Editing Cowboy (section)

==History==
The origins of the cowboy tradition come from [[Spain]], beginning with the [[hacienda]] system of [[medieval Spain]]. This style of cattle [[ranch]]ing spread throughout much of the [[Iberian peninsula]], and later was imported to the [[Americas]]. Both regions possessed a dry climate with sparse grass, thus large herds of cattle required vast amounts of land to obtain sufficient [[forage]]. The need to cover distances greater than a person on foot could manage gave rise to the development of the horseback-mounted ''vaquero''.

===Spanish roots===
[[File:Dragon de cuera.jpg|thumb|18th-century [[soldado de cuera]] in colonial Mexico]]
Various aspects of the Spanish [[equestrianism|equestrian]] tradition can be traced back to [[Al-Andalus|Islamic rule in Spain]], including [[Moors|Moorish]] elements such as the use of [[oriental horse|Oriental-type horses]], the ''[[Jinete|la jineta]]'' riding style characterized by a shorter [[stirrup]], solid-treed [[saddle]] and use of [[spur]]s,<!--need further research on bit question--><ref name=Ceyhan/> the heavy [[noseband]] or [[hackamore]],<ref name="Bennett54"/> (Arabic ''šakīma'', Spanish ''jaquima'')<ref>{{cite web |title=Definition of hackamore |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hackamore |website=Dictionary.com |access-date=July 27, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and other horse-related equipment and techniques.<ref name=Ceyhan>{{Cite journal|title=Riding the Horse, Writing the Cultural Myth: The European Knight and the American Cowboy as Equestrian Heroes|author=Metin Boşnak, Cem Ceyhan|journal=Turkish Journal of International Relations|volume=2|issue=1|date=Fall 2003|pages=157–81}}</ref><ref name="Bennett54">Bennett, pp. 54–55</ref> Certain aspects of the Arabic tradition, such as the hackamore, can in turn be traced to roots in [[ancient Persia]].<ref name="Bennett54"/>

During the 16th century, the [[Conquistadors]] and other Spanish settlers brought their cattle-raising traditions as well as both [[horse]]s and domesticated [[cattle]] to the [[Americas]], starting with their arrival in what today is [[Mexico]] and [[Florida]].<ref name=Vernam190>Vernam, p. 190.</ref> The traditions of [[Spain]] were transformed by the geographic, environmental and cultural circumstances of [[New Spain]], which later became [[Mexico]] and the [[Southwestern United States]]. In turn, the land and people of the Americas also saw dramatic changes due to Spanish influence.

The arrival of horses was particularly significant, as [[equine]]s had been [[extinct]] in the Americas since the end of the prehistoric [[ice age]]. Horses quickly multiplied in America and became crucial to the success of the Spanish and later settlers from other nations. The earliest horses were originally of [[Andalusian horse|Andalusian]], [[Barb (horse)|Barb]] and [[Arabian horse|Arabian]] ancestry,<ref name=Denhardt20>Denhardt, p. 20.</ref> but a number of uniquely American [[list of horse breeds|horse breeds]] developed in North and South America through selective breeding and by [[natural selection]] of animals that escaped to the wild. The [[Mustang (horse)|mustang]] and other [[Colonial Spanish Horse|colonial horse breeds]] are now called "wild", but in reality are [[feral horse]]s—descendants of domesticated animals.

===Vaqueros===
{{main|Vaquero}}
[[File:Vaqueros.jpg|thumb|Vaqueros in California, circa 1830s]]

Though popularly considered [[The Americas|American]], the traditional cowboy began with the Spanish tradition, which evolved further in what today is [[Mexico]] and the [[Southwestern United States]] into the ''vaquero'' of northern Mexico and the ''[[charro]]'' of the [[Jalisco]] and [[Michoacán]] regions. While most ''hacendados'' (ranch owners) were ethnically [[Spanish people|Spanish]] ''[[Criollo people|criollos]]'',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPoqfoiIp4sC&pg=PA379 |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |edition=5 |page=379 |date=2007-11-30 |access-date=2013-02-28|isbn=9780495501831 |last1=Adler |first1=Philip |last2=Pouwels |first2=Randall |title=World Civilizations }}</ref> many early ''vaqueros'' were [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] trained to work for the Spanish missions in caring for the mission herds.<ref name=Vaqueros>{{cite web|url=http://west.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/pager.php?id=14 |title=Vaqueros |access-date=2010-10-11 |author=Exploring the West |publisher=Stanford University |year=2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818221801/http://west.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/pager.php?id=14 |archive-date=August 18, 2010 }}</ref> ''Vaqueros'' went north with livestock. In 1598, [[Don Juan de Oñate]] sent an expedition across the [[Rio Grande]] into New Mexico, bringing along 7000 head of cattle. From this beginning, ''vaqueros'' drove cattle from New Mexico and later Texas to Mexico City.<ref name="Geographic">{{cite web |last1=Haeber |first1=Jonathan |title=Vaqueros: The First Cowboys of the Open Range |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0814_030815_cowboys.html |website=National Geographic News |access-date=July 27, 2019 |date=August 15, 2003}}</ref> Mexican traditions spread both South and North, influencing equestrian traditions from Argentina to Canada.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

