The late 17th century royal road which cut through Texas from Presidio del Rio Grande in Coahuilo Mexico passing into San Antonio de Valero and extended eastward to Los Adeas in present day Louisiana had a special purpose and has been called by many names, Camino Real de los Tejas, Camino Pita, Camino Arriba, Camino de en Medio, King's Highway, Old San Antonio Road.
Spain had a long legacy of ridding the Iberian Peninsula of Islam and reestablish a Christian faith and culture throughout the land. Its royal administrations coordinated all missionary activity in the new world combining civil and religious activity into one. Missions were most always set up with presidios (garrisons of protection) nearby. The upper reaches of Coahuila y Tejas were inhabited by native peoples of centuries old and missions were established to introduce the Christian faith and culture into their existing way of life. This was met with varying degrees of acceptance. The Apaches, Comanche, Coahuiltecan, Wichita, Neches, Tonkawa, Caddo, Karankawa had already laid a foundation of history in Texas by the time the Spanish came around in 17th century.
The camino real provided for access to the missions and presidios as well to defend the land from intrusions of outsiders who might want to come into the land to lay claim upon it. Spain was not all that interested in colonizing or settling as the upper reaches were inhospitable and very costly to do so. The inhabitants, already there, provided a source to convert to the faith and being primarily nomadic in nature, the missions' goals were to settle them into locals, christianize them and eventuallly let them grow into communities of citizens under Spain's administrations. It was primarily the cost factors which eventually led to the missions' success or failures. Settlements established at various places along the camino became Texas' earliest cities and communities and the camino has now been integrated into our modern system of highways.
Spain's requirement for designation of camino reales rested upon the Crown's royal privileges to connect economically important towns, capitals of provinces and mines possessing charters. The status of these villas, capitals, and mining areas were extended to the routes which were used by government officials, military and others doing business of the Crown. The Camino Real was a network of regional roads separately called Camino Pita, the Upper Presidio Road, the Lower Presidio Road (also called the Camino de en Medio), the Camino Arriba, and the San Antonio - Nacogdoches Road (Old San Antonio Road, which is demarked OSR on Texas highway maps and road signs).
Certain segments of these roads along which permitted travel also formed early political boundaries. The Lower Presidio Road separated expansive ranch lands claimed by the missions of Espada and San Jose.The Camino Real became the boundary of many empresario grants and later the county lines of many of the state's first subdivisions. The precise destinations of the various trails and routes being vague the certainly led to areas once known as Cibola, Apacheria, Comancheria, La Pita, and Tejas. River crossings were likely places to produce settlement and eventual cities. The Caddo village which became San Francisco de Los Tejas near the crossing of the Neches river was short lived as a mission however the road and river crossing is still in use today. Other river crossings at the Trinity, San Marcos, Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers were the foundation for the primary road between Los Adaes and the Rio Grande known as Camino de los Tejas. The pricipal routes between the Rio Grande and San Antonio were known as the Camino Pita, the Upper Presidio Road, and the Lower Presidio Road (also called Camino de en Medio or Middle Road), it being the middle of three routes leading south from San Antonio. The lowest route was called the Laredo Road. The Upper Presidio Road crossed the Frio river near the Old Frio Town.
The historical routes northward of San Antonio traversed south-cantral Texas connecting East Texas and the Trinity river at several crossings. This segment of the Camino Real consisted of an Upper road and a Lower road. The Upper crossed near the springs of San Marcos river turning northward across the Blackland Prairie toward the confluence of the Little and Brazos rivers crossing along the way the Colorado river and Brushy Creek east of today's Austin and then the San Gabriel river (formerly known as Rio San Xavier).
A Lower route developed paralleling the earlier Upper route and was called by Stephen Austin on his maps as the Upper route (not to confused with the Upper route mentioned above). The Camino Arriba denoted on Austin's maps became known as Old San Antonio Road, Hwy 21 which led to East Texas crossing the Blanco and San Marcos rivers, and known later as San Antonio - Nacogdoches road. Granite markers along the route recognize the King's Highway or OSR. It is along this stretch many of the settlements of Mexican and Texas Republic located, along with some historic sites such as the Caddoan Mounds State Historical Park. Nearby the Neches river was forded following an old indian trail which ivnariably blends prehistoric, American Indian, European and Texan cultures on a singular point of the Texas landscape. The Angelina river crossing led to the community of Nacogdoches crossing the Bayou Loco. Continueing eastward crossing the Sabine river the Camino terminated at what today is Robeline, Louisiana.
The image and information come from the Texas Almanac which I highly recommend a visit, this is the url:
https://texasalmanac.com/topics/history/origins-camino-real-texas
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