It also became the first route of evangelization by Spanish missionaries attempting to Christianize Indian groups from the Rio Grande to the Red River. The route was developed to confront and counter French intrusion into the northeastern frontier of the Spanish borderlands. The routes extended through San Antonio de Valero to the presidio at Los Adaes in Louisiana. The Camino Real discussed here was a network of Spanish roads that crossed the Rio Grande into Texas from Mexico near San Juan Bautista mission and presidio at today’s Guerrero, Coahuila, Mexico - about 35 miles downstream from present-day Eagle Pass. This article presents a brief overview of what is known about the road: its origins, its uses, the people who touched it and the settlements it affected.īefore detailing the routes of the royal roads in Texas, we will explore the political and practical reasons to establish caminos reales and will present the roads in their environmental and historical contexts. Our understanding of the trail’s origins and its changes grow as new information is gathered and old information is reassessed. Our knowledge of the Camino Real is incomplete.
Though often little more than a mule track, it was a camino real - a royal road with special status. But whatever it was called - Camino Real de los Tejas, Camino Pita, Camino Arriba, Camino de en Medio, King’s Highway, Old San Antonio Road - it was not an ordinary camino (road). The old Spanish road called the Camino Real has had many names since it first entered Texas in the late 17th century.
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