Short answers, pulled from the story.
Santa Fe, New Mexico is the oldest state capital in the United States. It was founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo Mexico under Spanish colonial rule, and it is also the highest state capital in elevation at 6,998 feet.
The world's first nuclear test, called Trinity, took place in New Mexico at a site in the desert between Socorro and Alamogordo. That location is now part of White Sands Missile Range.
New Mexico has the highest proportion of Hispanic and Latino Americans of any U.S. state. According to the 2020 census, they account for 47.7% of the population, including Hispanos descended from Spanish colonial settlers and more recent Mexican Americans.
New Mexico was admitted to the Union on the 6th of January 1912, becoming the 47th state. It had been eligible for statehood 60 years earlier but was delayed due to the perception that its majority Hispanic population was considered "alien" to American political values.
The Pueblo Revolt was an uprising in the late 17th century that drove the Spanish out of New Mexico entirely. Indigenous communities occupied the early colonial cities for over a decade until Diego de Vargas restored Spanish rule following the death of Pueblo leader Pope, after which Puebloans were offered greater cultural and religious liberties.
New Mexico has the second-highest proportion of Native Americans of any U.S. state, at roughly one-tenth of the population, a figure that has remained stable since at least 1890. The state hosts 23 federally recognized tribal nations, including one-third of the Navajo Nation and 19 Pueblo communities. Comparatively large reservations are partly a legacy of Spanish treaties that recognized indigenous land claims in Nuevo Mexico.