Editing Vaquero

{{Short description|Horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that originated on the Iberian Peninsula}}
{{Other uses|Vaquero (disambiguation)|Buckaroo (disambiguation){{!}}Buckaroo}}
[[File:Vaqueros.jpg|300px|thumb|upright=1.35|Vaquero, c. 1830]]

The '''''vaquero''''' ({{IPA|es|baˈkeɾo|lang}}; {{langx|pt|vaqueiro}}, {{IPA|pt-PT|vɐˈkɐjɾu|lang}}) is a horse-mounted [[livestock]] herder of a tradition that has its roots in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] and extensively developed in what what is today [[Mexico]] (then New Spain) and [[Spanish Florida]]<ref name="Cunha">{{cite web |last1=Cunha |first1=Darlena |title=Riding Off Into the (Florida) Sunset: America's First Cowboys |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65947/riding-florida-sunset-americas-first-cowboys |website=Mental Floss |publisher=Minute Media |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="USF">{{cite web |title=Cattle and Cowboys in Florida |url=https://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/cowboys/cowboys.htm |publisher=University of South Florida |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="Pittman">{{cite web |last1=Pittman |first1=Craig |title=Cattle Country: Keeping up with the Cowboys in Florida |url=https://flamingomag.com/2021/10/18/how-these-ranchers-are-carrying-on-the-little-known-legacy-of-florida-cowboys/ |publisher=Flamingo Magazine |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="Herscovici">{{cite web |last1=Herscovici |first1=Derek |title=A History of the Florida Cracker Cowboys |url=https://tampamagazines.com/florida-cracker-cowboys-history/ |publisher=Tampa Magazine |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="History">{{cite web |last1=FC |title=Florida Cowboys – Their History & Daily Lives |url=https://edgeofhumanity.com/2016/07/14/florida/ |publisher=Edge of Humanity Magazine |access-date=2 April 2025}}</ref> from a method brought to [[the Americas]] from [[Spain]]. The vaquero became the foundation for the North American [[cowboy]], in [[Northern Mexico]], [[Southwestern United States]], [[Florida]] and [[Western Canada]].

The cowboys of the [[Great Basin]] still use the term "[[Cowboy|buckaroo]]", which may be a corruption of ''vaquero'', to describe themselves and their tradition.<ref name="Reynolds 2022">{{cite web | last=Reynolds | first=Bill | title=Of Peppers and Cowboys: A Remembrance of Kurt Markus | website=Western Horseman | date=July 1, 2022 | url=https://westernhorseman.com/culture/out-west/of-peppers-and-cowboys-a-remembrance-of-kurt-markus/ | access-date=March 17, 2023}}</ref> Many in [[Llano Estacado]] and along the southern [[Rio Grande]] prefer the term ''vaquero'',<ref name="Gray Media Group 2023">{{cite web | title=American Quarter Horse Association opens 'Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy' exhibit | website=KFDA-TV | date=March 14, 2023 | url=https://www.newschannel10.com/2023/03/14/american-quarter-horse-association-opens-vaquero-genesis-texas-cowboy-exhibit/ | access-date=March 17, 2023}}</ref> while the indigenous and Hispanic communities in the age-old [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México|''Nuevo México'']] and [[New Mexico Territory]] regions use the term ''caballero''.<ref name="History 2003">{{cite web | title=Vaqueros: The First Cowboys of the Open Range | website=History | date=August 15, 2003 | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mexico-tradition-vaquero-cowboy | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220030608/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/mexico-tradition-vaquero-cowboy | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 20, 2021 | access-date=March 17, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Robinson Ball 2003 p. 148">{{cite book | last1=Robinson | first1=S. | last2=Ball | first2=E. | title=Apache Voices: Their Stories of Survival as Told to Eve Ball | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-8263-2163-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8VIryIK7dMC&pg=PA148 | access-date=March 4, 2023 | quote=Mescalero (Apache) chief Caballero | page=148}}</ref><ref name="Solski p. 6">{{cite book | last=Solski | first=R. | title=All About Peru Gr. 3-5 | publisher=On The Mark Press | series=Countries Around the Globe | isbn=978-1-77072-164-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0G9xKxVNWdQC&pg=PA6 | access-date=March 17, 2023 | page=6}}</ref><ref name="de la Cadena 2000 p. 149">{{cite book | last=de la Cadena | first=M. | title=Indigenous Mestizos: The Politics of Race and Culture in Cuzco, Peru, 1919-1991 | publisher=Duke University Press | series=Latin America otherwise | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8223-2420-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wffn8Q_nUucC&pg=PA149 | access-date=March 4, 2023 | page=149 | quote=Indian caballeros}}</ref> ''Vaquero'' heritage remains in the culture of the [[Californio]] ([[California]]), [[Hispanos of New Mexico|Neomexicano]] ([[New Mexico]]), and [[Tejano]] ([[Texas]]), along with [[Mexico]], [[Central America|Central]], and [[South America]], as well as other places where there are related traditions.<ref name="Nelson 2021">{{cite web | last=Nelson | first=Kate | title=Trails and Rails | website=New Mexico Magazine | date=March 17, 2021 | url=https://www.newmexicomagazine.org/blog/post/wild-west-culture-new-mexico/ | access-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Energy 2023">{{cite web | last=Energy | first=Amigo | title=Mexico's Original Cowboys: History of the Vaqueros of Texas | website=Amigo Energy | date=January 4, 2023 | url=https://amigoenergy.com/blog/mexicos-original-cowboys-history-of-the-vaqueros-of-texas/ | access-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Albuquerque 2017">{{cite web | title=Western Legacy | website=Visit Albuquerque | date=October 13, 2017 | url=https://www.visitalbuquerque.org/about-abq/culture-heritage/western-legacy/ | access-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Allen 2021">{{cite web | last=Allen | first=Nathan W. | title=PHOTOS: Masbate Rodeo's Tough Filipino Cowboys | website=I Dreamed Of This | date=January 25, 2021 | url=https://www.idreamedofthis.com/2015/09/22/masbate-rodeo-photos/ | access-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Japanese Cowboy, Bull Riders in Japan 2000">{{cite web | title=Makoto Sekido | website=Japanese Cowboy, Bull Riders in Japan | date=July 19, 2000 | url=http://www.realwestern.com/rodeo/mac/index.html | access-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref>

