El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (English: The Royal Road of the Interior Land), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish 2,560-kilometer-long (1,590 mi) road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (Ohkay Owingeh), New Mexico (in the modern U.S.), that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was the northernmost of the four major "royal roads" that linked Mexico City to its major tributaries during and after the Spanish colonial era.
In 2010, 55 sites and five existing UNESCO World Heritage Sites along the Mexican section of the route were collectively added to the World Heritage List, including historic cities, towns, bridges, haciendas, and other monuments along the 1,400-kilometer (870 mi) route between the Historic Center of Mexico City (also a World Heritage Site on its own) and the town of Valle de Allende, Chihuahua.
The 650-kilometer (404 mi) section of the route within the United States was proclaimed the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, a part of the National Historic Trail system, on October 13, 2000. The historic route is overseen by both the National Park Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with aid from the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association. A portion of the trail near San Acacia, New Mexico, was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Route
The road is identified as beginning at the Plaza Santo Domingo very close to the present Zócalo and Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City. Traveling north through San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, the road's northern terminus is located at Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico.
History
Pre-Columbian history
Long before Europeans arrived, the various indigenous tribes and kingdoms that had arisen throughout the north-central steppe of Mexico had established the route that would later become the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro as a major thoroughfare for hunting and trading. The route connected the peoples of the Valley of Mexico with those of the north through the exchange of products such as turquoise, obsidian, salt, and feathers. By 1000 AD, a flourishing trade network existed from Mesoamerica to the Rocky Mountains.
European incursion
After Tenochtitlan was subdued in 1521, Spanish conquistadores and colonists began a series of expeditions with the purpose of expanding their domains and obtaining greater wealth for the Spanish Crown. Their initial efforts led them to follow the trails established by the natives, who exchanged goods between the north and the south.
In April 1598, a group of military scouts led by Juan de Oñate, the newly appointed colonial governor of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, became lost in the desert south of Paso del Norte while seeking the best route to the Río del Norte. A local Indian they had captured named Mompil drew in the sand a map of the only safe passage to the river. The group arrived at the Río del Norte just south of present-day El Paso and Ciudad Juárez in late April, where they celebrated the Catholic Feast of the Ascension on April 30, before crossing the river. They then mapped and extended the route to what is now Española, where Oñate would establish the capital of the new province. This trail became the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the northernmost of the four main "royal roads" – the Caminos Reales – that linked Mexico City to its major tributaries in Acapulco, Veracruz, Audiencia (Guatemala), and Santa Fe.
After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which violently forced the Spanish out of Nuevo México, the Spanish Crown decided not to abandon the province altogether, but instead it maintained a channel to the province so as not to completely abandon its subjects remaining there. The Viceroyalty organized a system, the so-called conducta, to supply the missions, presidios, and northern ranchos. The conducta consisted of wagon caravans that departed every three years from Mexico City to Santa Fe along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The trip required a long and difficult journey of six months, including two to three weeks of rest along the way.
Many were the uncertainties that the conducta and other travelers faced. River floods could force weeks of waiting on the banks until the caravan could wade across. At other times, prolonged droughts in the area could make water scarce and difficult to find. The most feared section of the journey was the crossing of the Jornada del Muerto beyond El Paso del Norte, nearly 100 km (62 mi) of expansive, barren desert without any water sources for the men and beasts.
Beyond the sustenance needs, the greatest danger to the caravan was that of local assaults. Groups of bandits roamed throughout the territory and threatened the caravan from the current state of Mexico to the state of Querétaro, seeking articles of value. And from the southern part of Zacatecas onward to the north, the greatest threat was the native Chichimecas, who became more likely to attack as the caravan progressed further north. The main objective of the Chichimecas was horses, but they also often took women and children. A series of presidios along the way allowed for relays of troops to provide additional protection to the caravans. At night in the most dangerous areas, the caravans would form a circle with their wagons with the people and animals inside.
The Camino Real was actively used as a commercial route for more than 300 years, from the middle of the 16th century to the 19th century, mainly for the transport of silver extracted from northern mines. During this time, the road was continuously improved, and over time, the risks became smaller as haciendas and population centers emerged.
18th century
During the 18th century, the sites along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro increased significantly. The area between the villas of Durango and Santa Fe came to be known as "the Chihuahua Trail". The villa of San Felipe el Real (today city of Chihuahua), established in 1709 to support the surrounding mines, became the most important commercial center and financial area along this segment.
The villa of San Felipe Neri de Alburquerque (present-day Albuquerque, New Mexico) was founded in 1706 and it also became an important terminal. Because of its defensive position on the Camino Real, the Villa de Alburquerque became the center of commercial exchange between Nuevo México and the rest of New Spain during the 18th century, trading cattle, wool, textiles, animal skins, salt, and nuts. This exchange occurred mainly with the mining cities of Chihuahua, Santa Bárbara, and Parral.
El Paso del Norte (present-day Ciudad Juárez) became another major terminal on the route. In 1765, its population was estimated to be 2,635 inhabitants, which created what was then the largest urban center on the northern border of New Spain. El Paso del Norte became an important center of agriculture and rancheria, known for its wines, brandy, vinegar, and raisins.
