Where did the road the Spanish called El Camino Real stretch from?
By the late 16th century, El Camino Real stretched some 900 miles north from Mexico City to the frontier mining district of Santa Barbara in Nueva Vizcaya (modern-day Chihuahua).
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El Camino Real -- originally part of 101 -- runs the length of the Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose. Its very name implies a regal history. Translated from the Spanish, it means The King's Highway.
Legend has it that the remains of the Apostle Saint James the Great were buried here. He is the patron saint of Spain and the city is named after Saint James – Santiago de Compostela means St James of the Field of Stars. The pilgrimage began in the 9th century and since then, it has grown massively in popularity.
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was blazed atop a network of footpaths that connected Mexico's ancient cultures with the equally ancient cultures of the interior West. Starting in Mexico City, the frontier wagon road brought settlers into today's New Mexico.
It's in Santiago where the remains of the apostle St.James are reportedly buried and the reason pilgrims originally started walking the Camino. More recently, the Camino has been named one of Unesco's World Heritage Sites and, in 1987, the first European Cultural Route.