==Etymology==
[[File:Hackamore equipment.jpg|thumb|Classic vaquero style [[hackamore]] equipment. Horsehair [[mecate (rein)|mecates]] top row, rawhide [[bosal]]s in second row with other equipment]]

''Vaquero'' is the Spanish word for cowherd or cattle-herder,<ref name=drae-vaquero>{{cite web|title=''Diccionario de la Lengua Española, Vigésima segunda edición''|url=http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=vaquero|publisher=Real Academia Española|access-date=June 20, 2019 |language=es|quote=Dictionary of the Spanish language, twenty-second edition}} s.v. ''vaquero''</ref><ref>Freedman, R. (2001). In the days of the vaqueros: America's first true cowboys. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.</ref> from ''vaca'', meaning "cow", and the suffix ''-ero'' used in nouns to indicate a trade, job, occupation, profession or position.<ref>{{cite web |title=-ero |url=https://dle.rae.es/-ero |website=Diccionario de la Lengua Española |publisher=Real Academia Española |access-date=26 November 2024}}</ref> It derived from the [[Medieval Latin|Medieval]] {{langx|la|vaccārius}}, which means ''cowherd'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=William |title=A New Latin-English Dictionary |date=1810 |publisher=A. Wilson |location=London |page=368 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOMTAAAAYAAJ&dq=latin+dictionary+cowherd&pg=RA2-PA368 |access-date=28 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ash |first1=John |title=The New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language |date=1775 |publisher=Edward and Charles Dilly |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Sk_AQAAMAAJ&dq=vaccarius+cowherd&pg=PP382 |access-date=31 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kelham |first1=Robert |title=Domesday Book Illustrated: Containing an Account of that Antient Record |date=1788 |publisher=John Nichols |location=London |page=352 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nm5bAAAAQAAJ&dq=vaccarius+cowherd&pg=PA352 |access-date=31 October 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McLean Andrews |first1=Charles |title=The Old English Manor |date=1892 |publisher=The John Hopkins Press |location=Baltimore |page=218 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Old_English_Manor/4PUsAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=vaccarius |access-date=12 May 2025}}</ref> from ''vacca'', meaning “cow”,<ref>{{cite web |title=vacca |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vacca#Latin |website=Wikitionary |date=24 September 2024 |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation |access-date=31 October 2024}}</ref> and the suffix ''-ārius'' used to form nouns denoting an agent of use, such as a dealer or artisan, from other nouns.<ref>{{cite web |title=-arius |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-arius#Latin:_adjective |website=Wikitionary |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation |access-date=30 October 2024}}</ref>

A related term, ''buckaroo'', still is used to refer to a certain style of cowboys and horsemanship most often seen in the [[Great Basin]] region of the United States that closely retains characteristics of the traditional vaquero.<ref name="Buckaroos" /> The word ''buckaroo'' is generally believed to be an anglicized version of ''vaquero'' and shows phonological characteristics compatible with that origin.<ref name=cassidy1>{{cite journal |last1=Cassidy |first1=F. G. |title=Another Look at Buckaroo |journal=American Speech |date=1978 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=49–51 |doi=10.2307/455339 |jstor=455339 }}</ref><ref name=cassidy2>{{cite journal |last1=Cassidy |first1=F. G. |last2=Hill |first2=A. A. |title=Buckaroo Once More |journal=American Speech |date=1979 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=151–153 |doi=10.2307/455216 |jstor=455216 }}</ref><ref name=Gonzalez>{{cite journal|last=González|first=Félix Rodríguez|title=Spanish contribution to American English word-stock: an overview|journal=Atlantis|date=December 2001|volume=23|issue=2|page=86 <!-- pages=83-90 -->|publisher=AEDEAN: Asociación española de estudios anglo-americanos}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=Smead>{{cite book|last=Smead|first=Ronald K|title=Vocabulario Vaquero/Cowboy Talk: A Dictionary of Spanish Terms from the American West|year=2005|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0806136318|page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MR4SY5n3_L8C&q=buckaroo}}</ref>   ''Buckaroo'' first appeared in American English in 1827.<ref name=Merriam>{{cite web|title=buckaroo |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buckaroo |work=Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster.com |access-date=August 29, 2013}}</ref>  The word may also have developed with influences from the English word "buck" or [[bucking]], the behavior of young, untrained horses.<ref name=cassidy2/><!-- @ p. 152. -->

