Vaqueros
Contrary to popular belief, the first cowboys were Indian, not American. The cattle ranching that later emerged in the West was a blend of Mexican practices and Anglo-American practices, but many of the techniques and terms that were used in American cowboy culture came from the Spanish. The map below proposes possible routes where the various cattle ranching practices may have blended. In Mexico, the cowboy is called a ‘vaquero.’ The passage below discusses the history of the vaquero in the Western Hemisphere.
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Source: Jordan, Terry G. "Early Northeast Texas and the Evolution of Western Ranching." Annals of the Association of American Geographers. (67)1, 1977. 66-87. |
The earliest mounted men herding cattle in the Western Hemisphere bear little resemblance to the romantic, dime store cowboy. By the middle decades of the sixteenth century, the proliferation of livestock in the New World had caused an overabundance of cattle. . . . Such large numbers ''gave rise to customary rights for killing the animals'' in many parts of the Spanish empire and helped create the gaucho (Argentina), vaquero (Mexico), llanero (Venezuela), and huaso (Chile) equestrian cultures. While such horsemen performed both legal and illegal activities, their status in Spanish society held constant. Vaqueros working on ranchos or missions were often individuals of mixed races (mestizos or mulattos) and, ''in the eyes of most . . . Spaniards, nothing more than a poor laborer on horseback''. . . .
The vaquero’s transplantation to the northern reaches of New Spain did little to alter his social standing. The movement of Spanish settlers into what we now know as the American west commenced in the 1590's and continued for the next two centuries. . . . The vaquero of Mexico became ''an integral part of spreading cattle-related culture''. . . . During the 1700's, in an effort to increase and supplement their labor force, Franciscans trained mission Indians in herding tactics and other chores. . . .
The arrival of Anglos in Texas (and points farther west) after the 1820's produced a ''fusion'' of two cattle herding cultures. The union proved both fruitful and tempestuous. The Mexican-Anglo ranching marriage provided much of the know-how used during the cattle drives of the 1860's and 1870's, but the relationship destroyed the economic status and lifestyle of many rancheros in Texas and California. The replacement of one group by another at the pinnacle of the cattle industry fostered the myth of the ''purely'' American cowboy and cattleman.
Source: Iber, Jorge. ''Vaqueros in the Western Cattle Industry.'' In The Cowboy Way: An Exploration of History and Culture. Ed. Paul H. Carlson. Texas Tech University Press, 2000. 22-24.
Questions:
1. The word “proposal” appears in the title of the map, and in the article that accompanies it, the author admits that “value judgments and educated guesses abound in the map.” What, then, is the purpose of such a map?
2. How did the Spanish regard vaqueros? Why?
3. According to this author, what fostered the myth of a purely American cowboy? What other factors contributed to the rise of the cowboy myth?
