History of Taos New Mexico

For thousands of years residents of the Taos Valley of North-Central New Mexico have been attracted to its timber and water-rich lands. Research indicates that the area of Taos has worn man’s footprints for over 5,000 years. Throughout the Taos Valley, prehistoric native ruins speckle the landscape dating back 900 years. It was the Tewa tribe who gave Taos its name, meaning ‘place of the red willows’. The Tewa, descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans from the Four Corners region of the southwest, thrived here in this beautiful spot just Northeast of Santa Fe. Their pueblo homes, some dating back as far as 1440, remain to this day, an impressive example of Native American architecture. The tribes are still here as well and are a living testament to the rich native history of Taos and the region.

The Europeans first appeared here in 1540, lead by conquistador Hernando De Alvarado. Alvarado came to the region as part of Don Francisco Vasques de Coronado’s expedition, seeking land for Spain to claim as its own an add to it’s ever expanding “ Kingdom of New Mexico”. After Alvarado’s conquest of the region, Don Juan de Onate, the official colonizer of the province of Nuevo Mexico, arrived in the area and brought with him Fray Francisco de Zamora. Padre Zamora arrived to establish the first mission and convert the Taos and Picuris Pueblo Tribes to Christianity. Fray Pedro De Miranda arrived in 1617, leading the first batch of Spanish colonists into Taos. The relationship between the native Pueblo Tribes and the settlers remained tenuous at best for many years.

Finally in 1680, after over 100 years of Spanish rule, brutality and religious dominance, the Pueblo Tribes rebelled in the Great Pueblo Revolt. In the course of the revolt, the ruling Spaniards were either killed or driven out of the region as far south as the area that would later be known as El Paso, Texas. The Pueblo Tribes enjoyed their regained dominance over the region for just over a decade until Don Diego de Vargas arrived in 1692 with another flock of colonists and orders to re-conquer Taos and its peoples. Vargas successfully regained control over the region by 1693, however it did not mark the end of disharmony in the region. In 1694, Vargas raided a Pueblo’s camp and food supply when the natives refused to provide corn for the starving settlers during the winter of 1693. This event led to yet another Native revolt in 1696, but the uprising was quickly put down by Vargas and marked the end of the Pueblo’s fight for sovereignty.

In 1739 French trappers, led by the Mallette brothers, began entering the area to hunt beaver pelts in the ponds of the surrounding region. It was because of this new influx of trade that Taos saw a significant period of economic growth. Taos became a Southwest trading-mecca for hunters, mountain men, and Pueblo Indians. The heavy trading led to the establishment of the Taos Trade Fairs, which were heralded as the most important trading events in the Southwest. The Fairs, held during the temperate summer months, brought visitors from as far away as Missouri and parts of Mexico. Although this period of Taos history was economically beneficial, and relations with the local Pueblo Indians were harmonious, Taos saw decreasing numbers of settlers because of attacks from a few of the Plains Indian tribes. Things began to improve however with the arrival of Colonel de Anza in 1779 who passed through Taos after defeating the Comanche in Colorado. Anza’s strong presence helped calm the upheaval, and following Mexico’s secession from Spain in 1821, Taos was seeing even more traders, some of them famous, to the area. The infamous trapper, scout, and Indian guide, Kit Carson, first arrived in Taos in 1826, and continued making regular stops until finally settling there permanently in 1843. Carson died in 1868 in Colorado, however, his remains were moved back to Taos and remain buried there today.

There was more violence to come to Taos when America began its expansion west. In 1846 Charles Bent was appointed governor of the new American territory, but his term of office was short lived. In 1847 the people of Taos rose up against American occupation and killed the newly appointed governor and a number of others. Their penalty for the revolt was severe. Taos was stormed by American troops and 150 Indians were killed, and 16 more were later executed for their role in the uprising. The province, including the lands of New Mexico and Arizona, officially became the territory of New Mexico of the United States in 1850.

he discovery of gold in the area and the arrival of the railroad brought even more settlers, and as a result Taos saw steady growth for decades. In 1898 the Taos art community began with the arrival of artists and writers from the Eastern US, who fell in love with Toas’ striking mountains and rich native traditions and began depicting the beauty of the region through art and literature. In 1912, the Taos Society of Artists was formed by the region’s earliest artists. To date, Taos has seen such highly acclaimed artists as Bert Harwood, Nicholai Fechin, Leon Gaspard, DH Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams who have contributed to Taos' reputation as a hub for artists and writers. Today, despite its violent history and nearby Santa Fe’s tourist boom, Taos is a quiet, and casual artist community, uncompromised by the hustle and bustle of its neighbor to the south but ever mindful of its brutal past.