Among the earliest Europeans to explore New Mexico were Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (b.Spain, 1510–54) and Juan de Oñate (b.Mexico, 1549?–1624?), the founder of New Mexico. Diego de Vargas (b.Spain, 1643–1704) reconquered New Mexico for the Spanish after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which was led by Popé (d.1685?), a San Juan Pueblo medicine man. Later Indian leaders include Mangas Coloradas (1795?–1863) and Victorio (1809?–80), both of the Mimbreño Apache. Two prominent native New Mexicans during the brief period of Mexican rule were Manuel Armijo (1792?–1853), governor at the time of the American conquest, and the Taos priest José Antonio Martinez (1793–1867).
Army scout and trapper Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson (b.Kentucky, 1809–68) made his home in Taos, as did Charles Bent (b.Virginia, 1799–1847), one of the builders of Bent's Fort, a famous landmark on the Santa Fe Trail. A pioneer of a different kind was Jean Baptiste Lamy (b.France, 1814–88), the first Roman Catholic bishop in the Southwest; his life inspired Willa Cather's novel Death Comes for the Archbishop. Among the more notorious of the frontier figures in New Mexico was Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney, b.New York, 1859–81); his killer was New Mexico lawman Patrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett (b.Alabama, 1850–1908).
Notable US senators from New Mexico were Thomas Benton Catron (b.Missouri, 1840–1921), a Republican who dominated New Mexico politics during the territorial period; Albert Bacon Fall (b.Kentucky, 1861–1944), who later, as secretary of the interior, gained notoriety for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal; Dennis Chavez (1888–1962), the most prominent and influential native New Mexican to serve in Washington; Carl A. Hatch (b.Kansas, 1889–1963), best known for the Hatch Act of 1939, which limited partisan political activities by federal employees; and Clinton P. Anderson (b.South Dakota, 1895–1975) who was also secretary of agriculture.
New Mexico has attracted many artists and writers. Painters Bert G. Phillips (b.New York, 1868–1956) and Ernest Leonard Blumenschein (b.Ohio 1874–1960) started the famous Taos art colony in 1898. Mabel Dodge Luhan (b.New York, 1879–1962) did much to lure the creative community to Taos through her writings; the most famous person to take up residence there was English novelist D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930). Peter Hurd (1940–84) was a muralist, portraitist, and book illustrator. New Mexico's best-known artist is Georgia O'Keeffe (b.Wisconsin, 1887–1986). Maria Povera Martinez (1887?–1980) was known for her black-on-black pottery.
Other prominent persons who have made New Mexico their home include rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard (b.Massachusetts, 1882–1945), Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin (b.1921), novelist and popular historian Paul Horgan (b.New York, 1903–95), novelist N. Scott Momaday (b.Oklahoma, 1934), and golfer Nancy Lopez-Melton (b.California, 1957). Al Unser Sr. (b.1939), four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, was born in Albuquerque.