Frew Ippel May 23, 2011

New Mexico history final exam speech Introduction NM is an interesting place. NM has impressive cultures and historical places. It has many natural resources: sunsets, the rocks and beautiful mountains. Rehoboth, located in New Mexico, is the school that I am attending. I like the area and the weather. I like playing soccer and track at Rehoboth. I had a good season and developed good friend ships, because of these sports. History New Mexico became a state in 1912 and became the 47th state. New Mexico is located on the south west of the United States. The states that border New Mexico are Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Texas, and Oklahoma. The country of Mexico is located on its southern border. New Mexico is the fifth largest state. Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico. It was established in 1610. I also learned that Santa Fe is the oldest capital city of the United States. Gallup has a lot of history and culture which makes it unique. There are cultural museums which contain jewelry and other artifacts. The Long Walk was a sad and hard time for the Navajos. In the year of 1864, thousands of Navajos were forced to leave their land and travel on foot to a reservation at a place called Bosque Redondo. Some of them had to travel more than 450 miles by foot and many died along the way from cold, starvation, or murder. Rehoboth is one historical place. It started out as a boarding school. The native boarding schools were established during the late 19th century. It was to educate Native Americans. Rehoboth was led by the missionaries. They learned Christianity and rights to practice their religion. Rehoboth also has a cemetery. Rehoboth cemetery is unique, because it is different from other cemeteries and not organized perfectly. There are missionaries, kids and elders in the cemetery. Legend The story of the Navajo code talkers has become a legend. New Mexico participated in World War 2. The Navajo code talkers played their role to win the war. They were using their language

because there were no Japanese who knew the Navajo language. The code talkers transmitted messages by telephone and radio in their native language using a code that the Japanese never understood. The bomb that ended this war was tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Geography New Mexico is a land full of scattered mountains, red mesas, dry arroyos, and many canyons. Although it is 30% desert, there are five major rivers. These are the Canadian, Gila, Pecos, Rio Grande and the San Juan. Route 66 is a famous road that runs across New Mexico, through Gallup. It was built in 1926. This road started in Chicago and ended in Santa Monica. It was replaced by interstate high ways in 1985. Gallup was the very last piece of Route 66. It was very important to travelers who wanted to go all the way across the United States. Route 66 went in these New Mexico cities: Gallup Santa Fe Albuquerque San Jon Tucumcari Santa Rosa Moriarty Edgewood Grants Bernalillo

Conclusion I have learned interesting and important things from New Mexico history in this semester. The story of the Long Walk thought me to be able to respect the other cultures and learn each others culture. Learning about code talkers showed me to love my country and to work hard for to be success full by helping, and take responsibility for our country. The beauty land escape of New Mexico helped mo understanding how important it is to protect and keep safe our natural resources. We have to use water wisely, because we do not have much water.