Pecos (Ciquique) was visited by expeditionaries with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540. The Spanish mission church, Mission Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles de Porciúncula de los Pecos, was built there in 1619. A traditional kiva was built in front of the church during the Pueblo Revolt in 1680 as a rejection of the Christian religion brought by Spanish colonists. However, when the Spanish returned in 1692, the Pecos community stayed on friendly terms with them.Finally, in 1838, after almost three centuries of combating neighboring tribes and various forms of pestilence, the last 17 disheartened inhabitants abandoned their once-populous ancestral village and made an 80-mile trek northwest to Jemez, the only other pueblo that spoke their Towa language. The site was abandoned in 1838.