Territory

The reference to territory is a hark to history, when New Mexico was a territory, not a state. It became a territory, just after the Mexican-American War, in 1850, interestingly enough on 9 September, the same day when California became a state in 1957. New Mexico, however, remained a territory till 1912. Also interesting is that my favorite architectural style here in NM is called territorial (your homework is to research that --- I can't provide all the education here). And does anyone remember the old TV show "Tombstone Territory"? That was pretty enthralling to a small child. Territory has the cachet of a bit of wilderness, something still out of bounds but with degrees of civilization, not too much. And just look at this cool old map.