Page 501 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

INTRODUCING THE SOUTHWEST  499

It is today the main sparsely populated and remote desert
religion, although area of Los Alamos was chosen as the
several Protestant location for the top secret Manhattan
denominations Project, which developed the world’s
exist as well. Utah’s first atomic bomb. Since then, the region
residents, however, has been a major center for national
are predom inantly defense research and development of
Mormon. Native nuclear weapon techno logy, as well as
American spiritual for research into space travel, with both
A typical Navajo rug beliefs are com­ state and federal governments as major
plex, as each tribe employers. Today, other research projects,
has its own practices. including bio­technology, especially the
One of the region’s most famous Genome Project (which maps all human
attributes is the quality of light found in genes) and computer technology, attract
the hills of northern New Mexico. Georgia scientists to the Southwest.
O’Keeffe’s landscape paintings in the Tourism is another of the region’s
1940s helped to make the area around principal employers. Vast wilderness
Santa Fe a mecca for artists. Today, the city areas and a warm climate make outdoor
has the country’s second largest art leisure popular in the Southwest.
trade after New York City. The Its national parks, established
smaller resort town of Taos is also in the early 1900s, draw ever­
famous for its resident painters increasing numbers of tourists
and sculptors. each year. There are also miles
Santa Fe, as well as Phoenix, of hiking trails, rivers for white­
Tucson, and Albuquerque also offer Route 66 Flagstaff sign water rafting, lakes for water
opera, ballet, classical music, and sports, ski resorts, and some of
major theatrical productions. The Phoenix the nation’s finest golf courses. One
Symphony and New Mexico Symphony of the best ways to experience the
Orchestra, based in Albuquerque, are best landscape is on a trail ride, and armchair
known for their concerts, while jazz and cowboys can attend that great South­
country music can be heard in almost western event – the rodeo.
every city and major town. The Southwest is as much a state of
mind as it is a geographical region.
Economics & Tourism The attractions of the landscape and a
Today, New Mexico and Arizona are the romantic sense of the past combine to
country’s fifth and sixth largest states. conjure up the idealized legends of the
Despite the fact that the region’s “Wild West.” For many, it is the chance
population is increasing, it remains one to indulge the cowboy in their soul.
of the least populated in the United
States. The cities of Phoenix, Tucson, Santa
Fe, and Albuquerque account for around
60 percent of the region’s population.
Such intense urbanization has put
tremendous pressure on the region’s
resources, particularly water, which has
become one of the Southwest’s most
pressing issues.
The legacy of the two World Wars
changed the Southwest’s economic Horseback riding, a popular pastime in the Sonoran Desert near
course. In the 1940s, New Mexico’s Tucson, Arizona

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