Albuquerque sits in the Rio Grande valley, with the Sandia Mountains to the east and the West Mesa to the west. Governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés founded it in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque, naming it for Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and Viceroy of New Spain.
The 2020 census counted 564,559 residents, making it the most populous city in New Mexico and the county seat of Bernalillo County.