Even more things turning 250 this year

Last week, we looked at some other things besides the USA that are turning 250 in 2026. As promised, here are a few more: The Dominguez-Escalante expedition Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante were two priests from New Spain, who set out on July 29th 1776 to find an overland route from Santa Fe de Nuevo México to the missions of Spanish California. Along with them were several other Spanish, New Spanish, and native people, most notably Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, a cartographer from Cantabria. Though they didn’t ultimately reach California, they did chart a good portion of the Colorado Plateau and what would become the American Southwest, The expedition’s goal of a road to California would be realized with what’s now called the “Old Spanish Trail”, for which Miera’s maps were essential. The Illuminati Though the conspiracy theories surrounding the Illuminati have far outgrown their historical origin, there actually was a secret society named the “Illuminati” in 18th…