The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-03-28

designate any of the routes used
by their governmental agencies
for land communication. The plur-
al form was applied to the far
flung network of roads, called Los
Caminos Reales, radiating from a
center at Mexico City, the capital
of New Spain. This story is in
tended to present the broad his
torical background leading up to
the development of the Spanish
roads in the New World. 1t is not
possible within the limited space
TO present the technical historic
facts upon which this narrative is
based.
At the very outset it should be
made clear that the available his
torical data relating to Los Can't
nos Reales is often fragmentary
and even obscure. Therefore,
those who seek to unravel the
tangled thread of the events now
as much as four centuries old,
should approach the study with
an open mind and a humble spirit.
Due allowance should be made for
the obstacles in the path of gen.
eral agreement in all particulars.
To begin at the beginning of
the development of Los Caminos
Reales, the Spaniard fernando
CorteZ, in command of twelve
galleons and over five hundred
men, landed at Vera Cruz, thence
he marched westward and con-
quered the Aztecs under their
leader Montezuma and seized
Mexico City From that time on
the Spaniards spread their do
minion north and southwark along
the mountainous backbone of the
continent through the region now
known as Central America. In
their conquest of the new terri
tory the conquerors developed a
vast system of roads extending in
many directions and finally our
attention will be concentrated up
on the single route leading north
and eastward around the borders
of the Gulf of Mexico to St.
Augustine on the Atlantic coast of
Florida. The other main roads
may be the subjects of future
stories. ss. !.
The first of the great roads de-
veloped by the Spaniards during
the sixteenth century led north
through the present Queretaro,
Zacatecas, Durango, through the
desert region adjacent to Chihua-
hua, across the Rio Grande river
at FL Paso del Norte Northern
Ford and up this river to Santa
Fe, in New Mexico, founded about
1905, prior to the time when the
first English settlers arrived on
the Atlantic Coast, at Virginia, in
1907 From this great central road
there stemmed during the seven
teenth and eighteenth centuries
eastern branches at what is now
Dolores Hidalgo, Zacatecas and
Durango, which joined at Saltillo,
and thence ran north and east
across the Rio Grande river at
Preside del Norte Paso de Fran
clio or French Ford, through mod
ern Cotulla, San Antonio, Nacog-
doches, Natchitoches, Natchez,
New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola,
and Tallahassee to a terminus on
the east coast of Florida at St.
Augustine, founded by the Span
iardS in 1865, under the leadership
of the Spanish naval captain,
Pedro Menendez de Aviles.
In the latter part of the eight
zenith century, a western branch
of the great north road was open
ed to travel. This route passed
through present-day Santa Cruz,
Sinaloa, Arispe and Nogales, down
the valleys to the Santa Cruz and
ella rivers to Yuma, where the
Colorado river was crossed,
thence westward across the desert
to San Diego, thence northward
roughly paralleling the shores of
the Pacific ocean through Los
Angeles, San Luis Obispo, to a
northern extremity at Sanoma, a
short distance north of San Fran
cisco. The purpose of these three
main north roads was to connect
Mexico City with its northern
states. Later these outlying pos
sessions served as buffers against
the border pressure of France,
England and Russia.
In. addition 10 these three main
north roads, there were connec-
tons leading from MaXico City to
the Gulf of Mexico at Vera Cruz,
two hundred and fifty miles dis
tant; a route to Acapulco on the
Pacific ocean, and a southern road
winding through Guatemala to
San Salvador, all opened shortly
after the SpaniardS set foot in
New Spain.
These land routes in the New
World, during the sixteenth CEN
fury, were connected with the
Old World at Seville. Spain, by
fleets of galleons which sailed
across the Atlantic ocean. One of
these fleets, called the fleet of
TERRA Firma, had for its deStina-
ton Cartagena, the first Spanish
settlement on the northern coast
of South America. Another naval