El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Welcome to El Camino Real Park. When you cross the bridge over the Santa Fe River, you join a trail with nearly 500 years of New Mexico history! This part of the Santa Fe River Greenway follows one of North America's most famous early roads - El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road to the Interior Lands. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mexico and a National Historic Trail in the U.S., the 1,600-mile international route begins in Mexico City and runs north to Santa Fe., Today's travelers can follow the historic route of El Camino Real on marked roads such as Agua Fria Street or along linked parks and community trails like this one. No matter what route you choose, the fascinating history and natural beauty of the American Southwest await you along every mile. , A Multicultural World, Like today's global economy, international traffic along El Camino Real changed people's lives forever. Food, clothing, languages, religious and spiritual beliefs, architecture, music, art, and ideas about property and society, as well as diseases from Europe, all moved up and down El Camino Real in a continuing multicultural exchange., For Sale: Buffalo Hides, People have traded on the ancient riverside route of El Camino Real for centuries. Locals traded buffalo hides, pinon nuts, turquoise, and obsidian. Spanish colonists introduced churro sheep, whose wool inspired skilled Pueblo weavers. By 1650, goods traveling El Camino Real might be headed for the next village, Mexico City, or Europe. , Horses and Metal, In the 1500s, Spanish newcomers advanced up to the Rio Grande on horseback with metal swords and body armor. Horses and metal tools brought profound changes to the region., Maize Makes the Meal , Pueblo people cultivated, ate, and traded maize (corn) long before the Spanish arrived., The Santa Fe River Greenway, Santa Fe County and the City of Santa Fe are working in partnership to restore the Santa Fe River to a more natural and healthy state and build a continuous greenway of trails and parks along the river. The Greenway is a retracement hiking trail segment of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail., The trail length is one mile and has a continuous paved service with gradual slopes., The Roman Catholic Church, Spanish explorers and priests introduced their Roman Catholic faith to local villages, with mixed and sometimes violent results. Within 100 years of Spanish contact, most large pueblos had a Spanish mission and priests. Over time, some Ancestral Pueblo people blended their own ancient beliefs with Christianity., Seeking a Road to Riches, Will the trail ahead improve your health…or your wealth? Many early travelers thought El Camino Real was the path to silver and gold! Others wanted to advance Spanish culture and religion., Spanish soldiers based in Mexico began exploring the vast interior of North America in the middle 1500s. They sought to claim New World riches for the King of Spain, whose favor could bring great rewards., Over the past 400 years, travelers along El Camino Real have found not only silver and gold, but a wealth of opportunities in a vast new land., Chocolate and Chile Peppers, Ancestral Pueblo people knew about cocoa beans and chile peppers - but Spanish travelers brought new uses of these native New World foods. The results: sweet, hot, cocoa-flavored milk, and meats and vegetables spiced with bright red peppers. Would you like your chocolate milk stirred and warmed in this 1850s-era Mexican copper chocolatera? Delicious!, (photo captions:), ·A slow-moving wagon train hauls wood to market across the New Mexico desert, circa 1912. Mule-drawn caravans were once a common sight up and down El Camino Real., ·About 75 miles north of El Paso, El Camino Real veered away from the Rio Grande across 60 miles of almost waterless desert. For unprepared travelers - including Spanish settlers fleeing the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 - the two-day route called the "Jomada del Muerto" (Dead Man's Journey) could be a death trap. , ·In 1598 Juan de Onate led 400 settlers from Zacatecas, Mexico northward on El Camino Real to establish Spanish colonies in the interior. This long, rough journey extended the Royal Road by at least 600 miles into present-day New Mexico., (side quote:), "Your main purpose shall be the service of our Lord, the spreading of His Holy Catholic faith…", -Contract between Juan de Onate and the Spanish government, 1595