In the 18th century, the Spanish Crown authorized the establishment of fairs along the Camino Real to promote commerce (although some form of these had already been existing for some time prior). Some of the most important fairs along the Camino Real included the Fair de San Juan de los Lagos in Jalisco, the Fair de Saltillo, and the Fair de Chihuahua, which was of great importance to Nuevo México merchants. The Fair de Taos was also an important annual event, wherein the Comanches and the Utes traded weapons, ammunition, horses, agricultural products, furs, and meats with the Spanish. Spain at the same time maintained a monopoly on the products of its northern provinces, thus no trade occurred with the French colony of Louisiana.
For the second half of the 18th century, the northern frontier of New Spain represented a fundamental interest for the Spanish Empire and its reformist policy, with the aim of ensuring Spanish sovereignty over its northern provinces, highly coveted geopolitically by other European powers – especially the English and French. The Spanish Crown labored to incorporate the natives into the social and economic welfare of its provinces and give them reasons to participate in the defense of the Spanish border.
Thus, Captain Nicolás de Lafora (assigned by the then Marqués de Rubí) gives a description of the frontier of New Spain in his "Viaje a los presidios internos de la América septentrional", the product of an expedition that took place between 1766 and 1768. This expedition was part of a larger commission on the defensive issues and military capabilities entrusted by the Spanish Crown to the Marquis of Rubí, to assess the tactical placement of the presidios, inspect troop readiness, review military regulations, and propose what might be done to strengthen the government and the defense of the State. From its review, the Marquis proposed a line of Presidios along the northern frontier of New Spain, to be established from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of California to protect itself from the Utes, Apaches, Comanches, and Navajos. Don José de Gálvez, special commissioner to New Spain for Charles III, promoted a Comandancia General de las Provincias Internas (General Commander of the Internal Provinces) for the northern provinces of New Spain. However, he also recognized that a long war with the natives would be impossible to win or sustain due to the lack of military resources in the area. With that view, he himself promoted the establishment of a strong peace in the provinces and a greater commercial presence in 1779.
In 1786, the nephew of José de Gálvez, Bernardo de Gálvez, viceroy of New Spain, published his Instructions, which included three strategies for dealing with the natives: Continuing the military pressure on hostile and unaligned tribes, pursuing the formation of alliances with friendly tribes, and promoting economic dependency with those natives who had entered into peace treaties with the Spanish Crown.
In the last decade of the 18th century, a tenuous peace was achieved between the Spaniards and the Apache tribes as a result of the aforementioned administrative and strategic changes. As a consequence, commerce along the Camino Real greatly expanded with products from all over the world, including products from the other provinces of New Spain, brought in over land; European products brought in by the Spanish fleet; and even those that came from the Manila galleon that arrived annually at Acapulco from the western Pacific. As an example, for this time, the most typical products sold by the merchants in the city of Parral along the "Chihuahua Trail" included platoncillos from Michoacán, jarrillos from Cuautitlán of the State of Mexico, majolica from the State of Puebla, porcelain junks from China, and clay products from Guadalajara.
19th century
The 19th century brought many changes for both Mexico and its northern border. From the Napoleonic Wars to the start of the Mexican War of Independence, the colonial government was unstable and struggled to continue sending resources to the northern provinces. This void led to the establishment of alternate suppliers and supply routes into those provinces. In 1807, American merchant and military agent Zebulon Pike was sent to explore the southwestern borders between the U.S. and New Spain with the intention to find a trail to bring U.S. commerce into Nuevo México and Nueva Vizcaya (Chihuahua). Pike was captured on 26 February 1807 by the Spanish authorities in northern Nuevo México, who sent him on the Camino Real to the city of Chihuahua for interrogation. While Pike was in this city, he gained access to several maps of México and learned of the discontent with Spanish domination.
In 1821, after 11 years of struggle, Mexico gained its independence from Spain. The Camino Real maintained an important role in this period, since travelers brought communication about the events that were taking place in the center of the country to the towns and villages of the internal provinces. During the Mexican War of Independence, the Camino Real was used by both rebels and royal forces. For example, after the liberator Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla launched the war of independence, he used the road to retreat from the Battle of the Bridge of Calderón fought on the banks of the Calderón River, 60 km (37 mi) east of Guadalajara in present-day Zapotlanejo, Jalisco, northward, eventually arriving at the Wells of Baján in Coahuila, where he was captured and executed by royal forces.
Between 1821 and 1822, after the end of the war for the Independence of Mexico, the Santa Fe Trail was established to connect the U.S. territory of Missouri with Santa Fe. At first, U.S. merchants were arrested and imprisoned for bringing contraband into Mexican territory; however, the growing economic crisis in northern Mexico gave rise to an increased tolerance of this type of trade. In fact, the Santa Fe Trail (Sendero de Santa Fe) provided needed markets for local products (such as cotton) and manufactured products from New Mexico, so New Mexicans looked favorably on this new trade route. By 1827, a lucrative and commercial connection had been forged between Missouri, New Mexico, and Chihuahua.