The valley was used for more than 9,000 years as a major route for travel and trade according to archaeological evidence. Pit houses and room blocks provided the first permanent housing for inhabitants beginning about 900 A.D. It was the home of the puebloan people of
Taos Pueblo beginning about 1100 Fray Francisco de Zamora spread the Catholic religion throughout the Taos Valley, will based at the Taos Pueblo from 1610 to 1617. The Spanish were driven out of the area by the Puebloans in 1680. Sixteen years later,
Diego de Vargas resettled the area around
Ranchos de Taos, the Taos Pueblo, and
Taos Plaza. Taos Valley had a population of 306 people of Spanish descent in 67 families in 1776. The most populated area in the valley at that time was Ranchos de Taos. The Spanish brought modern methods for irrigation called acequias and introduced fruit and vegetables to the region. They also introduced livestock. The Puebloans taught the Spanish how to build adobe structures. ==References==