Jesuit needs for roads began as soon as they had consolidated a hold on their first beachhead at Loreto and began to travel to evangelize nearby tribes. (See the accompanying article, “Road Building In Antigua California,” as reported in APOSTOLIC ENDEAVORS). Therefore, all road building during their tenure (1697-1767) was actually done at their behest and often under their direct supervision. Under the terms of their license the Jesuits controlled the military which accompanied them and consequently were the masters, under the Crown, of the entire undertaking. After a number of aborted efforts by various combinations of military, civil and religious forces, California, beginning in 1697, was finally opened and converted by the Society of Jesus which had obtained a royal license for that purpose. In California, by chance, the relation of road and mission was somewhat different, at least in the first years of Christian conquest. Camino real once again was simply the main road in an area and that usage survives to this day here and there in the regions which were once colonies of Spain. Roads built in support of these outposts soon came to serve colonists and towns as well. Such settlements depended heavily on a ready flow of supplies and communications. These two institutions were the cornerstones of Spain’s colonial expansion on the continent and also her devices for stabilizing the uneasy frontiers. Actually the connection between camino real and mission was incidental it was expedient to the crown that usable roads be built from capitals and centers of commerce to presidios and missions. Many people today, especially in Alta California, think of El Camino Real as an adjunct of missions, a road which ran from one to another and tied them into a continuous system. Before long they led from Mexico City to regional capitals like Guadalajara and Durango (to the northwest) and then by further branches to other cities and finally to presidios on the frontiers. In New Spain (colonial Mexico) the first road building seems to have resulted directly from royal plans and expenditures therefore, for a time, people may have thought of them collectively as the King’s Highway. In time, because these better maintained highways were favored by most travellers and transporters of goods, camino real came to mean simply the principal road between any two major centers. Such thoroughfares were patrolled to keep their users safe from bandits. There it was used to distinguish the principal routes in each district, the roads built or improved with the King’s funds and used to extend his authority either as a route of passage for royal orders or royal arms. The term “El Camino Real” seems to have had its origin in medieval Spain. They represent instead an expansion and further pursuit of the subject which was the book’s theme. It is important to note that the maps and data presented here are NOT found in the book. It describes, rather minutely, the terrain, botany, people and culture of today - details which far exceed the scope of this article. Images from the article | Maps from the article THE KING’S HIGHWAY IN BAJA CALIFORNIA, published in 1974 with text and photographs by Harry Crosby, contains a narrative account of following El Camino Real from Loreto to Mission San Fernando.
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