==History==
[[File:Cacería del Toro Cimarron (Hunting Wild Bulls).png|thumb|Cacería del Toro Cimarron (Hunting Wild Bulls in Colonial Mexico, 1582)]] [[File:Charro Mexicano (1828).jpg|thumb| “Charro Mexicano”, 1828. The term “[[Charro]]” was originally a derogatory term or nickname for Mexican Rancheros; synonymous with the English terms “hick”, “country bumpkin”, or “yokel”.]]
[[File:Nebel Voyage 02 Rancheros.jpg|thumb| "Rancheros", from ''”Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Mexique”'', by [[Carl Nebel]] 1834]]
[[File:Hacendado Propriétaire by Claudio Linati 1828.jpg|thumb|Mexican Hacendado (1828). Most [[Hacienda|Hacendados]], or cattle estate owners, were [[Criollos]], while the Vaqueros (ranch hands) were mostly members of the [[Casta|castas]] (mixed race people).]]
[[File:Trajes Mexicanos, Rancheros y Campesinos.jpg|thumb|Mexican Rancheros (1856).]][[File:Mexican Cabellero, by Doerr & Jacobson (cropped).jpg|thumb|Image of a man and horse in Mexican-style equipment, horse in a two-rein bridle]]

The origins of the ''vaquero'' 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 it was later brought to the [[Americas]]. Both regions possessed a dry climate with sparse grass, and thus large herds of cattle required vast amounts of land in order 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''. 

===Arrival in the Americas===

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 Florida (then Spanish Florida), Mexico (then New Spain) and Central America.<ref name="Vernam190">Vernam p. 190.</ref> Among the earliest Spanish Vaqueros in the Americas were in [[Spanish Florida]] who arrived with [[Juan Ponce de León|Ponce De Leon]] in 1521 with their Andalusian cattle.<ref name="Cunha"/><ref name="USF"/><ref name="Pittman"/><ref name="Herscovici"/><ref name="History"/> 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]]. They also developed this culture in all of western Latin America, developing the [[Gaucho]] cowboys in [[Argentina]], [[Chile]], [[Guatemala]], and [[Peru]]. In turn, the land, and people of the Americas also saw dramatic changes due to Spanish influence.

In [[Brazil]], the "vaqueiro" (in Portuguese) appeared in the 16th century, in the interior, specifically in the [[caatinga]] areas in the state of [[Bahia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bahia – Ofício de Vaqueiros {{!}} ipatrimônio |url=https://www.ipatrimonio.org/bahia-oficio-de-vaqueiros/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |language=pt-BR}}</ref>

The arrival of horses in the Americas was particularly significant, as [[equine]]s had been [[extinct]] there since the end of the prehistoric [[ice age]]. However, horses quickly multiplied in America and became crucial to the success of the Spanish and later settlers from other nations. In “Libro de Albeyteria” (1580), the Spanish-Mexican horseman and veterinarian, [[ Juan Suárez de Peralta|Don Juan Suárez de Peralta]], wrote about the proliferation of horses in colonial Mexico:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Serrera Contreras |first1=Ramón María |title=Guadalajara ganadera estudio regional novohispano, 1760-1805 |date=1977 |publisher=Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos |location=Sevilla |isbn=9788400036959 |page=174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRTLanaWVvcC&q=%20ninguno%20regalados%20caballeriza |access-date=8 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Medina Miranda |first1=Hector |title=Vaqueros míticos Antropología comparada de los charros en España y en México |date=2020 |publisher=GEDISA |location=Mexico City |isbn=9788417835583|page=229 |edition=First |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvrXDwAAQBAJ&dq=“hoy+hay+grand%C3%ADsimo+número+de+caballos,+yeguas,+tantas&pg=PT246 |access-date=8 July 2023}}</ref> <blockquote>"In New Spain today there are a great number of horses, and mares, so many that they roam wild in the countryside, without an owner, which they call cimarrones, that there must be horses and mares that are over twenty years old, and they die of old age without ever seeing man; And if by chance they see any, they quickly flee to the mountains with their tails and their manes raised, resembling a deer […] None of the stable horses is superior to them in size or beauty and beautiful coats, and some have long manes growing below the knee.”</blockquote>

The earliest horses were originally of [[Andalusian horse|Spanish]], [[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 and became [[feral]]. Spanish army Captain, [[Bernardo de Vargas Machuca | Bernardo Vargas Machuca]], wrote in 1599, that the best and finest horses were the Mexican ones:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vargas Machuca |first1=Bernardo |title=Milicia y descripcion de las Indias, por el capitan don Bernardo de Vargas Machuca |date=1599 |publisher=Pedro Madrigal |location=Madrid |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QwX4t_x6i3EC&q=Los%20mejores%20son%20los |access-date=8 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vargas Machuca |first1=Bernardo |title=The Indian Militia and Description of the Indies |date=2008 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham and London |isbn=9780822389064 |page=190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OnS0_pkiC8C&q=Finest%20Mexican |access-date=8 July 2023}}</ref> <blockquote>“Horses, which were the most noble animal and of most use, God wished to greatly multiply, so much so that there is no Spaniard who is unable to breed them and even the Indians do so in the settled lands […] this animal is used more for service there than here in Spain, for the pack trains primarily use horses because those with mules serve little for loads unless it’s on Tierra Firme. There are excellent parade horses, and the stables are well stocked. The finest are Mexican horses, but in general they are all good because in addition to being light and marvelously fast, they rein well and respond to punishment, without bad habits like those from here in Spain, and they breed better and stronger hooves. They have but one fault, that they are not high-steppers, and running well comes from this; but as they are low-steppers they charge better and are lighter, and fourteen years old is not an old horse.”</blockquote>

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.

