Spanish explorationIn the autumn of 1540, a military expedition of the Viceroyalty of New Spain led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Governor of Nueva Galicia, reached the Tiwa pueblos along the Rio Grande in the future New Mexico.
People Also Ask
Key Facts & Information
The Rio Grande is the fifth longest river in North America (1,900 miles).
It forms a border between Texas and Mexico.
The Rio Grande begins in the Rocky Mountains and flows into the Gulf of Mexico in the south.
The watershed of the Rio Grande is approximately 335,000 square miles.
The geology that created the 1,800-mile long Rio Grande River, was a millions-of-years-ago rift, or crack, between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the ranges to the west. Volcanic activity filled the crack with lava.
The name Río Grande means great river in Spanish. The source of the Río Grande is in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. It flows through the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico, and Texas, and forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.
?The Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo as it is known in Mexico, extends approximately 1,990 miles and is considered the 5th longest river in North America, and the 20th longest river in the world.
In south-central Colorado, the Rio Grande, its tributaries and the water flowing underground supports communities across the San Luis Valley, an 8,000 square-mile high elevation desert that sees less than seven inches of precipitation per year.
Several major drainages feed into the Rio Grande. Predominant surface water features that feed into the Rio Grande above the Otowi gage, in the Upper Rio Grande are the Red River, Rio Hondo, Pueblo de Taos, Santa Barbara, Embudo Creek, and the Rio Chama.
Thirty-five million years ago, the formation of the Rio Grande began, jumpstarting a region that would become home to millions of people. The past hundred years of land changing hands, water management and infrastructure development have created the Rio Grande we know today.