New Mexico Fine Art Print Map

The Rio Grande brings year-round water from the southern Rockies through New Mexico, a state with few other significant dependable supplies. New Mexico’s settlement patterns have always reflected this concentration.

Secondary population centers are similarly dependent on the San Juan River in the northwestern corner of the state and the Pecos in the southeast. The Gila is regionally important but far to the west, in southwestern Arizona. Raven’s Southern Rockies regional maps show the wider context.