Cowboy: Encyclopedia II - Cowboy - History

Cowboy - History

The Spanish were adept at herding livestock. In fact the Spanish invented what we now know as the cowboy tradition beginning in the Middle Ages in Spain. During the 16th century, they brought the tradition with them to the New World through New Spain (later Mexico). Actually, what is usually believed to be an American icon, is in reality a New Hispanic tradition originated in the Central States of Mexico, Jalisco and Michoacan, where the Mexican cowboy would eventually be known as "charro". In the northern parts of Mexico (New Mexico) in its original configuration included most of the territory of the American southwest including Texas. In the early 1600s, Spain, and later Mexico, began offering empresario grants in what would later be Texas to Americans who agreed to become citizens and convert to Catholicism. In 1821 Stephen F. Austin and his East Coast comrades became the first English speaking Mexicans. Following Texas independence in 1836 even more Americans immigrated into Texas and to the empresario ranching areas. Here they were absorbed by the Mexican vaquero culture, borrowing vocabulary and attire from their counterparts.

The buckaroo, also a cowboy of the vaquero tradition, developed in California and bordering territories during the Spanish Colonial period. Buckaroo is the anglicized pronunciation of vaquero and is still a common term in the Great Basin and many areas of California and the Pacific Northwest. Following the Civil War, their culture diffused eastward and northward combining with the earlier cowboy tradition that was following the cattle trails out of Texas northward and westward. Sharing the same base, their traditions became indistinguishable with a few regional differences still remaining.

Over time, the cowboys of the American West developed a culture of their own, a blend of frontier and Victorian values. Such hazardous work in isolated conditions bred a tradition of self-dependence and individualism, exemplified in their songs and poetry.

By the 1890s, the open ranges of the Indian Territory were gone and the large cattle drives from Texas to the railheads in Kansas were over. Smaller cattle drives continued at least into the 1940s, with Arizona cattle driven to the railhead at Magdalena, New Mexico. Meanwhile, ranches multiplied all over the developing West, keeping cowboy employment high, if somewhat more settled.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Western movies popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent stereotypes. In pop culture, the cowboy and the gunslinger are often associated with one another.

Much has been written about the racial mix of the cowboys in the West, but cowboys ranked low in the social structure of the period and there are no firm figures. The Cattle on a Thousand Hills by John Ambulo in the March 1887 issue of The Overland Monthly states that cowboys are "... of two classes—those recruited from Texas and other States on the eastern slope; and Mexicans, from the south-western region. ...". Census records bear that out. The cowboy occupation undoubtably appealed to the freedmen following the Civil War. It is estimated that about 15% of all cowboys were of African ancestry—ranging from about 25% on the trail drives out of Texas, to very few on the northern ranges. Similarly, cowboys of Mexican descent also averaged about 15%, but were more common in Texas and the southwest. American Indians also found employment as cowboys early in the history of the West. Many of the early vaqueros were Indians trained to work for the Spanish missions in caring for the mission herds. Following the dissolution of the reservation system around 1900, many of the Indian trade schools also taught ranching skills to Indian youth.

Cowboy - Paniolo

The Hawaiian cowboy, the paniolo, has as rich a history and tradition as the mainland cowboy. As with the mainland cowboy, the paniolo learned their skills from Mexican vaqueros. Hawaiian King Kamehameha III brought these vaqueros over from California in 1832 to teach the cow herders how to handle their cattle. At that time California was still part of Mexico, and Hawaii was known as the Sandwich Islands. The term paniolo is thought to have originated as a Hawaiianized pronunciation of español.

Cowboy - Cowboys of other nations

In addition to the original Mexican vaquero, the Mexican charro, the North American cowboy, and the Hawaiian paniolo, the Spanish also exported their horsemanship and knowledge of cattle ranching to the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and (with the spelling "gaúcho") southern Brazil, the llanero of Venezuela, the huaso of Chile, and, indirectly through the Americans, to Australia. In Australia, which has a large ranch (station) culture, cowboys are known as stockmen (with trainee stockmen being known as jackaroos and jillaroos).

In the British Isles and New Zealand, the term cowboy is derogatory, and usually applied to tradesmen whose work is of shoddy and questionable value, e.g., "a cowboy plumber". The term predates the discovery of the New World and originates from the perception that herdsmen are unskilled laborers.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki