The Caddo village was a major regional trade center linked to other settlements by long-distance routes, where people exchanged goods with nearby groups and others from hundreds of miles away. The Caddo imported high quality raw stone materials in short local supply to make tools and weapons, along with finished stone pieces, and many imported artifacts such as pipes, axe heads, and ear spools may have come from north of the Red River, central Texas, or the Mississippi Valley. More exotic materials found at the site, including marine shells and copper, can be traced as far as the Florida coast and the Great Lakes region. In exchange, the Caddo may have traded foodstuffs, salt, fine pottery, and bows crafted from the local bois d'arc tree. These early trade routes later supported European settlement and economic and political growth in Texas for more than 300 years. When Europeans first entered Caddo territory, they encountered well-traveled trails linking native settlements, and the Spanish later built missions and posts along the main routes, which became known collectively as El Camino Real de los Tejas, or The King's Road to the Tejas.