===American development===
As [[English language|English]]-speaking traders and settlers [[Territorial acquisitions of the United States|expanded westward]], English and Spanish traditions, language and culture merged to some degree. Before the [[Mexican–American War]] in 1848, [[New England]] merchants who traveled by ship to California encountered both ''hacendados'' and ''vaqueros'', trading manufactured goods for the hides and tallow produced from vast cattle [[ranch]]es. American traders along what later became known as the [[Santa Fe Trail]] had similar contacts with ''vaquero'' life. Starting with these early encounters, the lifestyle and language of the ''vaquero'' began a transformation which merged with English cultural traditions and produced what became known in American culture as the "cowboy".<ref>Malone J., p. 3.</ref>

The arrival of English-speaking settlers in Texas began in 1821.<ref name=Geographic /> [[Rip Ford]] described the country between [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]] and [[Corpus Christi, Texas|Corpus Christi]] as inhabited by "countless droves of mustangs and&nbsp;... wild cattle&nbsp;... abandoned by Mexicans when they were ordered to evacuate the country between the [[Nueces River|Nueces]] and the [[Rio Grande]] by General [[Valentin Canalizo]]&nbsp;... the horses and cattle abandoned invited the raids the [[Texians]] made upon this territory."<ref name=Ford>Ford, J.S., 1963, ''Rip Ford's Texas''. Austin: University of Texas Press, page 143. {{ISBN|0-292-77034-0}}</ref> California, on the other hand, did not see a large influx of settlers from the United States until after the [[Mexican–American War]]. In slightly different ways, both areas contributed to the evolution of the iconic American cowboy. Particularly with the arrival of [[railroad]]s and an increased demand for [[beef]] in the wake of the [[American Civil War]], older traditions combined with the need to [[cattle drive|drive cattle]] from the ranches where they were raised to the nearest [[railhead]]s, often hundreds of miles away.<ref name="Malone1" />

[[Black cowboys]] in the American West accounted for up to 25 percent of workers in the range-cattle industry from the 1860s to 1880s, estimated to be between 6,000 and 9,000 workers.<ref name="Porter">{{cite book|last1=Porter|first1=Kenneth|title=Peoples of Color in the American West |date=1994 |publisher=Heath|location=Lexington, Mass. [u.a.]|isbn=0669279137|pages=[https://archive.org/details/peoplesofcolorin0000unse/page/158 158–167]|edition=[Nachdr.]|chapter=African Americans in the Cattle Industry, 1860s–1880s|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesofcolorin0000unse/page/158}}</ref><ref name="JBHE">{{cite journal|title=Deadwood Dick and the Black Cowboys|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|date=1998|issue=22|pages=30|doi=10.2307/2998819|jstor=3650843}}</ref> Typically former [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] or children of former slaves, many black men had skills in cattle handling and headed West at the end of the Civil War.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Goldstein-Shirley|first1=David|title=Black Cowboys in the American West: An Historiographical Review|journal=Ethnic Studies Review|date=30 April 1997|volume=6|issue=20|page=30|issn=1555-1881}}</ref>

By the 1880s, the expansion of the cattle industry resulted in a need for additional open range. Thus many ranchers expanded into the northwest, where there were still large tracts of unsettled grassland. Texas cattle were herded north, into the [[Rocky Mountain]] west and the Dakotas.<ref name="MaloneJ76">Malone, J., p. 76.</ref> The cowboy adapted much of his gear to the colder conditions, and westward movement of the industry also led to intermingling of regional traditions from California to Texas, often with the cowboy taking the most useful elements of each.