===16th to 19th centuries===
[[File:Horses and traditions3.jpg|thumb|Modern child in Mexican parade wearing modern day ''charro'' attire on horse outfitted in vaquero-derived equipment including wide, flat-horned saddle, bosalita and spade-type bit, carrying [[romal]] reins and reata]]

The Spanish tradition evolved further in what today is [[Mexico]], and the [[Southwestern United States]]. Most ''vaqueros'' were men of [[mestizo]], and [[mulatto]] origin while most of the ''hacendados'' (ranch owners) were ethnically [[Spanish people|Spanish]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stern |first1=Peter |title=People of Color in the Spanish Borderlands: Accommodation and Resistance |journal=The Community Heritage in the Spanish Americas: Selected Papers and Commentaries from the November 1991 Quincentenary Symposium |date=1999 |pages=139–147 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173006242426&seq=289&q1=Vaqueros+Mulattoes |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gonzalez |first1=Juan |title=Harvest of Empire A History of Latinos in America: Second Revised and Updated Edition |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=9780143137436 |page=49 |edition=Second |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCxiEAAAQBAJ&dq=mulatos+vaqueros&pg=PA49 |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=French |first1=Laurence |last2=Manzanárez |first2=Magdaleno |title=NAFTA & Neocolonialism: Comparative Criminal, Human & Social Justice |date=2004 |publisher=University Press of America |location=Lanham, Maryland |isbn=9780761828907 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ozF1Yg-c4MC&dq=mulatos+vaqueros&pg=PA86 |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030816071325/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0814_030815_cowboys.html Haeber, Jonathan."Vaqueros: The First Cowboys of the Open Range." ''National Geographic News''. August 15, 2003. Web page accessed September 2, 2007].</ref> 

The vaqueros in  New Spain (Colonial Mexico) in the 16th century were mostly Mulattoes and Blacks,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Guillot |first1=Carlos Federico |title=Negros Rebeldes y Negros Cimarrones: Perfil afroamericano en la historia del Nuevo Mundo durante el siglo XVI |date=1961 |publisher=Librería y Editorial El Ateneo |location=Buenos Aires |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fuMWAAAAYAAJ&q=a+cargo+exclusivo+de+vaqueros+negros, |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cobo |first1=Bernabé |title=Historia del Nuevo Mundo |date=1890 |publisher=Imp. de E. Rasco |location=Sevilla |page=360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KosAAAAYAAJ&q=vaqueros%20negros%20indios%20mulatos |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=González Jácome |first1=Alba |last2=Amo Rodríguez |first2=Silvia del |title=Agricultura y Sociedad en México |date=1999 |publisher=Plaza y Valdés Editores |location=Mexico City |isbn=9789688565759 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TEbPXMoXm2QC&dq=mulatos+vaqueros&pg=PA168 |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Novelo |first1=Victoria |title=La tradición artesanal de Colima |date=2005 |publisher=Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes |location=Mexico |isbn=970692177X |page=30 |edition=First |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6I5VsEczfYC&q=Vaqueros%20negros%20mulatos |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sluyter |first1=Andrew |title=Black Ranching Frontiers: African Cattle Herders of the Atlantic World, 1500-1900 |date=2012 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300183238 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saxnUDq1NFcC&dq=acosta+not+only+mentioned+blacks+in+that+account&pg=PT19 |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=García de León |first1=Antonio |title=El Mar de los Encuentros |journal=Anales del Caribe del Centro de Estudios del Caribe |date=1992 |issue=12 |pages=43–57 |doi=10.1163/9789004430945_CASA_adc-12 |url=https://primarysources.brillonline.com/browse/cuban-periodicals-cultural-magazines-published-by-casa-de-las-americas-1960-2009/anales-del-caribe-issue-12;casaanalesdelcaribeadc012 |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Pinson |first1=Jerald |title=Ancient DNA reveals an early African origin of cattle in the Americas |url=https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/ancient-dna-reveals-an-early-african-origin-of-cattle-in-the-americas/ |website=Florida Museum |date=8 August 2023 |publisher=University of Florida |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref> with the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]] also taking part. By the 1570’s, though,  mulattoes and blacks had become the overwhelming majority, especially the former, as a result from the high mortality rate of the [[Amerindian|Natives]] in Mexico due to European and African diseases and war, according to a Mexican Mesta ordinance.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stern |first1=Peter |title=People of Color in the Spanish Borderlands: Accommodation and Resistance |journal=The Community Heritage in the Spanish Americas: Selected Papers and Commentaries from the November 1991 Quincentenary Symposium |date=1999 |pages=139–147 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173006242426&seq=289&q1=Vaqueros+Mulattoes |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref> The ordinance, dated March 5th, 1576, states:<ref>{{cite book|last1= Montemayor y Cordova de Cuenca|first1=Juan Francisco de|title=Recopilacion de algunos Mandamientos y Ordenanzas del Gobierno de esta Nueva España|date=1787|publisher=Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros|location=México|page=16|edition=Volume 1|url= https://archive.org/details/recopilacionsuma0000unse/page/n223/mode/2up?q=Mulatos|access-date=27 July 2023}}</ref> <blockquote>“Don Martin Enriquez &c. Inasmuch as by the older cattle breeders of this New Spain it has been reported to me that all the cattle ranching, as well as the branding, collecting and removing the steers for the butcher shops, and doing the rodeos, was almost universally done by Mulattos, and since there began to be cattle, and cattle ranching, they had never received more than twelve, fifteen, twenty, and at most up to twenty-five or thirty pesos a year; and that for the last two years now, as there had been a high mortality of Indians who also helped in the said cattle ranching, the said Mulattos had demanded higher wages, and asked for fifty, eighty, one hundred, and even two hundred pesos, and they did not want to continue working if they were not given the said wages. . .” </blockquote>

