Albuquerque Map
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As of June 2007, the city was the sixth fastest-growing in America. It has a metropolitan population of 907,775 as of 2011. Albuquerque is the 57th-largest United States metropolitan area. The Albuquerque MSA population includes the city of Rio Rancho.
Albuquerque is home to the University of New Mexico (UNM), Kirtland Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratories, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, and Petroglyph National Monument, and is the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande. The Sandia Mountains run along the eastern side of Albuquerque, and the Rio Grande flows through the city, north to south.
It is generally believed that the growing village was named by the provincial governor Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes in honor of Don Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, viceroy of New Spain from 1653 to 1660. One of de la Cueva's aristocratic titles was Duke of Alburquerque, referring to the Spanish town of Alburquerque.
Nearby cities include Corrales, Tijeras, Rio Rancho, Cedar Crest, Bosque Farms.