Santa Fe Trail

American

noun

an important trade route going between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, used from about 1821 to 1880.

Santa Fe Trail British

/ ˈsæntə ˈfeɪ /

noun

an important trade route in the western US from about 1821 to 1880, linking Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Santa Fe Trail Cultural

Trail extending from Independence, Missouri, southwest to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Discover More

Important route used by settlers moving west.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Santa Fe Trail

The road’s original alignment followed the Camino Real and the Santa Fe Trail, both Spanish colonial routes.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

Santa Fe Trail Transportation decision broadened those protections, ruling Section 1981 prohibits racial discrimination in private employment against white people as well as people of color.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2024

Film actor who starred in westerns including Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and the Oscar nominated King's Row.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2018

Riley stocked a museum in Elkhart with her findings along the Santa Fe Trail and most of those items found their way to Arkansas last spring inside two U-Haul vans.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 21, 2014

As I walk on the old Santa Fe Trail each morning through Penn Valley Park in Kansas City, the marks of time are plainly visible.

From Evening Round Up More Good Stuff Like Pep by Hunter, William Crosbie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023