railroad: the "Santa Fe Route" – 1891.

Map of the Southwestern United States as defined by the Learning Center of the American Southwest

The Wigwam. A dwelling used by various Native American tribes among the Southwestern US.

Fanciful drawing by Marguerite Martyn in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of October 21, 1906, headed "Passing of the Country Store in the Southwest"

The High Plains in Eastern New Mexico, but also located in Eastern Colorado and West Texas

Monument Canyon, some of the high desert lands found in Colorado

Little Finland in Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada

Runningback Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders NFL team

T. J. McFarland pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks professional baseball team.

4. Albuquerque (also the 4th largest MSA)

Geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.

- Southwestern United States

125 related topics with Alpha

New Mexico

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Wheeler Peak in the Sangre de Cristo Range

Köppen climate types of New Mexico, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Greater roadrunner (the state bird of New Mexico)

Ancestral Pueblo territory shown in pink over New Mexico

Statue of Popé, leader of the Pueblo Revolt. The statue, entitled Po'pay, is among two statues depicting New Mexicans at the United States Capitol National Statuary Hall Collection, the other being Dennis Chávez.

Territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México when it belonged to Mexico in 1824

"The indigenous people of northern New Mexico" by Balduin Möllhausen, 1861.

A homesteader and his children at the New Mexico Fair in Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940

San Miguel Chapel, built in 1610 in Santa Fe, is the oldest church structure in the continental U.S.

New Mexico state quarter, circulated in April 2008

An F-22 Raptor flown by the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB

Albuquerque Studios, built in 2007 for the rising demand of film production in the state

In this photo, the Mexico–United States border divides Sunland Park and the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is a commuter operation that runs along the Central Rio Grande Valley.

Spaceport America terminal, The Gateway.

The New Mexico Public Education Department is in Santa Fe.

Map of public New Mexico colleges and universities. New Mexico Higher Education Department.

Symbols of the Southwest: a string of dried chile pepper pods (a ristra) and a bleached white cow's skull hang in a market near Santa Fe

Interior of the Crosby Theater at the Santa Fe Opera, viewed from the mezzanine

Luminarias in the old mission church, Jemez State Monument

Zimmerman Library at The University of New Mexico

Zuhl Library at New Mexico State University

Walkway outside Golden Library at Eastern New Mexico University

Donnelly Library at New Mexico Highlands University

Party registration by county (February 2021):

New Mexico (Nuevo México ; Yootó Hahoodzo ) is a state in the Southwestern United States.

Colorado

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State in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States.

Ruins of Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park. Photo by Gustaf Nordenskiöld, 1891

Great Kiva at Chimney Rock in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. It is said to have been built by the Ancient Pueblo peoples.

The Spanish discovering the Colorado River, namesake of the state, in 1540, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon.

Map of the Mexican Cession, with the white representing the territory the United States received from Mexico (plus land ceded to the Republic of Texas) after the Mexican–American War. Well over half of Colorado was received during this treaty.

The territories of New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, and Nebraska before the creation of the Territory of Colorado

Mount of the Holy Cross, photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1874

The Georgetown Loop of the Colorado Central Railroad as photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1899

Three 10th Mountain Division skitroopers above Camp Hale in February 1944.

The arid high plains in Southeastern Colorado

Tenmile Range and Dillon Reservoir near Breckenridge

Grays Peak at 4352 m is the highest point on the Continental Divide in North America

The high desert lands that make up the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado

Maroon Bells, at 14163 ft, is part of White River National Forest and a tourist destination

The Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction is made up of high desert canyons and sandstone rock formations

Köppen climate types of Colorado, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Breckenridge naturalist Edwin Carter with a mounted gray wolf killed in the Colorado Rockies, ca. 1890–1900.

An enlargeable map of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado

An enlargeable map of the 17 core-based statistical areas of Colorado

Denver Energy Center lies in the Denver financial district along 17th Street, known as the Wall Street of the West

The Colorado Rockies baseball club at Coors Field

Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, home field of the Denver Broncos and the Denver Outlaws

Ball Arena, home of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Colorado Mammoth

Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids

The main terminal of Denver International Airport evokes the peaks of the Front Range.

The westbound and eastbound California Zephyrs meet in the Glenwood Canyon.

The Southern Ute Tribal Administration Building

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Office Complex

Lowry Pueblo in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park

Colorado is one of the Mountain States, and is a part of the western and southwestern United States.

Arizona

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La conquista del Colorado, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicts Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition

Mexico in 1824. Alta California is the northwesternmost state.

Geronimo (far right) and his Apache warriors fought against both Mexican and American settlers.

Children of Depression-era migrant workers, Pinal County, 1937

Eleanor Roosevelt at the Gila River relocation center, April 23, 1943

View of suburban development in Scottsdale, 2006

Extent of the Spanish language in the state of Arizona

A Navajo man on horseback in Monument Valley

The Spanish mission of San Xavier del Bac, founded in 1700

Arizona's Meteor Crater is a tourist attraction.

