Reexamining The Old Spanish Trail
UNM Student Experiment in Mapping Indigenous History
Introduction
The department of Geography & Environmental Studies at UNM offers a course in "Critical Cartography" that explores the critical nature of maps and mapping. The class focuses on maps as tools of communication, actions, and power. Students evaluate histories of cartography and they experiment in modern applications of mapping technology in community contexts. The overarching goal of the course is to challenge students to combine deep thinking - about the ethical and philosophical dimensions of cartography - with practical skills in mapping exercises.
The trail was built using Indigenous land and knowledge yet labeled as Spanish.
In Spring 2023, two groups of students tackled the challenge of how to incorporate Indigenous histories and geographies into maps of the Old Spanish Trail. One group focused on the eastern portion of the trails in the Four Corners area, while the other focused on Cajon Pass at the western end of the trail.
Because the Old Spanish Trail is a settler tail, its maps and interpretation typically focus on settler histories. Critical Cartography students worked to identify missing Indigenous histories and experiment with representational techniques that would address this shortcoming. Partners from the National Park Service provided an introduction to relevant historical and policy documents, and researchers from the UNM's History and Geography & Environmental Studies Departments provided access to geographic and historical datasets. Students worked together to design a cartographic "intervention" using different techniques and technologies. In the process, they learned about Indigenous experience in the Southwest and developed new technical skills.
Equipped with up-to-date applications of Indigenous cartographic thinking, Critical Cartography student groups for the Four Corners and Cajon Pass regions were prepared to approach the challenge of examining Indigenous presence and influence on the Old Spanish Trail.
Students of both project regions responded to the challenge with a number of objectives:
- From the Cajon Pass group: "How did Cajon Pass influence Indigenous groups and how did it change over time?; Did Cajon Pass influence the relationship between groups of people in any way, such as those traveling to the west and Indigenous groups already settled in the region around the Pass?; and, Why was Cajon Pass chosen and what kind of environmental factors affects this choice?"
- "What we hoped to achieve with our project," one student from the Cajon Pass project group commented, "was to help the public to appreciate and understand how history and geography (physical landscape) are inextricably linked in determining human social processes (such as demographics, settlement patterns, colonization, and the layout of the [Old Spanish] trail."
- From the Four Corners region group, "We ended up focusing on both a technical and historical analysis, utilizing a least-cost path analysis to simulate the OST (Old Spanish Trail) to simulate the OST based on environmental factors, in the context of Indigenous/historical place names and historical maps."
The challenge of identifying and tracing the presence of Indigenous histories along the Old Spanish Trail was not without its obstacles. Many of the original objectives of each project group had to be re-articulated due to access or time constraint, while the integration of historical research into the study of Indigenous cartography complicated the students' approaches. One student the Four Corners Region group noted that "[w]e had challenges linking the historical and technical analysis in a way that did not feel disjointed. In the end, one way we linked the aspects was to compare the real OST [(Old Spanish Trail)] with the simulated-OST, and use the historical analysis to highlight factors that were missing from the cost-path model to explain potential reasons for divergence." Two students from the Cajon Pass project group identified that one component of their original objectives was to utilize oral histories to enrich their historical analysis, "but we realized that we needed to go through an IRB [(Institutional Review Board)] before we [could] get that done. Knowing that it takes a long time to go through the IRB process, we settled on a [StoryMap]."
Students from both project groups noted that they found the challenge and subsequent experiments to overall be a positive experience and practice in critical cartography:
- From one student member of the Cajon Pass project group: "I enjoyed [engaging] with digitizing topographical maps and how the StoryMap helped to unfold our idea." Although they noted the time and resource constraints and its impacts on their original project objectives, "[as] a team, I think we did a great job, we answered all of our objectives . . ."
- One student member of the Four Corners Region project group noted similarly, "I enjoyed applying GIS techniques in a historical context, this is something I had not done before. We believe we responded well to the project, offering an analysis and geospatial product that was sufficiently robust and informative given time constraints."
As Critical Cartography students attempted to respond to the challenge of examining Indigenous histories along the Old Spanish Trail, their responses and reflections have touched upon future considerations of Indigenous cartography, colonialism and mapmaking, and possible methods to bring into focus historically under-considered communities.
How well do you think the students responded to the challenge?
A Deep Dive: Indigenous Mapping and Critical Cartography
This StoryMap is a deep dive into the Old Spanish Trail (OST) from a mixed methods perspective, taking into account both Indigenous histories as well as geospatial modeling techniques. Critical Cartography students familiarized themselves with the role of maps in colonialism through readings that contrast colonial and Indigenous mapping histories.
Surely, Indigenous community naming and storytelling can challenge the authority of state bureaucratic maps.
Mark Palmer and Cadey Korson, Decolonizing World Heritage Maps Using Indigenous Toponyms, Stories, and Interpretive Attributes
Who Should Be Involved in Mapmaking?
- Collaboration with Indigenous communities and stakeholders is fundamental for decolonizing maps. By involving these groups, maps can move beyond traditional cartographic practices - that often marginalize Indigenous peoples - to acknowledge Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural perspectives.
- Including Indigenous communities in all stages of the mapping process, from planning to implementation, fosters a respectful, meaningful, and engaged partnership. This approach is key to ensuring the map-making process is grounded in local perspectives, cultural values, and traditional knowledge.
- Collaborative approaches can help promote cultural sensitivity, respect, and lead to more successful outcomes. Indigenous communities are often the experts on their traditional lands and resources, and thus can provide valuable information and insights. Involving them in the mapping process can help to build trust, foster mutual understanding, and improve the accuracy and appropriateness of the maps produced.
