El Paso City Map Poster

About El Paso

The city consistently ranks among the safest cities in the United States and is safer than 80% of U.S. cities with populations over 100,000 according to annual FBI crime statistics reports published between 2014 and 2017. The El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, as evidenced by Folsom points from hunter-gatherers found at Hueco Tanks. The evidence suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation; hence it is called one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas in North America (together with sites such as Sandia Cave). It was long occupied by successive cultures of indigenous peoples: Chichimeca and Teya tribes were present when the Spanish arrived in 1598; they were later joined by people from all parts of what is now Mexico who sought refuge within their territory during Spain's reconquest effort after Hernán Cortés conquered central Mexico around 1521–22 (see History section below).