Entering Arizona on I-10 from New Mexico

The original Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix

Art Deco doors of the Cochise County Courthouse in Bisbee

Arizona teacher's strike and rally on April 26, 2018

The University of Arizona (the Mall) in Tucson

Arizona State University (a biodesign building) in Tempe

Northern Arizona University (The Skydome) in Flagstaff

View of Monument Valley from John Ford's Point

Standin' on the Corner Park and mural in Winslow, Arizona

A spring training game between the Cubs and White Sox at HoHoKam Park

Arizona (Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States, grouped in the Southwestern and occasionally Mountain subregions.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

In 1706, Albuquerque was founded as a villa of Nuevo México, New Spain

Old Albuquerque High, built in 1914 (Victorian and Gothic styles were used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries)

The McCanna–Hubbell Building, built in 1915, is one of downtown Albuquerque's many historic buildings

Aerial view of the Rio Grande flowing through Albuquerque in 2016

Tingley Beach in Old Town, Albuquerque, a pond in a former watercourse by the Rio Grande

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Roosevelt Park is a historic park in central Albuquerque

Zimmerman Library at University of New Mexico

Rail Runner Express Downtown Albuquerque station train platform

Alvarado Transportation Center, an intermodal transportation hub in downtown Albuquerque

Old Town Albuquerque is filled with Territorial Style architecture and design

The 2020 census found the population of the city to be 564,559, making Albuquerque the 32nd-most populous city in the United States and the fourth-largest in the Southwest.

Texas

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State in the South Central region of the United States.

Early Native American tribal territories

Nicolas de La Fora's 1771 map of the northern frontier of New Spain clearly shows the Provincia de los Tejas.

Stephen F. Austin was the first American empresario given permission to operate a colony within Mexican Texas.

Mexico in 1824. Coahuila y Tejas is the northeasternmost state.

Surrender of Santa Anna. Painting by William Henry Huddle, 1886.

The Republic of Texas with present-day borders superimposed

Captain Charles A. May's squadron of the 2nd Dragoons slashes through the Mexican Army lines. Resaca de la Palma, Texas, May 1846

Colonia in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexico–United States border

A geomap depicting income by county as of 2014

Cotton modules after harvest in West Texas

Electronic Data Systems headquarters in Plano

Astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston

The Alamo is one of the most recognized symbols of Texas.

Big Tex presided over every Texas State Fair since 1952 until it was destroyed by a fire in 2012. Since then a new Big Tex was created.

Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport

Terminal E at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston

Port of Houston along the Houston Ship Channel

Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, 36th president of the United States

George W. Bush of Texas, 43rd president of the United States

AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys

Playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007

Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes common to both the U.S. Southern and the Southwestern regions.

Colorado River

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Headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Colorado River in the Grand Canyon seen from Pima Point, near Hermit's Rest

Satellite view of the Colorado River valley near Yuma, Arizona; interstate 8 runs from left to right just below center.

Colorado River as it exits the United States into Mexico beneath the San Luis Colorado-Colonia Miguel Aléman Bridge (September 2009)

The San Juan River near Mexican Hat, Utah

The Green River at Mineral Bottom, just north of Canyonlands National Park

Annual Colorado River discharge volumes at Lee's Ferry between 1895 and 2004

Map showing the Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin, and adjacent areas supplied by Colorado River water.

The Black Suspension Bridge crosses the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch, Arizona.

Remnants of basalt flows from the Uinkaret volcanic field are seen here descending into the Grand Canyon, where they dammed the Colorado over 10 times in the past 2 million years.

Navajo woman and child, photographed by Ansel Adams, c. 1944

Pueblos and cliff dwellings such as this one in New Mexico were inhabited by people of the Colorado River basin between 2,000 and 700 years ago.

Two Mohave warriors beside the Colorado River in 1871

Coronado Sets Out to the North, by Frederic Remington, c. 1905

Marble Canyon, one of the many gorges that Powell's expedition traversed

The steamboat Mohave No. 2 at Yuma, c. 1876

John D. Lee, date and photographer unknown. He established a permanent ferry across the Colorado.

Harrison Gray Otis, president of the Colorado River Land Company

The Grand Ditch, one of the earliest water diversions of the Colorado River, is still in use today.

The Imperial Dam (bottom right) diverts water into the All-American Canal (center) running towards Imperial Valley.

Glen Canyon Dam, the largest dam of the Colorado River Storage Project

The main canal of the Central Arizona Project, crossing the Sonoran Desert

Lake Mead in 2010, showing the "bathtub ring" left behind by low water levels

Heavily forested banks of the Colorado River near Topock, Arizona

The Colorado was named for the reddish color caused by its natural sediment loads, but damming the river has caused it to acquire a clear green hue as seen here in lower Glen Canyon.

