History
Located in Taos, New Mexico. Spanish settlers began their colonization of the Taos Valley in 1616, but the Plaza dates to the late 18th century when the Don Fernando de Taos Land Grant was ceded to the settlers from the Taos Pueblo in 1796 by Don Fernando de Chacon, Governor of New Mexico.
Taos Plaza served for decades as the central meeting place in the valley and survived numerous fires that destroyed several older buildings.
Nearby is the home of Charles Bent, who was appointed Governor of New Mexico when it became an American Territory during the Mexican-American War. He was killed by Indian rebels during the Taos Revolt.
Read more about this topic: Taos Plaza
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“There is no history of how bad became better.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)