For centuries, the Native Americans had used the trail routes for trading between the Great Plains and Chihuahuan Desert regions and essentially created the road.
The ferry remained in service until being replaced by the Gaines-Pendleton Bridge in 1937.Įl Camino Real marker in Cotulla in La Salle County in South TexasĪfter crossing the river, the trail went through the Neutral Strip and Many, Louisiana, before ending at Natchitoches in modern Louisiana. Gaines sold the ferry in 1843 and at some point it began to be called Pendleton's Ferry. James Taylor Gaines purchased the ferry in 1819, and it became known as the Gaines Ferry. The river crossing was a ferry, in use since around 1795, as the Chabanan Ferry. The historic trail ran from the capitol and central Viceroyalty of New Spain - present day Mexico City - winding through Saltillo, Monterrey, Laredo (on the modern Texas border), San Antonio, and Nacogdoches, before reaching the Louisiana border at the Sabine River. The growth of towns such as Austin, Galveston, and Houston not on the original route, along with the building of railroads, changed the direction of travel and trade and the use of El Camino Real de los Tejas diminished. A section of the road called Camino Arriba by the Spanish became known as the Old San Antonio Road. Īfter Mexico achieved independence from Spain in 1821, immigrants from the American colonies invited to Texas used the corridor to travel to their settlements. San Antonio de Bexar, founded in 1718, was the first of many communities built as way stations on the trail. The route was refined in 1691-1692 by Domingo Terán de los Ríos, the first governor of Spanish Texas, in an effort to make better connections to the Spanish missions in East Texas. Today, most of it has either been reclaimed by the jungle or buried underwater (thanks to damming for the Canal).El Camino Real de los Tejas routes in Spanish TexasĪlonso de León, Spanish governor of Coahuila, established the corridor for what became El Camino Real de los Tejas in multiple expeditions to East Texas between 16 to find and destroy a French fort near Lavaca Bay, established by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle on what de León considered to be Spanish lands. Eventually, it fell into disuse and was forgotten. The road began at the Pacific port in Panama City and crossed through the jungle to awaiting ships at Portobelo, on the Caribbean side.īetween 1519 and the mid-1700s Panama’s Camino Real brought untold wealth back to Spain and the church. This Royal Road was a four-foot-wide stone path, just wide enough that their mule trains could carry all their precious booty across Panama. They created El Camino Real, Spanish for “Royal Road” (or “the King’s Highway,” in English). I finally understood why it matters.Īs the Spanish began to conquer and pillage the Incas 500 years ago, the King commanded his explorers to find the shortest route from Peru to Spain. OK, I will admit that I vaguely remember learning about Spanish conquistadors as a schoolgirl, but Christian made it a lot more interesting than my teacher had. After walking around for a while, we gathered in a shady spot to hear Christian explain the history of the Camino Real as well as how it influenced history.
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