Across more than 2,500 miles, El Camino Real de los Tejas crossed swollen streams, great rivers, rolling hills, deep forests, dark swamps, and hot deserts, following the footpaths of American Indians who had lived there for thousands of years. In the late 1600s, Spaniards claimed the land and named it Tejas from the Caddo word meaning friend. Missionaries and soldiers traveling these time-worn routes built missions to establish an economy and presidios to protect the territory from France, opening a royal road that became part of Spain's road network in the New World. El Camino Real de los Tejas brought trade, settlement, war, independence, and statehood, fostered cultural interactions, and created a distinct mosaic of lifeways that still colors the land today. Spanish texts recognized Lobanillo Swales as a historic landmark where two main branches of El Camino Real converged into one route heading west to San Antonio and then on to Monclova, Mexico. Repeated travel over an upland terrace ridge created swales cut 18 feet deep and 12 feet wide, leaving a monumental, undulating landmark that conveys the Spanish Colonial experience of travel on El Camino Real de los Tejas.