were decreased by about 50 per cent. Since then the public debt has been somewhat diminished. At the end of 1901 it was $1,180,000. The receipts for 1901 were $540,795, and disbursements $465,815, leaving a surplus of $74,920.
Militia. In 1900 the men of militia age numbered 41,464. The number of militia in 1901 was 612.
Population. The population increased from 61,547 in 1850 to 91,874 in 1870, 153,953 in 1890, and 195,310 in 1900. The foreign-born in the last year numbered 13,625, of whom 6649 were Mexicans. The Indian population numbered 13,144, and the negroes 1610. A large part of the papulation are descendants of the original settlers, who were of Spanish or of mixed blood. Albuquerque, the largest town, had in 1900 a population of 6238; Santa Fe, the capital, 5603; and Las Vegas, 3552.
Religion and Education. The bulk of the population belong to the Roman Catholic Church, According to the census of 1900 the percentage of illiteracy was greater than that of any other State or Territory. With a compulsory school law, and greatly increased expenditures for school purposes, and the lengthening of the school year, illiteracy is diminishing. The percentage decreased from 44.5 in 1890 to 33.2 in 1900. In 1890 61 per cent. of the population could not speak English. This figure for 1900 became also greatly reduced. In 1898-99 there was raised $414,653 for Territorial schools and institutions, as against $85,129 in 1891; the number of teachers increased from 407 to 706; and the school term lengthened from three months in 1891 to four months in 1899. The Territorial institutions for advanced learning are: University of New Mexico, at Albuquerque; New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, at Mesilla Park; School of Mines, at Socorro; Normal School of Silver City, at Silver City; New Mexico Military Institute, at Roswell; New Mexico Normal University, at Las Vegas. The Catholic Church supports eighteen schools; the Methodist Church, eleven; the New West Educational Commission, five; and the Presbyterian Church, twenty-five. Furthermore, the United States has schools for Indians, including the Indian Industrial School at Santa Fe.
Charitable and Penal Institutions. There are a school for deaf, dumb, and blind, and a penitentiary at Santa Fe, and an insane asylum at East Las Vegas.
History. The first explorers of the region were Spanish. Cabeça de Vaca visited it in 1536, and Coronado (q.v.) in 1540-42. Espejo wandered over much of it in 1582-83. In 1598 Juan de Oñate conquered the inhabitants, who were Pueblo Indians, and not Aztecs, as often erroneously stated. Santa Fe was founded between 1605 and 1616. The Indians revolted about 1680, and kept their independence for ten years. The mines were worked and towns and missions were founded. This region became a province of Mexico when that country gained its independence of Spain in 1821. In June, 1846, Col. Stephen W. Kearny marched from Fort Leavenworth with a force composed of United States dragoons and Missouri volunteers, and occupied Santa Fe on August 18th. The whole Territory was declared a part of the United States. (See Price, Sterling.) The Territory of New Mexico formed a part of the Mexican cession by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The act of organization was passed September 9, 1850, and went into effect in March, 1851. The original boundaries included that part of the territory of the United States north of the Mexican line, west of Texas, east of California, and south of 37°, including, however, the territory north of 37° and south of the Arkansas River. In 1853 the Gadsden Purchase (q.v.) was added and Arizona was set off in 1863. The portion north of 37° was added to Colorado in 1867. In 1850 a convention was held and a State constitution adopted, but the dread on the part of the North of another slave State prevented the admission of New Mexico. Frequent efforts to secure admission have been made since. In 1894 Congress passed an enabling act, and in the Fifty-seventh Congress (1901-03) an act of admission passed the House, but did not reach a vote in the Senate. During the Civil War New Mexico was invaded in December, 1861, by Texas Rangers, who took possession of the Territory, but were forced to retire in April, 1862, by regular troops under Colonel Canby and a regiment of Colorado volunteers. Since that time there have been Indian outbreaks, which have been suppressed with difficulty. The following have been Governors of the Territory of New Mexico:
GOVERNORS
| James S. Colhoun | 1851-52 |
| Edwin V. Sumner, U. S. A., Commandant | 1852 |
| John Greiner, Secretary (acting) | 1852 |
| William C. Lane | 1852-53 |
| William S. Messery (acting) | 1853-54 |
| David Merriwether | 1853-57 |
| W. H. H. Davis (acting) | 1854-57 |
| Abraham Reucher | 1857-61 |
| Henry Connelly | 1861-65 |
| W. F. M. Arny (acting) | 1865-66 |
| Robert B. Mitchell | 1866-69 |
| William A. Pile | 1869-71 |
| Marsh Giddings | 1871-75 |
| William G. Ritch (acting) | 1875 |
| Samuel B. Axtell | 1875-78 |
| Lewis Wallace | 1878-81 |
| Lionel A. Sheldon | 1881-85 |
| Edmund G. Ross | 1885-89 |
| L. Bradford Prince | 1889-93 |
| W. L. Thornton | 1893-97 |
| Miguel A. Otero | 1897 — |
Bibliography. Brackenridge, Early Discoveries by Spaniards in New Mexico (Pittsburg, 1857); Davis, El Gringo; or, New Mexico and Her People (New York, 1857); id., The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico (Doylestown, 1869); McParlin, “Notes on the History and Climate of New Mexico,” in Smithsonian Report for 1877 (Washington, 1878); The Resources of New Mexico (Santa Fe, 1881); Ritch, Aztlan: History, Resources and Attractions of New Mexico (6th ed., Boston 1885); Lummis, The Land of Poco Tiempo (New York, 1893); Schwatka, In the Land of Cave and Cliff Dwellers (ib., 1894); Frost, New Mexico: Its Resources, Climate, Geography, etc. (Santa Fe, 1894); Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico (San Francisco, 1888); Villagra, Historia de la Nueva Mexico (Mexico, 1900).
NEW MEXICO, University of. A coeducational institution of higher learning at Albuquerque, New Mexico, incorporated by an act of the Territorial Legislature in 1889, and indicated by statute as the future State university. The collegiate, normal, and preparatory departments were opened in 1892. Science, music, art,