Students did not have time in their 6-week project window to fully develop or implement collaborative and participatory mapping approaches, but they identified a range of potential activities that could begin to remedy the current colonial approach to Old Spanish Trail cartography. The sections below describe two student efforts to experiment with different cartographic approaches to the eastern and western ends of the Old Spanish Trail.
Indigenous Cartography as Case Studies along the Old Spanish Trail: The Armijo Route, the Northern Branch, and Cajon Pass
In utilizing different branches of and locations along the Old Spanish Trail - the Armijo Route, the Northern Branch, and Cajon pass - to demonstrate both Indigenous histories and geospatial knowledge, the Old Spanish Trail is made complicated and rearticulated beyond settler lines. Often, settler trails were imposed upon Indigenous economic, social, and cultural pathways, as, for example, will be demonstrated through a mapping of Navajo/Diné place names along the Armijo Route.
When accounting for Indigenous geospatial and cartographical knowledge, the assumed objectivity of programs such as GIS is taken to task, as will be shown through a Cost Path analysis of both the Armijo Route and North Branch. The differences between the simulated cost path and delineated Old Spanish trail highlights the limitations of GIS and the importance of human sources and perspective in modeling. However, by examining these differences, we can gain deeper insight into historical events and places.
Finally, Cajon Pass has been a major gateway between the Mojave Desert and the San Bernadino Valley for many groups up into the modern era. The geographic features of the area have made it a prime focal point for trade and transportation between what is now California and the eastern portion of the country. By analyzing this historical fact as it has transitioned over time, we can see how environmental and social factors reflect this, granting more opportunities for critical analysis of the history of Cajon Pass and the different roles it has played.
Student Experiment 1: The Armijo Route & Northern Branch
Indigenous Place Names Map, Armijo Route
Utility and Limitations of GIS:
A Cost Path Analysis of the Armijo Route and Northern Branch
This case study assessed the utility of GIS, both using it as an informative tool, as well as taking to task the notion of objectivity in GIS. The current delineation of the Old Spanish Trail was compared to both a simulated trail based on geospatial modeling methods (i.e. cost-path analysis) and to inferred path-locations based on oral histories, and primary/secondary historical sources.
Data-driven analysis in GIS tends to be viewed as objective because it is based on quantitative data and analytical methods that are often perceived as objective and unbiased. GIS data is often collected using standardized methods and is presented in a numerical or visual format that may seem to leave little room for subjective interpretation. However, purely data-driven analysis only has the appearance of objectivity, and can very easily produce incorrect conclusions if historical and human sources are not considered.
Nonetheless, while being aware of its limitations, GIS can still be an informative tool for historical analysis, helping us gain a deeper understanding of past events.
Cost Path Analysis
Simulating the Old Spanish Trail
Cost Path Map
Through the analysis of elevation and bodies of water, a cost path map of the Armijo Route (left, red) and the North Branch (right, red) were created. The orange lines show the established routes which make up the Old Spanish Trail. As shown in the map below, the simulated routes of the Armijo and North Branch lines demonstrate the least cost pathways, showing salient differences in pathways created by humans and the simulated routes that would require the least amount of labor.
To learn more about how the least cost path analysis for the Armijo Route and Northern Branch was determined, see the Cost Path Analysis Workflow in the Additional Resources tab.
Potential Future of Cost Path Analysis of the Old Spanish Trail
There are multiple ways this project could be developed in the future. Two of the main things that could be beneficial to expand upon would be the cost path map and the place names map. The cost path map could be improved by covering the entire OST, experimenting with the weights of each friction surface, and adding more factors to make the model more accurate. The place names map could be improved by covering the whole trail, reaching out to indigenous communities to add both recordings of the pronunciation of each of the place names, and also add Indigenous stories that correspond with each place to offset the dominant narrative of the OST.
Student Experiment 2: Revisiting Historical Movements Through Cajon Pass
Indigenous People of Cajon Pass
Colonial Period
Railroad & Highway Systems
Potential Future of Analyzing Cajon Pass
Future researchers can expand upon the environmental impact of the observed transportation methods in the area. Researchers should also pay special attention to the role of Indigenous people in the history of Cajon Pass, given the fact that much historical data on this issue has been focused primarily on the perspective of settlers and colonizers, especially during the period of trade along the Old Spanish Trail. Analyzing Indigenous knowledge is especially important given the importance of Cajon Pass to groups such as the Serrano, and much of the knowledge of colonizers was originally guided by Indigenous knowledge of the physical environment. Oral history plays an essential role in historical analysis, and gathering more of this type of data would allow for a much richer analysis of Cajon Pass and the historical role it has played over time.
Project Conclusions
The differences between the simulated cost path and delineated Old Spanish trail highlights the limitations of GIS and the importance of human sources and perspective in modeling. However, by examining these differences, we can gain deeper insight into historical events and places. This analysis both gives voice to Indigenous histories and perspectives of the Old Spanish Trail, while also being a showcase in geo-visualization and historical cost-path analysis.
This research has also allowed us to explore and demonstrate how the history of Cajon Pass builds on top of itself, with each historical era being dependent on the contributions of the previous time periods. This allows us to more critically view the history of Cajon Pass, by not simply taking the present historical circumstances as a given. We, as Bauch (2015) puts it, are able to give "meaning to places and landscapes" as geographers by telling the historical transitions of Cajon Pass over time in line with the world as a whole. By specifically analyzing Cajon Pass, we can see how these changes are shaped by the physical environment.