By the late 16th century, with the growth of the [[Mestizo]] population, Mestizos and Mulattos had become the bulk of the Vaquero population. In “''Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions''” (1629), Spanish Priest Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón explained the distinct geographic, environmental and cultural circumstances of Mexico and the racial composition of Vaqueros:<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ruiz de Alarcón |first1=Hernando |title=Tratado de las supersticiones y costumbres gentilicias que hoy viven entre los indios naturales de esta Nueva España |url=https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/tratado-de-las-supersticiones-y-costumbres-gentilicas-que-hoy-viven-entre-los-indios-naturales-de-esta-nueva-espana--0/html/cf187f38-7e62-49f7-bcf3-71d3c710fe4e_2.htm |website=Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes |access-date=7 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ruiz de Alarcón |first1=Hernando |title=Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions that Today Live Among the Indians Native to this New Spain, 1629 |date=1629 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0-8061-2031-2 |page=67|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xf9nQ2roM6EC&q=Herds |access-date=7 July 2023}}</ref>
<blockquote>“Since in this land it is so necessary, so common and so easy for every kind of people to ride on horseback, because all the land is very rough, the settlements are very far apart, the roads lack provisions, and horses and other beasts exist in large quantities and along with this there are many herds of cattle where large quantities of Mulattos, Mestizos, Indians and other vile people work as vaqueros; […] and although the majority of those in this occupation of vaquero are mestizos or mulattos, even so I make mention here of this because Indians also take part […]”</blockquote>
In [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México]], however, both [[Hispanos of New Mexico|Hispano]] and [[Puebloans|Pueblo]] people owned land and livestock.<ref name="Vigil 1999 p.">{{cite book | last=Vigil | first=A. | title=Enduring Cowboys: Life in the New Mexico Saddle | publisher=New Mexico Magazine | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-937206-58-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D00UAAAAYAAJ | access-date=June 12, 2021 | page=}}</ref>

Those early Vaqueros in the 16th century, whether slave or free, lived on a cattle estancia and worked for a single cattle baron for most of their lives. But towards the end of that century, in the [[Bajío]] region and in the Kingdom of [[Nueva Galicia]], the largest cattle ranching region of all New Spain, a new type of Vaquero began to appear. Called “Hombres de fuste” (saddle-tree men), “Vagamundos” (drifters, vagabonds, nomads), and “Forajidos” (outlaws), these Vaqueros roamed the Mexican countryside on horseback going from village to village, estancia to estancia, working for the highest bidder.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chevalier |first1=Fraçois |title=Land and Society in Colonial Mexico: The Great Hacienda |date=1970 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |page=112 |isbn=9780520016651 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLN844Z2IAC&q=Harquebus%20fuste |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> They were superior horsemen and spent their entire lives on horseback. Many were runaway black or Mulatto slaves, others dabble in the crime of “abigeato” (cattle rustling), among other crimes. They carried weapons such as an [[arquebus]], desjarretadera (hocking lance), [[sickle]], and knives. Spanish priest and auditor Gaspar de la Fuente warned of the existence of these outlaw nomadic Vaqueros in a report to the King, dated April 1st, 1603 in [[Guadalajara]]: <ref>{{cite book |last1=Chevalier |first1=François |title=La formation des grands domaines au Mexique |date=2006 |publisher=Karthala |location=Paris |isbn=9782845867772 |page=432 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fjVgynR84FAC&q=Jarretaderas |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chevalier |first1=François |title=Land and Society in Colonial Mexico: The Great Hacienda |date=1970 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |page=113 |isbn=9780520016651 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLN844Z2IAC&q=scythes |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> <blockquote>“The number of Mestizos and Mulattoes has grown so much in these realms, and so have the excesses and crimes that they commit every day, striking terror to the heart of the population, who is unable to do anything about it, because as Vaqueros, they ride on horseback with desjarretaderas and scythes, and they gather in gangs and nobody dares to confront them. His Majesty would remedy this by ordering that none of the aforementioned be able to carry such a weapon (under penalty of death) in a town or in an uninhabited place if it is not on the appointed days that they are cattle hunting, and in the company of their boss . . .”</blockquote>
In another description, in a letter dated April 20th, 1607, by Spanish priest and lawyer Luis Ramírez de Alarcón, states:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Medina Miranda |first1=Héctor |title=Vaqueros míticos Antropología comparada de los charros en España y en México |date=2020 |publisher=Gedisa |location=Mexico |isbn=9788417835583 |page=236 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvrXDwAAQBAJ&q=Forajida |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chevalier |first1=François |title=Land and Society in Colonial Mexico: The Great Hacienda |date=1970 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |page=113 |isbn=9780520016651 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NOLN844Z2IAC&q=300%20Harquebuses%20scythes%20desjarretaderas%20 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Román Gutiérrez |first1=José Francisco |title=SITUACION DE LA ORDEN FRANCISCANA EN NUEVA GALlCIA A PRINCIPIOS DEL S. XVII. |date=1991 |publisher=Deimos |location=Madrid |isbn=8486379121 |page=1186 |url=https://dspace.unia.es/bitstream/handle/10334/1853/29Román.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> <blockquote>“In the Royal mining town of Zacatecas and towards the north, it fills up with Black, Mestizo and Mulatto outlaws, all of them Vaqueros, and they cannot be captured and be punished because they have light horses and protection from the estancieros […] these people are agile, robust and grow in their generation and multiply too much, and one can very well expect trouble, because […] there are men that gather 300 horsemen from these outlaws to work as vaqueros, and most are well armed with strong [[Buff coat|cueras]], arquebuses, scythes, desjarretaderas and other weapons”</blockquote>

