This was then called “New Mexico”. Shorthand, it was everything the Spanish held between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California), so, Arizona, Utah, some of Colorado. Technically, and culturally/traditionally, New Mexico extends South from Juarez to encompass all the arable land there, and is referred to (to this day) as El Norte. read more
Spain called present day mexico new spain which was later called mexico. they thought present day nm would be the same as mexico so they called it new mexico. read more