Connecting the capital of New Spain (present day Mexico City) with Los Adaes (a fort near Natchitoches, Louisiana), El Camino Real de los Tejas was a 2,500-mile thoroughfare through Spanish Texas. "Los Tejas" refers to the Spanish name for both the colonial province and its native Caddo people. (The term itself is derived from the Caddo word for "friend.") Spanish explorers and missionaries traveled the "royal road"—a combination of existing Native American trails and trade routes—to develop a network of settlements across Texas during the Spanish colonial period. Following Mexican Independence in 1821, the corridor remained an important crossing for both ranchers and Anglo American settlers. This 1992 installment of America’s Great Outdoors features the portion of El Camino Real that passes through Sabine National Forest.