
Paraje, a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
term meaning in English place or spot. Paraje is a term from the original Spanish speaking settlers, in use among
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Culture, language and peoples
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
* ''English'', an Amish ter ...
speakers in the
southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
, particularly in
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, that refers to a camping place along a
long distance trail
A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway (landscape), greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking (wilderness), backpacking, cycling, equestrianism or cross-co ...
where travelers customarily stopped for the night. A paraje can be a town, a village or
pueblo
Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...
, a
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...
, or simply a good location for stopping.
Parajes typically are spaced 10 to 15 miles apart and feature abundant water and fodder for the travelers' animals (oxen, cattle, sheep, donkeys, mules and horses).
[ The early Spanish caravans were largely ox-drawn carts and the oxen and herds of cattle and sheep could only make these short distances in a day without cost to the animals, because they needed to graze for several hours each day to stay in health. Horses and mules could make much longer distances in a day, up to 60 miles without cost to the animal, so long as they had water and grazing, but after a few days would have to graze and rest for a day or two to recover if grazing was not available. In the most arid desert regions of these routes it was sufficient if the paraje had water, scarce at the best of times, but lethal if not available to man or beast, particularly in the hot, dry seasons of the year.
A route between two parajes, that is difficult but must be traversed in one day because there is no water along the way, was known as a '' jornada''. The ]Jornada del Muerto
Jornada del Muerto was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto desert Endorheic basin, basin, and the almost waterless trail across the Jornada beginning north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Las Cruces and ending sout ...
in New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, probably the oldest and most well known of these jornadas, along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (), also known as the Silver Route, was a Spanish road between Mexico City and San Juan Pueblo (''Ohkay Owingeh''), New Mexico (in the modern U.S.), that was used from 1598 to 1882. It was the northernmost of ...
had parajes along its course, from south to north:
* Paraje de Robledo
Fort Selden was a United States Army post, occupying the area in what is now Radium Springs, New Mexico. The site was long a campground along the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. It was the site of a Confederate Army camp in 1861. The U.S. A ...
, a paraje with grazing located along the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
, the last stop before entering the Jornada.[George D. Torok, From the Pass to the Pueblos, Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, Dec 1, 2011]
/ref>
* Paraje de San Diego Paraje, a Spanish term meaning in English place or spot. Paraje is a term from the original Spanish speaking settlers, in use among English speakers in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico, that refers to a camping place along ...
, a paraje located on a plateau overlooking the water and grazing below in the Rincon Valley on the Rio Grande.[
* ]Paraje del Perrillo
Paraje del Perrillo (Place of the Puppy), was a dependable watering and stopping place along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, where it passed through the Jornada del Muerto in the vicinity of Point of Rocks in Sierra County, New Mexico. Paraje ...
, a paraje located where two small waterholes were found in the Jornada in the vicinity of Point of Rocks.,[
* La Cruz de Alemán a paraje with only a small, unreliable spring, named for the German fugitive that died of thirst there in 1670.][
* Laguna del Muerto, a paraje at a desert playa, seasonally a lake, with grazing along its retreating shoreline.][
* ]Paraje de Fray Cristóbal Paraje, a Spanish term meaning in English place or spot. Paraje is a term from the original Spanish speaking settlers, in use among English speakers in the southwestern United States, particularly in New Mexico, that refers to a camping place along ...
, a paraje with grazing along the eastern bank of the Rio Grande on the northern end of the Jornada.[
The Jornada del Muerto is the most well known of these jornadas, but there were others. One was the jornada between ]Tucson
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
and the Pima Villages on the Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...
. A second was the El Camino del Diablo
El Camino del Diablo (Spanish, meaning "The Devil's Path"), also known as El Camino del Muerto, Sonora Trail, Sonoyta-Yuma Trail, Yuma-Caborca Trail, and Old Yuma Trail, is a historic road that passes through some of the most remote and inhospita ...
, the route across the Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...
between Caborca, Sonora
Caborca is the municipal seat of the Caborca Municipality in the Mexican state of Sonora. The city has a population of 67,604, while the municipal population was 89,122 as of 2020.
History
The Hohokam inhabited the area from roughly 300 B.C. ...
and the Yuma Crossing
Yuma Crossing is a site in Arizona and California that is significant for its association with transportation and communication across the Colorado River. It connected New Spain and Las Californias in the Spanish Colonial period in and also duri ...
. A third was the Anza Trail
The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is a trail extending from Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, through the California desert and coastal areas in Southern California and the Central Coast region to San Francisco. between the Yuma Crossing and the coastal mountains of Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
across the Colorado Desert
The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...
.
In New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, one notable paraje on El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro is El Rancho de las Golondrinas
El Rancho de las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows), a historic ''rancho'' and now a living history museum, is strategically located on what was once the ''Camino Real'', the Royal Road that extended from Mexico City to Santa Fe. The ranc ...
in La Cienega, New Mexico
La Cienega is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico, metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,007 at the 2000 census.
La Cienega is located on the site ...
, located between the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
and Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...
, is a museum of an old paraje and of life in old Nuevo México.El Rancho de las Golondrinas – The Southwest's Premier Living History Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
from golondrinas.org Accessed February 20, 2019
See also
* Paraje, New Mexico
* Paraje, Socorro County, New Mexico
Paraje was a populated place along the east bank of the Rio Grande, in Socorro County, New Mexico, Socorro County, New Mexico, United States, now a ghost town. It is located north northeast of the Fra Cristobal Range.
History Paraje de Fray Cr ...
References
External links
{{Wiktionary, jornada
Culture of New Mexico
Spanish words and phrases