Española is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. A ration of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Founded as a railroad village some make unfriendly from the old Indian town of San Juan de los Caballeros (now renamed Ohkay Owingeh), it was named Española and officially incorporated in 1925. It has been called the first capital city in the United States. At the era of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 10,495. Española is within the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Las Vegas amass statistical area.

Española was referred to as La Vega de los Vigiles (‘the Vigils’ Meadow’) before the presence of railroads. La Española means ‘Spanish woman’, and folk archives attributes the reveal to railroad construction workers who named the Place after a girl who worked in a little restaurant in the area. In fact the declare is a reduced form of Plaza Española (‘Spanish town’), which likely was to differentiate it from the Tewa pueblo just to the south.

Tewa people have lived in the Place since the 13th century. They built towns in the area, now called ‘pueblos’, four of which yet exist: Ohkay Owingeh, Pojoaque, Santa Clara and San Ildefonso.

The upper reaches of the Rio Grande region was explored by the Spanish in 1540. Don Juan de Oñate was the first to bring settlers here in 1598. His activity stayed at Ohkay Owingeh for a time (calling the Tewa town San Juan de los Caballeros), before settling in an by yourself Tewa village which he renamed San Gabriel. San Gabriel, close to open-minded Española, can as a result be seen as the first capital city founded by people of European racial stock in what is now the United States.