===Rancheros===
Eventually, towards the 18th century, those nomadic Vaqueros, as well as those that lived on the cattle estancias, began to be known under the name of “''Rancheros''”. The term "''Ranchero''" comes from "''Rancho''", a term that was given in Mexico, since the 18th century, to the countryside or hamlets where cattle were raised or land was sowed. Spanish priest, Mateo José de Arteaga, in his —"''Description of the Diocese of Guadalajara de Indias''" (1770)— defined "Rancho" as: "''those places in which few people live with few goods and housed in huts''".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Serrera Contreras |first1=Ramon María |title=Guadalajara ganadera estudio regional novohispano, 1760-1805 |date=1977 |publisher=Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos |location=Sevilla, Spain |isbn=9788400036959 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRTLanaWVvcC&dq=ranchos+viven+pocas+gentes+con+pocos+bienes+y+albergados&pg=PA33 |language=es}}</ref> While the Spanish friar, José Alejandro Patiño, in his text —"''Topografía del Curato de Tlaxomulco''" (1778)— defined it as: "''In these Indian kingdoms, Ranchos are country houses of little pomp and value, where men of average means and the poor live, cultivating the small plots of land that they own or rent, sowing to the extent that each one can afford and raising their domestic, country animals, according to their strength''."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gomez Serrano |first1=Jesús |title=Haciendas y ranchos de Aguascalientes estudio regional sobre la tenencia de la tierra y el desarrollo agrícola en el siglo XIX |date=2000 |publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes |location=Mexico |isbn=9789685073059 |page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioe3_sZLDvwC&dq=ranchos+son+en+estos+reinos+unas+casas+campestres&pg=PP65 |access-date=23 February 2022 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Serrera Contreras |first1=Ramon María |title=Guadalajara ganadera estudio regional novohispano, 1760-1805 |date=1977 |publisher=Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos |location=Sevilla, Spain |isbn=9788400036959 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRTLanaWVvcC&dq=ranchos+viven+pocas+gentes+con+pocos+bienes+y+albergados&pg=PA33 |language=es}}</ref> 

These rural lands and hamlets, were part of a [[Hacienda]], since most land belonged to the landed elites. Thus, a hacienda was made up of ''Ranchos'', and in those Ranchos lived the people that worked for the hacienda, the ''Rancheros''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Mayne |title=The Scalp Hunters; or, Romantic Adventures in Northern Mexico |date=1851 |publisher=Charles J. Skeet. |location=London |page=276|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gtYBAAAAQAAJ&q=Rancheria%20|access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> The ''Rancheros'' managed the cattle and horses, working as ''Vaqueros'', ''Caporales'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smead |first1=Robert Norman |title=Vocabulario Vaquero/Cowboy Talk: A Dictionary of Spanish Terms from the American West |date=2004 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Oklahoma |isbn=9780806136318 |page=45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MR4SY5n3_L8C&q=Caporal |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> ''Mayordomos''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smead |first1=Robert Norman |title=Vocabulario Vaquero/Cowboy Talk: A Dictionary of Spanish Terms from the American West |date=2004 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Oklahoma |isbn=9780806136318 |page=118 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MR4SY5n3_L8C&q=Mayordomo |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> or ''Horse-tamers'', among other jobs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lyon |first1=George Francis |title=Journal Of A Residence And Tour In The Republic Of Mexico In The Year 1826 |date=1828 |publisher=Murray |location=London |pages=255, 267 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0xjAAAAcAAJ&q=Rancheros |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> By the 1840s, Spanish (from Spain) dictionaries included the Mexican definition of Rancho as: "''In Mexico it is a separate farmhouse dependent on a hacienda"; while for "Ranchero" they give the definition: "the one who lives on a rancho; it is usually understood the same as'' CAMPESINO [countryman, or farmer]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Salvá y Perez |first1=Vicente |title=Nuevo diccionario de la lengua Castellana que comprende la última edicion íntegra, muy rectificada y mejorada, del publicado por la Academia Española |date=1846 |publisher=Salvá |location=Paris |page=912 |edition=Sixth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RNfAAAAcAAJ&dq=rancho+cortijo&pg=PA912 |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> Spanish historian and journalist [[Niceto de Zamacois]], defined the terms Ranchero and Rancho, as follows:<ref>{{cite book |last1=de Zamacois |first1=Niceto |title=Historia de Méjico desde sus tiempos mas remotos hasta nuestros dias Volume 10 |date=1879 |publisher=J.F. Párres y compañia |location=Barcelona and Mexico |page=61 |edition=Volume 10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tF1KAAAAYAAJ&q=derivado%20de%20la%20voz%20rancho |access-date=23 February 2022}}</ref> <blockquote> The men of the countryside who carry out their jobs on horseback are given the name of "Rancheros," derived from the word Rancho that is applied to a small hacienda, or to a part of a large one that is divided into villages or ranchos. Those who carry out the same tasks in the haciedas of Veracruz are given the name of "Jarochos."</blockquote>

