The "Valley of Wonders" was populated from the most remote times by the Andean men and women.  These early inhabitants have left samples of their art in the form of paintings and petroglyphs in the local caves.  Ancient hunting implements and tools used in the process of taming camelids have also been found.  
The Collaguas and Cabanas, pre-Inca ethnic groups, became highly skilled agricultural engineers, constructing vast extensions of agricultural terracing where different crops were grown, which are still used today as they were some 1,400 years ago.

There are also 14 villages dating back to the Spanish Conquest.  Their plans were drawn in Spain, including magnificent churches and orderly narrow streets, under the orders of Carlos III, and construction was completed in the 17th century by Viceroy Toledo.  These villages were called "Indian Reductions".