Taos Map Art

Taos is the county seat of Taos County in north-central New Mexico, between the Rio Grande Gorge and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, about 50 miles south of the Colorado border. About 6,600 people lived there in 2021. The town was incorporated in 1934, but people have lived at Taos Pueblo, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for about a thousand years, and the name comes from the Taos language for place of red willows. Spanish colonists founded Don Fernando de Taos in 1615, though conflict kept it only partly settled until Governor Fernando Chacón set it up as a fortified plaza and trading post in 1795. During the Mexican-American War the region was occupied by the United States, which led to the Taos Revolt. The flag flies day and night on Taos Plaza for historical reasons. Small communities such as Ranchos de Taos, El Prado and Arroyo Seco sit around the town.