[[Thomas Mayne Reid]], an Irish-American novelist who fought in the [[Mexican-American War]], defined the terms in the 1840’s, as follows:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Mayne |title=The Scalp Hunters; or, Romantic Adventures in Northern Mexico |date=1851 |publisher=Charles J. Skeet. |location=London |pages=285, 288 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtYBAAAAQAAJ&q=Ranchero%20vaquero%20countryman |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref>

<blockquote>
The "RANCHERO" is a Mexican countryman, above the order of the serf or peon. He is the vaquero at times, or the arriero [muleteer], or he may be possessed of a small holding, and farm it for himself. He is a great horseman, and always mounted, galloping after cattle, or amusing himself in some other way. The ''Vaquero'' is also a ranchero; so, too, is the montero, who is so called from living in a mountainous district. 

VAQUERO - A "Vaquero" is a ranchero or countryman, who looks after cattle. As Mexico is chiefly a grazing country it will be seen that there are many of its inhabitants employed in this pursuit. The vaquero is always mounted, and generally well dressed. He carries the lazo constantly; and he is the man, above all others, who can use it with dexterity. He can fling it over a bull's horns twenty yards off, or loop it round the foot of the animal when going at a full gallop! This feat I have witnessed a hundred times. Your vaquero is also expert in the game of "Colea de toros" or " bull-tailing"—that is, he can, on horseback, catch the tail of a running bull —whip it under the hind leg— and fling the animal on its back! This feat also have I witnessed over and again. The vaquero takes his name from "vacas," signifying cows or cattle.</blockquote>[[File:Rancheros (1844).jpg|thumb|''Rancheros'' (1844). The ''Rancheros'' or ''Charros'' were known for their superior horsemanship, and their unique attire designed for horse riding.]]

Thus, ''Ranchero'' is the inhabitant of the Mexican countryside, a horse-mounted countryman, who performed all his duties on the hacienda or countryside on horseback, working as ''Vaqueros'' and ''Caporales'', among other jobs. The term “Charro” started off in the 18th century as a derogatory term for Rancheros, synonymous with the English terms [[yokel]], or “bumpkin”, but evolved to be synonymous with Ranchero; thus both, ''Ranchero'' and ''Charro'' were, historically, the same thing, a name for the people of the countryside, more specifically the horse-mounted country people (horsemen). Although, in some instances, Charro was used specifically, for the Vaqueros of “''Tierra''-''Adentro''”, or the interior land, which included the [[Bajio]] and northern Mexico, or anything beyond north of Mexico City.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fossey |first1=Mathieu de |title=Viage a Méjico |date=1844 |publisher=Ignacio Cumplido |location=Mexico |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODcCAAAAYAAJ&q=Charros |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=El Liceo Mexicano |date=1844 |publisher=J. M. Lara |location=Mexico |page=365 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BkRAAAAIAAJ&q=Charro%20dentro |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> English naval officer and explorer, [[George Francis Lyon]], explained that while most Rancheros had a light, active and sinewy frame, some of the vaqueros of the ''Tierra Adentro'' were as tall and muscular as the Yorkshiremen.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lyon |first1=George Francis |title=Journal Of A Residence And Tour In The Republic Of Mexico In The Year 1826 With Some Account Of The Mines Of That Country. · Volume 2 |date=1828 |publisher=Murray |location=London |page=234 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0xjAAAAcAAJ&q=Sinewy%20Tierra%20adentro |access-date=27 August 2023}}</ref> Rancheros or Charros were known for their superb horsemanship and athleticism, and for their colorful and unique costume, designed for horse riding.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Henry George |title=Mexico in 1827 |date=1828 |publisher=Henry Colburn |location=London |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsJCAQAAMAAJ&q=Rancheros%20241 |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref>

In his book —''Mexico in 1842'' (1844)– Spanish lawyer and monarchist, Luis Manuel del Rivero, wrote:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rivero |first1=Luis Manuel del |title=Méjico en 1842 |date=1844 |publisher=Eusebio Aguado |location=Madrid |pages=234, 235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s0msfdtMEC8C&q=ranchero%20es%20hombre |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref> <blockquote> The Ranchero is a man of higher thoughts, very strong, great horseman, a good drinker, who spends a peso without hesitation when he has any; that when he walks he drags his colossal and sonorous spurs, while handling his quirt; that on horseback he never gets rid of his machete, tucked under his thigh, and often crossing it with that of his adversary, or with that of a friend, giving or receiving a slash merely for fun and amusement. He is a man who, confined in his rancheria, cultivates the land with his wife and children, or perhaps leaves this servile occupation to his family, and he gives himself up to the noblest of arms in the woods and at crossroads. He is a man that when he works in the haciendas, he performs all his tasks on horseback and follows his master everywhere, to whom he usually sells his body and soul. He is an Arab in his habits, a little nomadic, and more specifically in the knowledge and handling of the horse, which he raises and educates like a son, works him without compassion, and loves him with delirium as the faithful companion of his adventures, and the noble instrument of his amusements and his glories. His attire, boots made of leather with which the leg is wrapped several times; spurs, as I have said, colossal; wide leather or cloth pants over cloth underwear; cotton shirt; a sash with which the waist is secured; a cotona, that is, a short leather jacket that is worn over the head, and a very large and heavy chambergo or Jarano hat. For overdress, a Manga or Serape. His horse's trappings are no less grotesque, since the Vaquero saddle with its large stirrups and flaps, especially if it is complemented by an anquera, water shields and other trifles, is a world in the midst of which the Ranchero finds himself in his world, and he believes himself superior to all the powerful men of the earth, executing extremely difficult spins and movements.</blockquote>

