New Mexico

HISTORY

Taos Pueblo is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Native American tribe of Puebloan people, lying about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. People have been living in the multi-storey buildings of Taos Pueblo for over 1,000 years, making it the longest continuously inhabited place in the USA.

New Mexico was first named in 1563. It was not named after the nation of Mexico  but rather after the Aztec Valley of Mexico, more than 250 years before Mexico became a nation.

Santa Fe was founded in 1610 as capital of Nuevo México, after it replaced Española as capital, which makes it the oldest state capital in the United States. Its full name remains La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís which means "The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi" in English.

The Pueblo Revolt of  August 10–21, 1680  - also known as Popé's Rebellion - was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, present day New Mexico. United by leader Popé, the Puebloans expelled their Spanish oppressors by force for the next 12 years, enabling the natives to preserve their rich culture which still exists today. The Pueblo Revolt is considered the most successful indigenous rebellion in American history.

While developing Santa Fe de Nuevo México as a trade center, the returning settlers founded Albuquerque in 1706 from existing surrounding communities, naming it for the viceroy of New Spain, Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque.

In 1822 Missouri trader William Becknell altered his route to Santa Fe in order to find a trail more suitable for wagon trains, and enable transport of more trade goods. Earlier travelers had ridden on horseback trailing packhorses. He arrived in Santa Fe on November 16, 1822, over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

Map of the Santa Fe Trail, established by Becknell.

Following their defeat in the Mexican–American War (1846–48), under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexico ceded its mostly unsettled northern holdings, including New Mexico, to the United States of America.

The Gadsden Purchase was a strip of territory the United States purchased from Mexico following negotiations in 1853. The area brought is in southern Arizona and the southwestern part of New Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase represented the last parcel of land acquired by the United States to complete the 48 mainland states.

New Mexico State's first graduating class in 1893 had only one student—and he was shot and killed before graduation.

Lew Wallace (1827-1905) wrote the historical adventure novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ in 1880 when he was the Governor of the New Mexico Territory.

New Mexico was admitted as the 47th U.S. State on January 6, 1912.

New Mexico isn't actually named after Mexico, since it was named in 1563 and Mexico didn't drop its "New Spain" label until 1821.

Probably the best-selling photograph of all time, Ansel Adam's Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, was shot late in the afternoon on November 1, 1941, from a shoulder of U.S. Route 84-285.

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico Wikipedia Commons

The Atomic Age begins when the USA successfully detonated a plutonium-based nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

The Roswell ‘UFO’ incident took place in New Mexico on July 7, 1945. Reports of a crashed U.S. Air Force surveillance balloon was claimed by many to have been a cover up and the downed device was said to be instead an extra-terrestrial spaceship. The incident was later a feature of the hit sci-fi TV series The X-Files.

Roswell Daily Record, July 8, 1947, announcing the "capture" of a "flying saucer"

Microsoft was founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 4, 1975.

FUN NEW MEXICO FACTS

New Mexico's population is 2,085,109 (2015 ) and most of the people live in the biggest city, Albuquerque.

Albuquerque. By SouthDowntownAlbuquerque.JPG: Wikipedia Commons

The village of Hatch in New Mexico describes itself as the chilli capital of the world.

A number of Native American groups in New Mexico have a tradition of growing their own kinds of melon cultivars, derived from melons originally introduced by the Spanish.

New Mexico is the only US state with two official languages – English and Spanish.

The State of New Mexico exempts people 100 years of age or older from paying income taxes.

New Mexico license plates are the only ones with USA on them because Americans don’t know it’s part of their country.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico it is illegal for cab drivers to reach out and pull potential customers into their cabs.

The right to name Congregation Albert, a synagogue in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was auctioned off for $250.

New Jersey

HISTORY

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the land that is now New Jersey was inhabited by the Lenape (also known as Delaware Indians ), who were nomads, hunters, and farmers.

Dutch and Swedish colonization of New Jersey started soon after the 1609 exploration of its coast and bays by Sir Henry Hudson. Towns sprang up in the 1630s, such as Bergen (now Jersey City), Trenton (the capital), and Burlington. The area occupied by the Dutch was known as New Netherland and the Swedes, New Sweden.

New Netherland and New Sweden By Nieuw_Nederland and Nya_Sverige.Wikipedia

The area came under English rule after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664. King Charles II renamed the province after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, in recognition of the island's help during his exile.

In 1739 German immigrant Caspar Wistar pioneered America's first large-scale production of bottles for beer and wine at his New Jersey plant. It was the earliest successful workers' co-operative venture in the colonies.

New Jersey took part in the American Revolutionary War. On Christmas 1776, George Washington's army entered the colony to attack British soldiers at Trenton and Princeton. The American army won, in the two famous battles that were important in boasting American morale.

