The Santa Fe Trail, a transportation route through southwestern North America connecting Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico first used in 1821 by William Becknell, serves as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880.
At first an international trade route between the United States and Mexico, it serves as the 1846 U.S. invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican-American War.After the U.S. acquisition of the Southwest, the trail helps open the region to U.S. economic development and settlement, playing a vital role in the expansion of the U.S. into the lands it had acquired.
