In the 17th century, an ancient trade route linking the Rio Grande to the Great Plains passed through a fragile mountain valley shared with a bustling pueblo whose people spoke Tompiro. When a single Spanish priest entered the town in 1622, a spiritual, material, and cultural revolution began in Abó, transforming the community. The new stone church and convento were large compared with Abó's earlier homes and plazas, and the village and mission may have appeared that way in the 1660s.