Following the Royal Road

The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Road of the Interior Land) is North America's oldest and longest road. Juan de Oñate extended the Camino to New Mexico in 1598, making it 1,500 miles long. Here, Hal Jackson brings to life this important route connecting Mexico City with Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was the lifeline for administrative, commercial, and ecclesiastical functions in northern Mexico.

The northern section of the Camino Real, the portion in New Mexico and Texas, was designated a National Historic Trail by the U.S. Congress in 2000 and an interpretive and visitor center (the Camino Real Heritage Center) has opened south of Socorro, New Mexico. This guidebook provides the traveler with useful commentary on the entire Camino as it winds its way from New Mexico through Mexico, ending in Mexico City.

Jackson includes narrative accounts collected from a variety of primary sources to add an eyewitness perspective to topics as diverse as sixteenth-century haciendas, colonial presidios, and important rest stops (parajes) on the Camino in New Mexico. There are many historical vignettes plus sixty maps drawn by the author to assist in finding Camino sites. Other information provides the traveler with details such as highway numbers, mileage, accommodations, and areas of interest off the main Camino route.