ABSTRACT
The American Southwest-Arizona, New Mexico, and the adjoining border sections of Utah and Colorado-fits geographically more into northwestern Mexico than the temperate United States, and indeed until the annexation of Texas stimulated U.S. ambition to expand to the Pacific through a southern route, the Southwest had politically been part of Mexico. Underlying cultural continuity is as obvious today as when the first Spanish, in 1540, christened “Nuevo México” after journeying for months through nation after nation speaking Uto-Aztecan languages.
