High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Española is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, in the United States. A portion of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Española, incorporated in 1925, is situated in an area that Juan de Oñate declared a capital for Spain in 1598. Española is well known as the first Capital City in America[3] . At the 2000 census the city had a total population of 9,688. Española is within the Santa Fe-Espanola Combined Statistical Area.