El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail

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Long before Europeans came to explore Texas, the people now known as Caddo had a well-developed trail system across their territory in East Texas. Major east-west and north-south trails led to and from important mound centers and established communities where significant social, political, and religious rituals and traditions, along with daily domestic activities, occurred.

Over the course of more than 500 years, the Caddo developed powerful political chiefdoms, organized complex ranked societies, erected ceremonial centers and temple mounds, and participated in long-distance exchange networks. At their height, around 1300, they may have numbered more than 200,000 people.

The Caddo people trace their descent through the maternal line. They recognized and ranked clans, with marriage typically occurring between members of different clans. Religious and political authority in historic Caddo communities rested in a hierarchy of key positions shared between the various affiliated communities.

This timeline describes the European influence and interaction with the Caddo people, from the mid-1500's to the mid-1800's. Beginning in the early 1820s, increased Anglo migration into Caddo territory (“land grabs”) impacted the sacred Caddo landscape significantly. Read more about the impacts of the Anglo influence on the Caddo Nation over time.

Located where the southeastern woodlands meet the western prairies, the Caddo produced bountiful crops and were well placed to participate in exchange networks. Key trails fanning out as far afield as Florida; Casas Grandes, Arizona; Cahokia, Illinois; and the Rio Grande pueblos of New Mexico crossed Caddo country, linking the Caddo to distant Indian worlds and positioning them at a crossroads of trade.

Historians often cite the importation of large horse herds as one of the Spanish empire's biggest impacts on the Americas. Ironically, these very herds helped transform Comanches into Spain's most formidable rival.

Ramona Malczynski spent the summer traveling through Northern and Central New Mexico and meeting with many people during her time with the Latino Heritage Internship Program. During summer 2021, she worked as the Latino Historic Trails Partnership Outreach Intern at the National Trails Office of the National Park Service.