During its early years, Taos Pueblo was a central point of trade between the native populations along the Rio Grande and their Plains Tribe neighbors to the northeast. His first contact with the West was through the Spanish conquistador Vázquez de Coronado in the mid-16th century, who was searching for the supposed Seven Cities of Gold, a legend similar to that of El Dorado in South America.

Missionaries arrived behind the conquistadors with the aim of converting the indigenous people both religiously and culturally, an extremely complicated task since the resistance in Taos Pueblo was great, although they gradually underwent a process of acculturation and today the resulting religion is a syncretism of its ancient beliefs with Christianity.

Home to one of the last Indian communities that remain clinging to their ancestral identity, its historical-archaeological relevance and its unique architecture motivated the inclusion of the town in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992. The Indians of Taos are one of the most secretive and jealous communities of their traditions.

The conquest of the West meant the cleansing of numerous ethnic groups from the territory currently governed by the USA, with the Taos Pueblo being one of the few exceptions that managed to survive over the years.

Among its most famous landmarks is Taos Pueblo, a multi-story, reddish-brown adobe village inhabited for more than a millennium. The historic village is made up of numerous multi-story adobe houses stacked and built vertically, so that the roof of some buildings served as the foundation for the next level. Access to these adobe houses was through the roof, using ladders.

Originally, the houses lacked doors and windows, so their inhabitants were able to better maintain the coolness inside the houses, taking into account the climatic rigors of the area. This adobe settlement, consisting of dwellings and ceremonial buildings, represents the culture of the Pueblo Indians of the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

With fewer than 2,000 individuals registered as indigenous, the Taos Pueblo is the living manifestation of the most important indigenous culture in this area of the world, protected by the government since the 1960s. In addition to their recognition, they managed to preserve several of their sacred places by avoiding its complete disappearance. Thanks to the determination of the Native American community of recent times, it seems to be successfully resisting the pressures of modern society.

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