Camino Real de Tierra Adentro


World Heritage Identification Number: 1351

World Heritage since: 2010

Category: Cultural Heritage

Transboundary Heritage: No

Endangered Heritage: No

Country: 🇲🇽 Mexico

Continent: Americas

UNESCO World Region: Latin America and the Caribbean

Map

The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro: A Historical Trade Route Connecting Mexico and North America

The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the Royal Inland Road, is a significant historical trade route that connected Mexico City to Texas and New Mexico, United States of America, spanning approximately 2,600 kilometers. This route, also known as the Silver Route, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, recognizing its importance in fostering cultural, social, and religious links between Spanish and indigenous cultures over a period of three centuries.

More to come…

UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was the Royal Inland Road, also known as the Silver Route. The inscribed property consists of 55 sites and five existing World Heritage sites lying along a 1400 km section of this 2600 km route, that extends north from Mexico City to Texas and New Mexico, United States of America. The route was actively used as a trade route for 300 years, from the mid-16th to the 19th centuries, mainly for transporting silver extracted from the mines of Zacatecas, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí, and mercury imported from Europe. Although it is a route that was motivated and consolidated by the mining industry, it also fostered the creation of social, cultural and religious links in particular between Spanish and Amerindian cultures.

Encyclopedia Record: Camino Real de Tierra Adentro

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish 2,560-kilometre-long (1,590 mi) road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was the northernmost of the four major "royal roads" that linked Mexico City to its major tributaries during and after the Spanish colonial era.

Read more on Wikipedia

Additional Site Details

Area: 3,101.91 hectares

UNESCO Criteria: (ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape

Coordinates: 22.6080555556 , -102.3791666667

Image

Image of Camino Real de Tierra Adentro

Bureau of Land Management, Public domain

About World Heritage Explorer

World Heritage Explorer is an independent educational project designed to uncover and share the richness of our world’s cultural and natural heritage. Dive into detailed site profiles, immersive imagery, interactive maps, and tools that help you explore UNESCO World Heritage Sites across the globe. Drawing extensively on open data sources, the project delivers authoritative, well-structured information for learners, educators, travelers, and younger explorers alike.

Learn more

Country Information: Mexico

Flag of Mexico

Official Name: United Mexican States

Capital: Mexico City

Continent: Americas

Population (2024): 130,861,007

Population (2023): 129,739,759

Population (2022): 128,613,117

Land Area: 1,943,950 sq km

Currency: Mexican peso (MXN)

Country Data Sources

Last updated: January 18, 2026

Portions of the page Camino Real de Tierra Adentro are based on data from UNESCO — World Heritage List Dataset and on text from the Wikipedia article Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes made. Additional original content by World Heritage Explorer (WHE), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. WHE is not affiliated with UNESCO or the World Heritage Committee. Legal Notice. Privacy Policy.

Open Data for an Open World