George Washington rallying his troops at the Battle of Princeton

In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall at Princeton University, making Princeton the nation's capital for four months.

On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution. Two years later, on November 20, 1789, the state became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify the Bill of Rights.

The New Jersey Assembly officially approved the flag as the state emblem on May 11, 1896. The buff color is due indirectly to George Washington, who had ordered that the uniform coats of the New Jersey Continental Line be dark (Jersey) blue, with buff facings.

In 1876 Thomas Edison moved to Menlo Park, New Jersey where he opened the first large scientific workshop in the world. Eleven years later, Edison moved his laboratory from Menlo Park, to West Orange, in the same state where he constructed a large laboratory for experimentation and research. (His home and laboratory were established as the Edison National Historic Site in 1955).

Thomas Edison in his laboratory, West Orange, New Jersey, 1901

The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begun service at Roselle, New Jersey in 1883.

Thomas Edison finished construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey in 1893.

One of Thomas Edison's sons, Charles, served as the 42nd Governor of New Jersey.

Richard Hollingshead opened the world's first drive-in cinema on ten acres off Wilson Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey in June 1933. The screen was 40 by 30 feet. Admission was 25 cents per car plus another quarter for each passenger.

In 1938 actor Orson Welles stirred a national panic with his radio drama The War of the Worlds. Listeners believed the "simulated" news bulletins in the drama were real and that Grovers Mill, New Jersey, actually was being invaded by men from Mars.

The longest tightrope crossing by bicycle is 71.63 m (235 ft) and was achieved by Nik Wallenda (USA) in Newark, New Jersey, USA, on 15 October 2008.

THEME PARKS

Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, Ocean County, New Jersey is the second-largest theme park in the world, after Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The world’s tallest rollercoaster, is located at Six Flags Great Adventure park. Kingda Ka, is 139 metres (456ft) high.

Kingsa Ka By Dusso Janladde - Wikipedia Commons

Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom, which is the tallest drop ride in the world, drops riders 415 feet at speeds of up to 90 mph. It is built on the face of Kingda Ka.

The Action Park amusement park located in Vernon, New Jersey, was open from 1978 until 1996 was so unsafe it was given nicknames such as "Traction Park" and "Accident Park" by doctors at nearby hospitals due to the number of severely injured parkgoers they treated. The Alpine Slide alone produced 14 broken bones, 26 head injuries, and 1 fatality.

FUN NEW JERSEY FACTS

Video game company King Digital Entertainment is behind the 65-foot-by-31-foot hammock, which they installed as a promotional gimmick. It worked, as it has garnered attention by claiming the Guinness World Record title of World's Largest Hammock. It’s located in Jersey City, New Jersey, and it is reportedly big enough to hold 170 people lying head to head.

The George Washington Bridge, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County across the Hudson River to New York City, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.

The George Washington Bridge, By John O'Connell - originally posted to Flickr 

New Jersey has more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world.

New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state, but has the eleventh-highest number of people. It therefore has the highest population density (number of people for the amount of land) in the United States.

 22% land (approx 1,100,000 acres) of New Jersey is occupied by New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, spread across 7 counties.

Seventy-five New Jersey’s would fit comfortably in Alaska.

New Jersey population distribution. Wikipedia Commons

India Square, Jersey City, is known as Little Bombay. It is home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere.

New Jersey, with 96, is the US state with the greatest number of hazardous waste sites.

The underwater portion of Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty sits, is part of New Jersey, not New York.

According to a 2016 survey, New Jersey is the U.S. state with the most Millennials still living at home.

The group Bloodhound Gang recorded a track called "The Ten Coolest Things About New Jersey". The "song" consists of ten seconds of silence.

New Hampshire

HISTORY

Europeans first settled New Hampshire in the 1620s, and the province consisted for many years of a small number of communities along the seacoast Its name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America.

The territory was named after the English county of Hampshire by Captain John Mason.

New Hampshire was one of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule during the American Revolution.

The only battle fought in New Hampshire was the raid on Fort William and Mary, December 14, 1774, in Portsmouth Harbor, which netted the rebellion sizable quantities of small arms, gunpowder and cannon.

Fort William and Mary by Wolfgang William Romer (1705) 

Of the 13 original colonies, New Hampshire was the first to declare its independence. On January 5, 1776 at Exeter, the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire ratified the first independent constitution in the Americas, free of British rule.

New Hampshire's state seal depicts the frigate USS Raleigh and is surrounded by a laurel wreath with nine stars. The Raleigh was one of the first 13 warships sponsored by the Continental Congress for a new American navy, built in 1776, at Portsmouth.

New Hampshire became the ninth state on June 21, 1788, when it accepted the United States Constitution.

New Hampshire's State House was built in 1818 and first occupied in 1819. It is the oldest state capitol in which a legislature still meets in its original chambers.

