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Camino Real and Las Cruces Trail

In the early sixteenth century, the Spanish Empire built two trade routes across the isthmus of Panama: the Camino Real and Las Cruces Trail. For centuries, these roads served as a vital transcontinental link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, carrying treasure-seekers of many kinds: conquistadors, pirates, and California-bound gold hunters. The trails were the precursors for, and were replaced by, the Panama Railway and the Panama Canal.

Construction of the Camino Real
In a month-long expedition in 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa made the first European crossing of the isthmus of Panama, near what is now the Colombian border. Minter 69-72. In 1514, Spain directed its explorers to locate and establish a good, defensible route between the two oceans. Minter 87, Barrera

In 1515, Antonio Tella de Guzmán encountered natives in the Pacific fishing village of Panama, from whom he learned of a good trail between Panama and the Atlantic Coast. Diego de Alvitez traveled the trail, verifying its superiority to Balboa's route across the isthmus. In 1516, the viceroy Pedrarias ordered Gaspar de Espinosa to construct the Camino Real&mdash;the Royal Road&mdash;along the route of the old Panamanian trail. Minter 87-90.

Using the previously abandoned Caribbean settlement of Nombre de Dios as a base of operations, Espinosa, between 1516 and 1519, employed 4,000 native slaves to pave the Camino Real with river rocks, creating a cobblestone road with an average width of 3 ft the entire distance between Nombre de Dios and Panama. In 1519, upon the completion of this transcontinental highway, Pedrarias established Panama as Spain's Pacific port. In 1521, it became the official capital of Castilla del Oro, with Nombre de Dios as its Atlantic port. Minter 90-91

Construction of Las Cruces Trail
By 1533, Pizarro had conquered the Pacific empire of Peru, beginning the long flow of treasure from, and trade between, the Pacific coast of the Americas to Spain. By 1534, Spain sought an easier route across the isthmus.

It turned to the Chagres River, which Hernando de la Serna had explored in 1527, and which was navigable by small watercraft from the Caribbean port of Chagres all the way to the inland village of Las Cruces, which was more than halfway across the isthmus.

Las Cruces Trail was completed in 1534. On the Atlantic side, ships would transport goods between Nombre de Dios and Chagres, where the trail began. The Chagres River comprised about two-thirds of the trail by length. Once the riverboat cargo from Chagres arrived at Las Cruces, it would be transferred to mule trains. The second, overland leg of the trail between Las Cruces and Panama completed the transisthmian journey.

Spain's use of the trails
Las Cruces trail was Spain's preferred trade route during the rainy season, and its preferred route for moving people and merchandise. The Camino Real was more suitable during the dry season, and, due to its limited exposure to maritime pirate attacks, was Spain's preferred treasure route.

Francis Drake attacked Nombre de Dios twice in the late sixteenth century, and once attempted an attack on the treasure-laden mule trains on the Camino Real. Spain responded by fortifying Nombre de Dios, Chagres, and Las Cruces, but, in 1597, abandoned Nombre de Dios in favor of the more defensible Portobelo. The Portobelo branch of the Camino Real became the main road, and Portobelo became the final mainland port for colonial goods and treasure&mdash;whether shipped via Las Cruces trail or the Camino Real&mdash;before the Spanish treasure fleet shipped them off to Spain.

The next significant change to the trails came following the nearly total destruction of Panama in the wake of pirate Henry Morgan's 1671 attack on that city&mdash;in which he used Chagres as his base and Las Cruces Trail as his avenue of attack. When Panama rebuilt in 1672–73, the Pacific terminus of both trails was, accordingly, shifted west to the new city.

In 1739 and 1740, British Admiral Edward Vernon attacked the Spanish fortifications at Portobelo and Chagres. With the destruction of Portobelo's fort, Spain abandoned trade there, instead strengthening its fortifications at Chagres, and, upstream, Gatun. With the decline of Portobelo, the Camino Real fell into disuse.

By the middle of the 18th century, however, the Spanish had largely abandoned both of the old trails over the isthmus, preferring to sail around the tip of South America at Cape Horn.

Gold rush, railway, and canal
The 1848 discovery of gold in California renewed interest in Las Cruces Trail. Westbound prospectors who preferred not to travel by stagecoach across the United States, or sail around Cape Horn, would follow the old path of the trail, traveling from Chagres to Las Cruces by riverboat, then by trail to Panama City.

The rebirth of the trail's importance was short-lived. Although the advent of steamboat service on the Chagres River had, by 1853, shortened the time required to cross the isthmus from several days to about twelve hours, the 1855 completion of the Panama Railway further reduced the transcontinental travel time to about three hours. The railway, which paralleled much of Las Cruces trail, thus eclipsed it in importance.

The Panama Canal&mdash;the modern version of Spain's old trade routes across the isthmus&mdash;was completed in 1914. Its design required the creation of a large artificial lake&mdash;Lake Gatun&mdash;to which maritime vessels are raised for travel between the Atlantic and Pacific locks. While they traverse the lake, those vessels are, in a sense, traveling on Las Cruces Trail, as their sailing channel closely cleaves to the former path of the Chagres River.

The Camino Real is likewise linked to the canal, as the creation of the canal's upper reservoir&mdash;Lake Alajuela&mdash;flooded a section of the original cobblestone highway across the isthmus.

Category:Trade routes Category:Ancient roads and tracks Category:Roads in Panama

Cabinet
The Minnesota Governor's Cabinet is a body of consisting of the heads of the various major executive agencies of the State of Minnesota. These agencies include twenty entities statutorily headed by a "commissioner," namely,


 * Department of Administration
 * Department of Agriculture
 * Department of Commerce
 * Department of Corrections
 * Department of Education
 * Department of Employment and Economic Development
 * Department of Health
 * Department of Human Rights
 * Department of Labor and Industry
 * Department of Management and Budget
 * Department of Natural Resources
 * Department of Public Safety
 * Department of Human Services
 * Department of Revenue
 * Department of Transportation
 * Department of Veterans Affairs
 * Housing Finance Agency
 * Pollution Control Agency
 * Office of Commissioner of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation
 * Bureau of Mediation Services

These commissioners, as well as the Adjutant General of the Department of Military Affairs, the Chief Information Officer of the Office of Enterprise Technology,, and the Chair of the Metropolitan Council are appointed by the governor, subject to the consent of the senate. The Chair of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission is also a member of the Governor's Cabinet.