When the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican-American war that was waged over the United States’ annexation of Texas, it contained an agreement that the Rio Grande River defined the international border between the United States and Mexico. However, this treaty also created the Chamizal dispute.

Though the National Park Service makes up only one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal budget, it takes up a much larger share of the public imagination. The parks are also prominent in media coverage on the federal government. That’s especially true during one of our regular government shutdowns, when the media tells stories of closed parks, disappointed visitors, vandals, and piles of trash.

I’m willing to bet that right about now there are a lot of Traveler readers who are scratching their heads and asking, “Chamizal? What the heck is a Chamizal?”