New Hampshire State Capitol. Wikipedia Commons

The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War. The Armistice was signed at The Hotel Wentworth in New Castle, New Hampshire on September 5, 1905. The peace agreement marked the first and only time a foreign war has concluded on U.S. soil.

The Hotel Wentworth in 1906

New Hampshire adopted the first legal lottery in the 20th century United States in 1964.

FOOD

Some of the first potatoes grown in America were planted by Scottish-Irish settlers in what is today Derry, New Hampshire in 1719. Today, the white potato is recognized as the official state vegetable.

Blackcurrants were once grown in abundance in the USA, but in the early 1900's the fruit was banned federally due to the belief that they helped facilitate white pine blister rust, which was once thought of as a threat the US lumber industry. In 1966 the ban was transferred to State status and most states have now lifted the ban. However, the ban is still in effect in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire has the distinction of having the most pizzerias per capita of any state in the nation. (3. 9 per 10,000 people)

FUN NEW HAMPSHIRE FACTS

89 percent of New Hampshire is covered in forest, making it the most tree-covered state in the lower 48 states.

Mount Washington, New Hampshire, is the U.S. city with the most snow days each year, with an annual average of 118.5 days.

The strongest surface wind gust in the world ever measured was 231 mph on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. The winds were three times as fast as those in most hurricanes.

Mount Washington, seen from the west side. By wwoods - Wikipedia Commons

Of all the coastal states, New Hampshire has the briefest shoreline, stretching no more than 18 miles.

The state has no general sales tax, nor is personal income (other than interest and dividends) taxed at either the state or local level.

In New Hampshire it is illegal to inhale bus fumes with the intent of inducing euphoria.

If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $0.10 from the town.

The Chinook is New Hampshire's official state dog.

Source Mental Floss

New Guinea

HISTORY

New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 785,753 km2, and the largest wholly or partly within the southern hemisphere.

The island is divided among two countries: Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west.

Political divisions of New Guinea Wikipedia Commons

The first European contact with New Guinea was by Portuguese and Spanish sailors in the 16th century. In 1526-27, the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Meneses saw the western tip of New Guinea and named it ilhas dos Papuas.

The Spaniard Íñigo Ortíz de Retes sailed along the north coast of New Guinea as far as the Mamberamo River, near which he landed on June 20, 1545, naming the island 'Nueva Guinea'. According to contemporary accounts, he chose the name because the inhabitants reminded him of the people he had seen on the Guinea coast of West Africa. The comparison was based on perceived similarities in appearance, particularly skin tone and hair texture. 

The first map showing the whole island (as an island) was published in 1600 and shows it as 'Nova Guinea'.

Map of New Guinea, 1600

In 1905, the British government transferred some administrative responsibility over southeast New Guinea to Australia (which renamed the area "Territory of Papua"). The following year, it transferred all remaining responsibility to Australia.

On June 23, 1938, American explorer Richard Archbold flew over the Grand Valley of the Baliem River for the first time, where he found 50,000 hitherto unknown Stone Age farmers living in orderly villages. The people, known as the Dani, were the last society of its size to make first contact with the rest of the world.

Kurulu Village War Chief at Baliem Valley..By Paul from Working & living in Jayapura 

The Battle of Rabaul was fought around the port of Rabaul on the island of New Britain, part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea, from January 23 into February 1942.  Following the Japanese capture of Rabaul, it became its main base of military and naval activity in the South Pacific.

The capture of Rabaul was followed with further Japanese operations on mainland New Guinea. By mid-1943, the tide turned in favor of the Allies, who began an offensive in the Pacific,

Once freed from Japanese occupation in 1945, the two territories of Papua and New Guinea were administered by Australia.

On September 16, 1975, Australia granted full independence to Papua New Guinea.

FUN NEW GUINEA FACTS

According to the journal Nature, the most biodiverse island for plants in the world is New Guinea. It is home to 13,634 species of vascular plant, with one-fifth of those plants being orchids.

The smallest living amphibian is a frog from New Guinea with a length of just 7.7 mm (0.3 in).

The wingspan of the world's largest butterfly, the female Queen Alexandria's Birdeing from Papua New Guinea is 11 inches.

Papua New Guinea has more than 800 languages.

The Rotokas language of Papua New Guinea has a 12-letter alphabet, the world's smallest.

There is a 99% chance that two randomly selected people from Papua New Guinea would speak different languages.

Acne affects 79-95% of western adolescents, yet a study of non-westernized tribes in Papua New Guinea found no cases of acne.

Source Wikipedia

New Delhi

New Delhi was designed by British architects, Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker. The foundation stone of the city was laid by George V, Emperor of India during the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

The construction of the Indian Parliament House took six years. The opening ceremony was performed on January 18, 1927 by the then Governor-General of India, Irwin. Its design is said to be inspired by the circular Chausath Yogini Temple, dated to 1323 AD.

