The United States’ segment of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior, spans 404 miles between San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, and the present-day national border with Mexico at El Paso, Texas. It is the earliest Euro-American trade route in the United States and historically continued roughly 1,000 miles further south to Mexico City. For nearly 300 years, the trail remained the principal trade route between New Mexico and the regions of Spanish-occupied New Spain, located to the south. El Camino Real helped make possible the European exploration, conquest, colonization, settlement, religious conversion, and military occupation of a large area of the borderlands from 1598 to 1885.

Designated a National Historic Trail in 2000, El Camino Real is a symbol of the early cultural interaction between nations and multiple ethnic groups in the Southwest. The commercial and social exchanges that occurred over the centuries helped create the rich cultural mix that is still present today in the American Southwest. Visitors along the trail route can experience these influences through the traditional architecture, landscapes, place names, cultural institutions, music, folklore, foods, and language that still distinguish the region. Many historic destinations listed in the National Register of Historic Places and hiking trails welcome travelers and tourists along the historic route, and much of El Camino Real is easily accessible by car.

Tribes such as the Pecos Indians populated northern New Mexico during the Spanish exploration in the early 1500s Courtesy of the National Park Service

Precontact: American Indian Trade

Long before Europeans arrived in what is now the Southwestern United States, American Indian groups had established trade routes for commerce between tribes as well as the ancient cultures in present-day Mexico. These footpaths, such as the Rio Grande Pueblo Indian Trail, were likely established around 1000 AD and branched throughout the northern Rio Grande region, spanning south through the Rio Grande Valley. When Spanish explorers first entered the area in the early 1500s, American Indian peoples often guided them through the unfamiliar and daunting landscape.

Visitors along the El Camino Real National Historic Trail have many opportunities to learn more about these early people through the built environment and cultural remnants they left behind. Kuaua Ruin (Coronado State Monument) in Bernalillo, New Mexico, features the archeological remains of a Tiwa settlement from around 1300 AD. A Works Progress Administration excavation of the site in the 1930s revealed a square kiva with many layers of mural paintings. Accessible to the public, these paintings are some of the finest examples of Pre-Columbian mural art in the United States. Kuaua Ruin is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is featured in the American Southwest Travel Itinerary.

Both Pecos National Historical Park near Santa Fe, NM and Keystone Heritage Park in El Paso, TX preserve remains of early American Indian cultures in the Southwest. The National Park Service manages the site of Pecos Pueblo, an almost 500-year-old adobe ruin and offers tours and educational programs regarding the pueblo, the park’s other historic structures, and the natural landscape. For more information, the NPS has also published an online book about the early Pecos People and their interactions with the Spanish: Kiva, Cross and Crown: The Pecos Indians and New Mexico, 1540 – 1840.

Keystone Heritage Park, which is a certified partner of the National Park Service, also showcases ancient ruins. Some are over 4,000 years old and are believed to indicate the location of one of the largest and oldest villages in the present-day United States. The 52-acre park is also the site of an archaic wetland and botanical garden, with walking paths where visitors can view the 193 species of birds that live there.

Mesilla Plaza is home to Spanish-inspired architecture such as the Church of San Albino Courtesy of the National Park Service and the National Register of Historic Places

El Camino Real

Spanish conquistadors and colonizers created what would eventually be known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro by connecting old indigenous footpaths and trade routes. Spanish explorer Hernán Cortéz landed in Mexico in 1518 and conquered the Aztec empire by 1521. The Spanish renamed the captured capital city of Tenochtitlan, Cuidad de Mexico (Mexico City), and soon the first leg of the Camino Real began there, going north to the Zacatecas mountains where massive deposits of silver had been discovered. The bumpy wagon trail was flooded with silver being carted back to the capital where it was smelted, stamped, and shipped to Spain.

In the mid-1500’s, explorer Juan de Oñate received permission from the king of Spain to conduct the first colonization expedition 1,500 miles north of Zacatecas into what is today the State of New Mexico. Oñate, along with settlers and herds of cattle, traveled through the arid Chihuahua Desert and crossed the Rio Grande River at modern-day El Paso in 1598. The journey continued north through Las Cruces, Socorro, Belen, Albuquerque, and Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo), which Oñate declared the capital of New Spain. The final leg brought the Oñate expedition to Santa Fe in 1603. Oñate’s trail from Zacatecas to Santa Fe completed what would be known as El Camino Real, connecting the interior of New Spain to Mexico City.

