Santa Fe Unlimited | Santa Fe A to Z: A Glossary of Terms, Definitions and Descriptions of Everything Santa Fe

Mesa
Spanish for "table," a mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top, often with steep cliff-like sides. Mesas are common landforms in arid environments, such as New Mexico. (~Aimee)

Museums of Santa Fe
The major museums in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area are: Palace of the Governors, Museum of Fine Arts, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, Santa Fe Children's Museum, New Mexico State Capitol, Randall Davey Audubon Center, Bataan Memorial Military Museum, and Bradbury Science Museum. (~Jean)
NOTE: See our special section on The Museums of Santa Fe

Mustang (or Wild Horse)
During the 16th century, Spanish settlers brought their cattle-raising traditions, as well as horses and domestic cattle, with them to the Americas. The arrival of horses was especially significant, as equines had been extinct in the Western hemisphere since the Ice Age. Once here, they quickly multiplied, becoming crucial to the settlers of all nations. As time went on, the original Arabian and Andalusian breeds brought by the Spanish evolved into American horse breeds through selective breeding and natural selection. As descendants of domesticated horses, the Mustang and other horse breeds which are now considered to be "wild horses" could be more accurately termed feral. (~Aimee)

Jean's 1967 Mustang

A Bit of Mustang Pop Culture Trivia: One of the most popular cars in the history of the Ford Motor Company was the Mustang. An affordable everyman's (and everywoman's) sports car, it was seen nationwide in the 1960s and 1970s. It actually bore an emblem of the Mustang horse. It was the extremely hot Mustang fad that inspired the Top Ten hit song, Mustang Sally, recorded by Wilson Pickett in 1966. Yours truly was a proud owner of a metallic green 1967 Mustang. (~Jean)

Pictured: Mesas are part of the scenery near Los Alamos, New Mexico