Parliament House, seen from Rajpath. By A.Savin Wikimedia Commons 

The Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official home of the President of India, was completed in 1929. It is the largest residence of any head of state in the world.

New Delhi was inaugurated as capital of India on February 13 1931, by India's Viceroy Lord Irwin.

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948, while walking through a garden to a pergola on his way onto a prayer meeting at the Birla House Gardens, New Delhi.

The World Health Organization ranked New Delhi as the world's worst polluted city in 2014 among about 1,600 cities the organisation tracked around the world. In 2019 IQAir listed New Delhi as the world's most polluted capital city for the second straight year.

Dense smog at Connaught Place, New Delhi.By Ville Miettinen from Helsinki, Finland - 

Since Hindus don't eat beef, the McDonald's in New Delhi makes its burgers with mutton.

There are two wards in New Delhi's Tihar Jail, both named after cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. The duo shared a 664-run unbroken partnership in a school match.

The Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in New Delhi has exhibits from 50 countries.

Nevada

HISTORY

Nevada was originally founded in 1821 as part of the First Mexican Empire.

Mexico in 1824. Alta California included today's Nevada.By Giggette - Wikipedia Commons

As a result of the Mexican–American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexico permanently lost Nevada and the rest of Alta California in 1848. The new areas acquired by the United States continued to be administered as territories.

The Nevada Territory separated from the Utah Territory on March 2, 1861. Its current name is shortened from Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snow-covered mountain range").

Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. state on October 31, 1864, in part to help ensure Abraham Lincoln's re-election as President of the United States eight days later.

Nevada had a rush to become a state in time for the 1864 presidential election. After writing a state constitution with only days to spare, they sent all 16,543 words of it to Congress via telegram. Transmission took two full days and cost $4,303.27 (over $67,000 today.)

Nevada quarter

The first successful silver mill in America began operations in Virginia City, Nevada in 1860.

Nevada is officially known as the "Silver State" due to the importance of silver to its history and economy.

The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber took place in Nevada in February 1924.

In an attempt to lift the state out of the hard times of the Great Depression, the Nevada state legislature voted to legalize gambling on March 19, 1931.

The husband of silent movie actress Clara Bow, Rex Bell, was the 21st Lieutenant Governor of Nevada.

In 1973 Nevada was the first American state to license acupuncture as medical treatment.

FUN NEVADA FACTS

Prostitution is legal in Nevada but illegal in Las Vegas.

In Nevada it is illegal to ride a camel on the highway.

Nevada is the only US state to have a 'none of these candidates' option for President.

In Nevada, a disturbance with as few as two people can legally be considered a riot. In England it takes 12 people.

Out of the entire United States, Nevada has the most trash per person in its landfills—38.4 tons for each resident.

The state grass of Nevada is Indian Ricegrass. It was eaten by Native Americans and early pioneers.

Nevada is the driest state in the United States. The average annual rainfall per year is about 7 inches (18 cm).

Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area.

Las Vegas By Http2007 - Wikipedia Commons

The US government owns 80.1% of all land in Nevada. This makes it the state with the highest percentage of federally owned land. Much of this land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, encompassing areas like the Great Basin National Park and Death Valley National Park.

Reno, Nevada is actually west of Los Angeles, California.

Neutron star

Neutron Stars are one of the final stages of high mass stars and are formed when the core of a supernova star explosion collapses and it rotates rapidly which can be anywhere between 60 times to 600 times per second.

A neutron star has a mass comparable to that of our Sun, but as it is only about 10 kilometers (6 mi) in radius, it has an average density 1 quadrillion times that of water.

A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon (5 milliliters) of its material would have a mass about 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Just a sugar cube of neutron star matter would weigh about one hundred million tons on Earth due to its incredible density.

The first direct observation of a neutron star in visible light. The neutron star is RX J1856.5-3754

Such a large mass in such a small volume produces an intense gravitational force: objects weigh 100 billion times more on the surface of a neutron star than on the surface of the Earth.

The gravitational force of a typical neutron star is such that if an object were to fall from a height of one meter, it would only take one microsecond to hit the surface of the neutron star, and would do so at around 2000 kilometers per second, or 7.2 million kilometers per hour.

If you jumped off a ledge five feet from the surface of a neutron star, you would hit the ground at a speed of 4,000,000 miles per hour.

The gravity of a neutron star is so strong that parts of the opposite side can be seen from the front, as light is bent around it.

The temperature inside a newly formed neutron star is from around 1011 to 1012 kelvin (738 celsius). However, the huge number of neutrinos it emits carry away so much energy that the temperature falls within a few years to around 106 kelvin (-167 celsus).

The fastest spinning Neutron Star we know about spins 716 times per second.

Source Wikipedia