What was el camino real originally called

The ruts of the trail are still visible in the area. In the 19th century, the Camino Real formed the boundary of many empresario grants throughout Texas.

As was true of the earlier Camino Real that extended from Mexico City to Santa Fe, large portions of the early routes across Texas were based on Indian trails of apparent antiquity that suggest a complex network of aboriginal movement, interaction and trade.

The regional trails that comprised the Camino Real included portions of Caddoan, Coahuilteco, Jumano and possibly Sanan routes of travel. Modern highways often follow these early trails. Although widely scattered across the Texas landscape, both historical Indian trails as well as prehistoric archaeological sites occasionally have been found along Spanish colonial trails and under modern highways.

Most historians believe the Camino Real through Texas was developed in to link the Spanish colonial missions in East Texas with the administrative center of New Spain. And those missions were established to counter the threat of French intrusion into the northern borderlands of New Spain. Louis on present-day Garcitas Creek in Victoria County. Fewer than 30 people survived to the end of , or perhaps into early , at which time, they, with a few exceptions, were massacred by Karankawa Indians.

La Salle was not present at the disastrous end of his colony. He had been murdered March 19, , by his own men far from the settlement while searching for an overland route to the Mississippi River. One possible location is noted on a composite map of early Texas dated that is housed in the Spanish military archives in Seville, Spain. A figure on the map shows a small cross and notes that La Salle died there in The location appears to be near present-day Keechi Creek west of the Trinity River.

A faint line runs eastward toward Los Adaes and Louisiana; in this was a portion of the Camino Real. A confrontation among the members resulted in the death of two Frenchmen, who were buried by the villagers. The French incursion into Spanish territory alarmed Spanish officials into authorizing a series of military entradas expeditions northward across the Rio Grande.

Subsequently, the site became the location of the short-lived San Francisco de Los Tejas. Although the mission was only briefly occupied, the nearby crossing of the Neches River remained in use through the 19th century.

Subsequent Spanish entradas served also to lengthen the Camino Real. French explorer and trader Luis Juchereau de St. Denis journeyed from Louisiana across Texas to Mexico in This expedition and St. These trips also helped set the stage for Spanish, French and Indian interactions for much of the following 18th century.

Denis was the most influential of the early French traders in the northeastern Spanish borderlands, not only because of his command of Fort Jean Baptiste in Natchitoches and his influence with East Texas Indians, but also because of his close ties with Spanish officials in Coahuila. Alerts In Effect Dismiss. Dismiss View all alerts. Significance El Camino Real de los Tejas served as a political, economic, and cultural link between Mexico City and Los Adaes and all points in between.

Links to more History. People of the Trail. Places on the Trail. Stories of the Trail. More History Browse the wayside exhibits that are installed along the way to tell some of those stories. If you want to know even more, find books to read in our bibliography. Dig into research related to the trail. When was the El Camino Real established? What is the El Camino Real in Louisiana?

Where is El Camino in the US? Why was El Camino Real de los Tejas called a royal road? What does Texas OSR mean? Does the Santa Fe Trail still exist? Who led the Santa Fe Trail? What were the dangers of the Santa Fe Trail? Nov 2, Failed to save article Please try again. But is that true? In fourth grade, she received a heavily abbreviated and overly rosy history of Spanish-era California.

Then he makes a left turn I was not expecting. Originally built in , this mission was restored in and again in An on-site museum tells the story of how the mission fulfilled its purpose of securing Spain's claim to the land and compelling local native peoples to convert to the Spanish way of life. This map from the Automobile Club of Southern California is one of three maps designed to show Spanish-era missions laid out as an appealing road trip, each a day's journey from each other. Now she plans to take her grandkids.

They'll get the truth.