| New Mexico is a federal-land state. Lands
were generally acquired from the Spanish or Mexican governments, the federal
government, or from other individuals. The New Mexico State Records Center
and Archives has large holdings of land records dating back to 1693. Spanish
land grants date from that time and continue to 1821. Mexican land holdings
begin in 1821 and go to 1845. These original records are in Spanish but some
have been transcribed. Case files for most private land claims (the settling
of property ownership by the government of the United States for lands
previously acquired under a different sovereign) are housed at the National
Archives in Washington, D.C. |
