El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, the “Royal Road of the Interior,” is the earliest Euro-American trade route in the United States. Linking Spain’s colonial capital at Mexico City to its northern frontier in distant New Mexico, the route spans three centuries, two countries, and 1,600 miles. It was part of Spain’s Camino Real Intercontinental—a global network of roads and maritime routes.

In the United States, the trail stretched from the El Paso area in Texas, through Las Cruces, Socorro, Belen, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe to Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo), the first Spanish capital in New Mexico. Today, the trail corridor nurtures a lively exchange of ideas, customs, and language between Mexico and the American Southwest.

Our national historic trails commemorate events and processes that shaped our Nation. While it is possible to follow the general route of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro today on modern highways in New Mexico and Texas, many miles of the Trail cross private lands and many of the most significant trail sites are privately owned or managed by tribal, state, or municipal agencies. The BLM works closely with the National Park Service (www.nps.gov/elca) to administer the trail and with the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association (CARTA) (www.caminorealcarta.org) to develop volunteer opportunities and projects along the trail.

Learn more: www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/el_camino_real_de.html