City of Albuquerque

Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States and covers an area of 180.64 square miles. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the middle of the Rio Grande valley. To the east of the city are the Sandia and Manzano mountains; to the west are five volcanic cones that mark the beginning of high plateau country. The estimated population for 2006 July is 504,949 and the annual average temperature is around 56.0° F. During the winter one can ski on Sandia Peak and play a round of golf on the same day.


The region surrounding present-day Albuquerque was home to several groups of Native American peoples, including "Sandia Man," who lived there and hunted mastodon during the ice age 25,000 years ago. Albuquerque was founded as a villa in 1706 by Spanish colonists, who were attracted to the banks of the Rio Grande by the green pastures they needed to graze their sheep. The city is named for a Spanish Duke, the tenth Duke of Alburquerque. Until World War II, Albuquerque remained a small, quiet city. Then the development of the atomic bomb at nearby Los Alamos brought the town into the nuclear age. Now an important part of the Rio Grande Research Corridor, Albuquerque has undergone record population growth.


Albuquerque's unique mixture of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo heritages provides visitors with a variety of activities. City contains a variety of museums, shops and other points of interest. Some of these include the Albuquerque Biological Park and Old Town Albuquerque and the city hosts the annual New Mexico State Fair for 17 days in September at Expo New Mexico. Albuquerque also has the largest hot air balloon gathering in the world. It is called the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and it is held during early October. The Sandia Mountains to the East offer interesting and varied rock climbing. The Sandia Peak Tramway, located adjacent to Albuquerque is the world's longest passenger aerial tramway.