In later centuries, Isleta irrigated land along the Rio Grande, where they grew maize, beans, squash and cotton. Over the course of 3,000 years, the Pueblo peoples developed agricultural practices suitable to the harsh environment of the American Southwest.
As most of these smaller communities collapsed during the early Spanish Colonial period, many of their residents resettled at Isleta.
As a large town, Isleta was also a central gathering place for the surrounding smaller villages in the area, servicing as a cultural capital for other Tiwa communities and the Piro and Tompiro-speaking villages to the south and east. The north-south route later became the Spanish Camino Real, or “Royal Road,” making Isleta an important settlement at the crossroads of both Pueblo and Spanish trade routes. Isleta, or Shiewip, is situated on the Rio Grande at what once was the intersection of important north-south and east-west Pueblo roads. Established in the 1300’s, the Southern Tiwa-speaking community of Isleta is, and long has been, one of the largest Eastern Pueblo towns in New Mexico.