For the next 300 years, El Camino Real was the only wagon road into New Mexico and the Southwest, bringing thousands of colonists, missionaries and supply caravans from southern New Spain into newly established Spanish towns that dotted the Rio Grande. The trail facilitated the introduction of horses, cattle, European agriculture and irrigation systems, exotic flora, and many cultural practices that still flourish in the region today.

Visitors might enjoy a trip to El Rancho de las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows). The site is a living history museum that was once a paraje (rest-stop) along El Camino Real only 15 miles south of Santa Fe, NM, the trail’s terminus. Spanish colonists established the ranch by c. 1710, and it is one of the oldest, continually operating ranches in the Southwest. El Rancho is a certified partner with the National Park Service and offers educational programs about its 18th century placita house, molasses mill, threshing ground, water mill, blacksmith, and wheelwright shop.

Palace of the Governors was built in 1610, making it the oldest continuously operational government building in the United States Public Domain Image

Santa Fe was a thriving center of commerce at the time, especially after the Santa Fe Trail connected New Mexico to the eastern United States for the first time in 1821, and the Old Spanish Trail connected Santa Fe to the west coast at Los Angeles in 1829. This itinerary features the Santa Fe Trail here and the Old Spanish Trail here. With the three trails feeding the market from the south, west and east, Santa Fe Plaza at the center of town became a teeming hotspot for trade and social interaction. The plaza is a National Historic Landmark listed in the National Register with its buildings constructed in the Pueblo, Spanish, and Territorial styles that reflect the diverse cultural history of Santa Fe. Well worth a visit, the Palace of the Governors on the north side of the Plaza dates from 1610, and is the oldest continuously occupied government building in the United States. The Palace is a National Historic Landmark and a museum.

Like Santa Fe, many towns along the trail greatly benefited from the commerce and cultural exchange. One of the most intact is Mesilla, NM (est. 1848), with its colonial architecture, museums, and cultural programs. The town’s central plaza is listed in the National Register and is a National Historic Landmark. It is home to quaint gift shops, galleries and places to dine, and hosts cultural events such as the annual Cinco de Mayo celebration.

The early days of El Camino Real brought waves of friars and priests into New Mexico who built missions among the native Pueblo people to convert them to Christianity. Missions were constructed at the larger pueblos, a number of which still exist and are in use today. Both the Ysleta and Franciscan Socorro Missions in El Paso, Texas were constructed to help displaced American Indians who fled the Pueblo Revolt in 1680. They are on the National Register of Historic Places and are featured in the South and West Texas travel itinerary.

Early Spanish cultural influence from architecture to dress and music has persisted in the area through today.  This photograph captures a Spanish-American band in New Mexico, c. 1940. Public Domain Image

El Camino Real also has a strong connection to Civil War history as the trail continued to be heavily used throughout the 1860’s. The Register-listed Presidio Chapel of San Elizario in El Paso housed volunteer fighters from California, stationed there to prevent a reoccupation of the area by Confederate forces. Visitors may also enjoy a trip to Fort Selden State Monument in Radium Springs, New Mexico. Established in 1865, the adobe fort housed units of the US Infantry and Cavalry stationed there to protect new settlers from hostile American Indian groups. African American units, referred to as Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed at the fort. The fort has a visitors center, exhibit space, and guided tours.

After the Civil War, use of El Camino Real began to wane, when the railroad made it possible to transport people and goods along the Rio Grande in hours instead of weeks in the 1880s. Historians cite c. 1885 as the last historic use of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The trail’s economic, political and cultural impact cannot be denied, and visitors along its path today can readily see the strong influence of both the American Indian and Spanish heritage linked to its past.

In addition to those listed above, many other historic places of interest to visit are on El Camino Real and participate in the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. See Places to Go in Texas and Places to Go in New Mexico for information on historic sites, museums, and interpretive centers, along the way.

Cultural institutions help interpret heritage resources for visitors. Be sure to check out The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, The El Paso Museum of History, The El Camino Real Trail Association and The Camino Real International Heritage Center.