ALBUQUERQUE, the largest city of New Mexico, U.S.A., near the centre of the state, in a fertile strip of land on the east bank of the Rio Grande ; on the National Old Trails road, and at the junction of two main lines of the Santa Fe railway system. It is the county-seat of Bernalillo county. Between 1 goo and 1 g 20 the population increased from 6,238 to 15,157; in 193o it was 26,S7o, Federal census.
The city lies at an altitude of 4,954ft., and the average annual precipitation is less than Bin. The bracing climate and the large proportion of sunshiny days have given it an established reputa tion as a health resort, and it has several private sanatoria for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Albuquerque is the commercial capital of an irrigated farming district, of the sheep and cattle business, and the lumber industry of the state. It ships large quantities of wool. Its industrial establishments include saw and lumber mills, a sash factory, foundry and machine shops, woollen mills, brick yards, railway repair shops, and plants making cement blocks, harness and farm implements. In 1927 there were 28 factories, with an output valued at $6,343,854, which was 32% of the valuation for the entire state. On the plateau, about a mile east of the business dis trict, stands the University of New Mexico (opened in 1892). In 1926-27 it had an enrolment of 638 and a library of 65,000 volumes, including a collection on the history of the state. An adaptation of the Pueblo style of architecture has been used in the university buildings and in many public buildings of the city.
Albuquerque is in the heart of the Pueblo Indian country, and is an important market for Indian blankets. There is a federal in dustrial training school for Indian boys and girls. Within easy motoring distance are the pueblos of San Felipe, which has a church built by Fray Cristobal de Quinones (d. 16o9) ; of Isleta and Santo Domingo, where fine ceremonial dances are still per formed; of picturesque Laguna, with its interesting mission church; and of Acoma, perched on a precipitous mesa 357ft. high, which was already very old when Fray Marcos arrived in The "old town," which lies along the river bank, was founded ,in I706 by Don Francisco Cuerbo y Valdes, and named by him after the Duke of Alburquerque, a viceroy of New Spain. The Duke ordered the name to be changed to San Felipe de Albur querque, as a compliment to the reigning king. With the passage of time it became reduced to one word, and that word lost one of its r's. The mission church of San Felipe de Neri (1735) is still standing, and the entire district keeps its old Spanish char acter. It was an important centre in the Spanish and the Mexican occupations. During the Civil War it was occupied by Confed erate troops (Feb. 1862) under Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley, who soon afterwards advanced into northern New Mexico. In his retreat into Texas he made a stand here, on April 8, 1862, against a detachment of Union troops commanded by Colonel R. S. Canby. The modern city was founded in 18779; the railway reached it in 188o; by 1890 it had a population of 3,785. A commission manager form of government was adopted in 1917.