History of Albuquerque

of the Portuguese family Albuquerque) and is habitation in nature (de Alburquerque = from Alburquerque). The Spanish village of Alburquerque is within the Badajoz province of Extremadura region, and located just fifteen miles (24 km) from the Portuguese border. Cork trees dominate the landscape and Alburquerque is a center of the Spanish cork industry. Over the years, this region has been alternately under both Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name of the New Mexico city of Albuquerque is identical to the Portuguese spelling with only one 'r' of the family name in Portugal, probably due to Spanish or native local pronunciations. The name is Latin (Roman) in origin and from alba quercus or "white oak" (the wood of the cork oak is white after the bark has been removed). The seal of the Spanish village of Alburquerque is a white oak tree, framed by a shield, topped by a crown.

Western folklore offers a different explanation, tracing the name Alburquerque to the Arabic 'Al-Barquq', meaning "the plum” and the derivative Galician (Galicia, northwest Spanish region) word 'albaricoque', the "apricot". The apricot was brought to New Mexico by Spanish settlers, possibly as early as 1743. As the story goes, the settlement of La Ciudad de Albaricoque was established near an apricot tree. As frontiersmen were unable to correctly pronounce the Spanish (Galician) word, they pronounced it as "Albuquerque."

Early settlers

Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as the Spanish colonial outpost of Ranchos de Alburquerque. Present-day Albuquerque retains much of its historical Spanish cultural heritage.

Albuquerque was a farming community and strategically located military outpost along the Camino Real