El Camino Real (The King's Highway)
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The regal highway extending between his Catholic majesty's far-flung kingdoms of New Spain, from Mexico City to the Kingdom of New Mexico, passed here. From 1581 onward it was the route followed by conqueror, padre, merchant, adventurer and settler. Along its course passed ox-cart and mule-train and the traffic of the new realm. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
El Camino Real, the 'King's Highway,' was the great royal road linking Mexico City to the far northern Kingdom of New Mexico across the vast Spanish empire. From 1581 onward, conquistadors, priests, merchants, and settlers passed this way, their ox-carts and mule-trains carrying the traffic of a new realm. For centuries the road was the artery of Spanish colonial life in the Southwest.
Why it matters
Long before the United States reached the Rio Grande, this Spanish highway laid down the routes of trade, faith, and settlement that still shape the American Southwest.
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Nearby & related markers
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