Mustang-runners or ''Mesteñeros'' were cowboys and [[vaqueros]] who caught, broke and drove [[Mustang horse|mustangs]] to market in Mexico, and later American territories of what is now Northern [[Mexico]], [[Texas]], [[New Mexico]] and [[California]]. They caught the mustangs that roamed the [[Great Plains]] and the [[San Joaquin Valley]] of California, and later in the [[Great Basin]], from the 18th century to the early 20th century.<ref>C. Allan Jones, '''Texas roots: agriculture and rural life before the Civil War''', Texas A&M University Press, 2005, pp. 74–75</ref><ref>Frank Forrest Latta, Joaquín Murrieta and His Horse Gangs, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, 1980, p.84</ref>

[[File:Colorado. Round up on the Cimarron.jpg|thumb|An 1898 [[photochrom]] of a round-up in [[Colorado]]]]

Large numbers of [[cattle]] lived in a [[semi-feral]] or a completely [[feral]] state on the [[open range]] and were left to graze, mostly untended, for much of the year. In many cases, different ranchers formed "associations" and grazed their cattle together on the same range. In order to determine the ownership of individual animals, they were marked with a distinctive [[livestock branding|brand]], applied with a hot iron, usually while the cattle were still [[calf (animal)|calves]].<ref>Malone, p. 10.</ref>

In order to find young calves for branding, and to sort out mature animals intended for sale, ranchers would hold a [[muster (livestock)|roundup]], usually in the spring.<ref>Malone, J., p. 11.</ref> A roundup required a number of specialized skills on the part of both cowboys and horses. Individuals who separated cattle from the herd required the highest level of skill and rode specially trained "[[cutting (sport)|cutting]]" horses, trained to follow the movements of cattle, capable of stopping and turning faster than other horses.<ref>Malone, J., p. 13.</ref> Once cattle were sorted, most cowboys were required to rope young calves and restrain them to be branded and (in the case of most [[bull]] calves) [[Castration#Animals|castrated]]. Occasionally it was also necessary to restrain older cattle for branding or other treatment.

A large number of horses were needed for a roundup. Each cowboy would require three to four fresh horses in the course of a day's work.<ref>Malone, J., p. 22.</ref> Horses themselves were also rounded up. It was common practice in the west for young [[foal]]s to be born of tame [[mare (horse)|mares]], but allowed to grow up "wild" in a semi-feral state on the open range.<ref>Malone, J., p. 19.</ref> There were also "wild" herds, often known as [[mustang]]s. Both types were rounded up, and the mature animals tamed, a process called [[horse breaking]], or "[[bronco]]-busting", usually performed by cowboys who specialized as [[horse trainer]]s.<ref>Malone, p. 18.</ref> In some cases, extremely brutal methods were used to tame horses, and such animals tended to never be completely reliable. Other cowboys recognized their need to treat animals in a more humane fashion and modified their [[horse training]] methods,<ref>Malone, J., p. 21.</ref> often re-learning techniques used by the ''vaqueros'', particularly those of the ''Californio'' tradition.<ref>Connell, Ed (1952) ''Hackamore Reinsman''. The Longhorn Press, Cisco, Texas. Fifth Printing, August, 1958.</ref> Horses trained in a gentler fashion were more reliable and useful for a wider variety of tasks.

Informal competition arose between cowboys seeking to test their cattle and horse-handling skills against one another, and thus, from the necessary tasks of the working cowboy, the sport of [[rodeo]] developed.<ref>Malone, J., p. 37.</ref>

===Cattle drives===
{{Main|Cattle drives in the United States}}
{{See also|Cattle towns}}
[[File:Cattle Roundup, Great Falls, MT, Geo B Bonnell, c1890.jpg|thumb|Cattle roundup near [[Great Falls, Montana]], circa 1890]]
Prior to the mid-19th century, most ranchers primarily raised cattle for their own needs and to sell surplus meat and hides locally. There was also a limited market for hides, horns, hooves, and [[tallow]] in assorted manufacturing processes.<ref name=Malone5>Malone, J., p. 5.</ref> While Texas contained vast herds of stray, free-ranging cattle available for free to anyone who could round them up,<ref name=Geographic/> prior to 1865, there was little demand for beef.<ref name=Malone5/> At the end of the [[American Civil War]], [[Philip Danforth Armour]] opened a meat packing plant in [[Chicago]], which became known as [[Armour and Company]]. With the expansion of the [[meat packing industry]], the demand for beef increased significantly. By 1866, cattle could be sold to northern markets for as much as $40 per head, making it potentially profitable for cattle, particularly from Texas, to be herded long distances to market.<ref>Malone, J., p. 6.</ref>