The Colorado River (Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Utah

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State in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States.

Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico, Britannica 7th edition

Brigham Young led the first Mormon pioneers to the Great Salt Lake.

Deseret Village recreates Utah pioneer life for tourists.

The Golden Spike where the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in the U.S. on May 10, 1869, in Promontory, Utah

Children reading in Santa Clara, Utah, in 1940

Köppen climate types of Utah, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

The Rocky Mountain elk is the Utah state mammal.

The California gull is the Utah state bird.

Pando, considered one of the heaviest and oldest organisms on Earth.

Joshua trees, yuccas, and cholla cactus occupy the far southwest corner of the state in the Mojave Desert

The LDS Salt Lake Temple, the primary attraction in the city's Temple Square

First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City

The Wasatch Front region has seen large growth and development despite the economic downturn. Shown is the City Creek Center project, a development in downtown Salt Lake City with a price tag of $1.5–2.5 billion.

One out of every 14 flash memory chips in the world is produced in Lehi, Utah.

Zion National Park in southern Utah is one of five national parks in the state.

Bryce Canyon National Park Amphitheater (winter view)

Mining has been a large industry in Utah since it was first settled. The Bingham Canyon Mine in Salt Lake County is one of the largest open pit mines in the world.

Salt Lake International Airport is the largest airport in Utah

FrontRunner commuter rail serves select cities from Ogden to Provo via Salt Lake City.

Jake Garn (top-right), former Senator of Utah (1974–1993), and astronaut on Space Shuttle flight STS-51-D

The Scott Matheson Courthouse is the seat of the Utah Supreme Court.

The Huntsman Cancer Institute on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City

The Eyring Science Center on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah

The Utah Jazz playing against the Houston Rockets

Robbie Russell playing for Real Salt Lake

Monument Valley in southeastern Utah. This area was used to film many Hollywood Westerns.

The otherworldly look of the Bonneville Salt Flats has been used in many movies and commercials.

Like most of the western and southwestern states, the federal government owns much of the land in Utah.

The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States.

El Paso, Texas

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City in and the county seat of El Paso County in the far southwestern part of the U.S. state of Texas.

Mesa Avenue, the heart of El Paso, Texas (postcard, c. 1917)

General Pershing's punitive expedition camp near the border, El Paso, Texas (postcard, c. 1916): Franklin Mountains, left-to-right (i.e., south-to-north) are: Ranger Peak, Sugarloaf Mountain, and part of South Franklin Mountain

False-color satellite image of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez: Paved streets and buildings appear in varying shades of blue-gray, and red indicates vegetation.

The Rio Grande in west El Paso, near New Mexico state line

El Paso's upper valley in northwest El Paso

Great River Raft Race held annually on the Rio Grande in El Paso's upper valley

Cleveland Square in downtown El Paso is where many of the festivals are held annually.

Viva! El Paso performance at the McKelligon Canyon Amphitheatre

El Paso Museum of Archaeology, diorama shows Cueva de la Olla (cave of the pot – a large pot-shaped storage container for grain), Paquimé, Sierra Madre of Chihuahua

Asia exhibit entrance at the El Paso Zoo

Aerial view of Sun Bowl Stadium and Kidd Field

The Wyler Aerial Tramway in the Franklin Mountains is the only commercial tramway in the state of Texas.

Bouldering on North Mountain at Hueco Tanks

The Contemplative Garden at the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens

Paul L. Foster School of Medicine within Texas Tech University HSC at El Paso's campus

El Paso Children's Hospital at the Medical Center of the Americas

Hotel Bristol and the Union Depot at El Paso, Texas (postcard, c. 1912)

Airport Security Concourse at the El Paso International Airport

The Bridge of the Americas as seen from El Paso, Texas, in June 2016

The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the United States, the sixth-largest city in Texas, and the second-largest city in the Southwestern United States behind Phoenix, Arizona.

Apache

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Present-day primary locations of Apachean peoples (scale and colors as above)

Kathy Kitcheyan, chairwoman of the San Carlos Apache

Young Jicarilla Apache boy, New Mexico, 2009

A Western Apache woman from the San Carlos group

Apache rawhide playing cards c. 1875–1885, collection of NMAI.

Apache Indian girl carrying an olla (a water basket) on her head, ca.1900

Hide painting depicting Apache girl's puberty ceremony, by Naiche (Chiricahua Apache), ca. 1900, Oklahoma History Center

Various Apache containers: baskets, bowls and jars. The women-made baskets could hold heavy loads and were made mainly from yucca or willow leaves or juniper bark.

The Apache are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño and Janero), Salinero, Plains (Kataka or Semat or "Kiowa-Apache") and Western Apache (Aravaipa, Pinaleño, Coyotero, Tonto).