It has an enormous historical value as it has served to connect the flat lands of the Northern Plateau with the lands of the Tiét Valley and, through it, with the lands of Toledo and Extremadura. It has been a Roman road, the Cañada de la Mesta Leonesa Occidental and the Ruta de la Carretería.
It was later a strategic transhumance route, an important section of the Cañada Occidental Leonesa, along which the cattle marching from the Extremes to the Sierra in early summer and from the Sierra to the Extremes in early winter have travelled up and down since the Middle Ages, and still do so today.
The cattle track started in Valverde de Mérida (Badajoz) and ended in Portilla de la Reina (León).