The first large-scale effort to drive cattle from Texas to the nearest railhead for shipment to Chicago occurred in 1866, when many Texas ranchers banded together to drive their cattle to the closest point that railroad tracks reached, which at that time was in [[Sedalia, Missouri]]. Farmers in eastern Kansas, afraid that Longhorns would transmit cattle fever to local animals as well as trample crops, formed groups that threatened to beat or shoot cattlemen found on their lands. Therefore, the 1866 drive failed to reach the railroad, and the cattle herds were sold for low prices.<ref>Malone, J., pp. 38–39.</ref> In 1867, a cattle shipping facility was built west of farm country around the railhead at [[Abilene, Kansas]], and became a center of cattle shipping, loading over 36,000 head of cattle that year.<ref>Malone, p. 40.</ref> The route from Texas to Abilene became known as the [[Chisholm Trail]], after [[Jesse Chisholm]], who marked out the route. It ran through present-day [[Oklahoma]], which then was [[Indian Territory]]. Later, other trails forked off to different railheads, including those at [[Dodge City, Kansas|Dodge City]] and [[Wichita, Kansas]].<ref name="Malone, J., p. 42">Malone, J., p. 42.</ref> By 1877, the largest of the cattle-shipping boom towns, Dodge City, Kansas, shipped out 500,000 head of cattle.<ref>Malone, J., p. 70.</ref>

Cattle drives had to strike a balance between speed and the weight of the cattle. While cattle could be driven as far as {{convert|25|mi|km|sigfig=2}} in a single day, they would lose so much weight that they would be hard to sell when they reached the end of the trail. Usually they were taken shorter distances each day, allowed periods to rest and graze both at midday and at night.<ref>Malone, J., pp. 46–47.</ref> On average, a herd could maintain a healthy weight moving about {{convert|15|mi|km|round=5}} per day. Such a pace meant that it would take as long as two months to travel from a home ranch to a railhead. The Chisholm trail, for example, was {{convert|1000|mi|km}} miles long.<ref>Malone, J., p. 52.</ref>

On average, a single herd of cattle on a drive numbered about 3,000 head. To herd the cattle, a crew of at least 10 cowboys was needed, with three horses per cowboy. Cowboys worked in shifts to watch the cattle 24 hours a day, herding them in the proper direction in the daytime and watching them at night to prevent [[stampede]]s and deter theft. The crew also included a cook, who drove a [[chuck wagon]], usually pulled by [[oxen]], and a horse [[Wrangler (profession)|wrangler]] to take charge of the ''[[remuda]]'', or herd of spare horses. The wrangler on a cattle drive was often a very young cowboy or one of lower social status, but the cook was a particularly well-respected member of the crew, as not only was he in charge of the food, he also was in charge of medical supplies and had a working knowledge of practical medicine.<ref>Malone, J., pp. 48–50.</ref>

===End of the open range===
{{See also|Open range}}
[[File:Chinook2.gif|thumb|''Waiting for a Chinook'', by [[Charles Marion Russell|C.M. Russell]]. Overgrazing and harsh winters were factors that brought an end to the age of the open range.]]

[[Barbed wire]], an innovation of the 1880s, allowed cattle to be confined to designated areas to prevent [[overgrazing]] of the range. In Texas and surrounding areas, increased population required ranchers to fence off their individual lands.<ref name="MaloneJ76"/> In the north, overgrazing stressed the open range, leading to insufficient winter [[forage]] for the cattle and starvation, particularly during the harsh winter of 1886–1887, when hundreds of thousands of cattle died across the Northwest, leading to collapse of the cattle industry.<ref name="Malone79">Malone, J., p. 79.</ref> By the 1890s, barbed-wire fencing was also standard in the northern plains, railroads had expanded to cover most of the nation, and meat packing plants were built closer to major ranching areas, making long cattle drives from Texas to the railheads in [[Kansas]] unnecessary. Hence, the age of the open range was gone and large [[Cattle drives in the United States|cattle drives]] were over.<ref name="Malone79"/> Smaller cattle drives continued at least into the 1940s, as ranchers, prior to the development of the modern [[cattle truck]], still needed to herd cattle to local railheads for transport to [[feedlot|stockyards]] and [[Meat packing industry|packing plants]]. Meanwhile, ranches multiplied all over the developing West, keeping cowboy employment high, if still low-paid, but also somewhat more settled.<ref>Malone, M., et al. (page number needed)</ref>