An 1849 report on [[Guanajuato]], in the [[Bajio]] region, states:<ref>{{cite book |title=Boletín de Geografía y Estadística de la República Mexicana |date=1849 |publisher=R. Rafael |location=Mexico |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzohAQAAIAAJ&q=charro |access-date=21 August 2023}}</ref><blockquote>“The horsemen of the countryside wear the dress we call ''Charro'', that is, leather or cloth pants with many buttons; embossed deer or goat skin boots; large spurs and a wide-brimmed hat, which are accompanied by the manga or serape, and water shields.”</blockquote>

Mexican traditions spread both South and North, influencing equestrian traditions from Argentina to Canada.

[[File:Cazando caballos Mesteños en México (1848).jpg|thumb|''Mesteñeros'' were Charros who hunted ''Mesteño'' or “mustang” horses, wild ownerless horses that lived in northern Mexico and what is now the American southwest, to later sell them in the cities.]]

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>

[[Mesteñeros]] were Charros that caught, broke and drove [[Mustang horse|Mustangs]] to market in the Spanish and later Mexican, and then American territories. They caught the horses that roamed in Northern Mexico, 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 name="C. Allan Jones 2005, pp.74-75">C. Allan Jones, ''Texas Roots: Agriculture and Rural Life Before the Civil War'', Texas A&M University Press, 2005, pp.74–75</ref><ref name="Frank Forrest Latta 1980, p.84">Frank Forrest Latta, ''Joaquín Murrieta and His Horse Gangs'', Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, 1980, p.84</ref>

===Modern United States===
"Vaqueros invented the cowboy trade as we know it today." <ref>Freedman, R. (2001). In the days of the vaqueros: America's first true cowboys. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
</ref> The vaquero heritage had an influence on cowboy traditions which arose throughout the [[California]], [[Hawaii]], [[Montana]], [[New Mexico]], [[Texas]], and broader [[Western United States]], distinguished by their own local culture, geography and historical patterns of settlement.<ref name=free/> Cowboy styles reflect origins in Texas, the southeast, and Mexico, while buckaroos have adopted, quite remarkably intact, techniques from Spanish and Mexican California. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Starrs |first=Paul F. |last2=Huntsinger |first2=Lynn |date=October 1998 |title=The Cowboy & Buckaroo in American Ranch Hand Styles |url=https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/rangelands/article/viewFile/11398/10671 |journal=Ragelands}}</ref>  "The [[Southwestern United States]] has a ''caballero'' heritage that originates in [[New Mexico]]'s Hispanic and indigenous groups from the region, whereas the "Texas" ''vaquero'' tradition melded [[Tejanos|Tejano]] techniques with ranching styles of eastern states from [[Louisiana]] to [[Florida]], while the "buckaroo" or "California" tradition resembled [[Northern Mexico]] traditions.<ref name="Steele 2005 p. 18">{{cite book | last=Steele | first=T.J. | title=The Alabados of New Mexico | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-8263-2967-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8fGyC-Vn0FkC&pg=PA18 | access-date=2023-03-04 | page=18}}</ref><ref name="Nicholl 1901 p. 30">{{cite book | last=Nicholl | first=E.M. | title=Observations of a Ranchwoman in New Mexico | publisher=Editor Publishing Company | series=Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO): Women: Transnational Networks | year=1901 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Rw1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA30 | access-date=March 4, 2023 | page=30}}</ref><ref name="RWMiller 103">R.W. Miller, p. 103</ref> The modern distinction between ''caballero'', ''vaquero'', and ''buckaroo'' within American English reflects parallels between traditions of western horsemanship.<ref name=free>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vaquero |title= Vaquero. |work= American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language |date=2009| publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company}}</ref><ref name="Yau Black Sparrow Press 1995 p. 94">{{cite book | last=Yau | first=J. | author2=Black Sparrow Press | title=Hawaiian Cowboys | publisher=Black Sparrow Press | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-87685-956-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lMrjksL7h4C&pg=PA94 | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=94}}</ref>

====American Southwest====
[[File:Group of cowboys, New Mexico, U.S.A, by Jarvis, J. F. (John F.), b. 1850.jpg|thumb|Circa 1890 photo of a group of cowboys in [[New Mexico]]]]

In the [[Southwestern United States]], the [[Hispanos of New Mexico|Hispano]],<ref name="Lomelí Sorell Padilla 2002 p. 105">{{cite book | last1=Lomelí | first1=F.A. | last2=Sorell | first2=V.A. | last3=Padilla | first3=G.M. | title=Nuevomexicano Cultural Legacy: Forms, Agencies, and Discourse | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | series=Paso Por Aquí Series | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-8263-2224-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TX35Lxug5UC&pg=PA105 | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=105}}</ref><ref name="Vigil García Lamadrid 2014 p. 207">{{cite book | last1=Vigil | first1=C.F. | last2=García | first2=D. | last3=Lamadrid | first3=E.R. | title=New Mexican Folk Music/Cancionero del Folklor Nuevomexicano: Treasures of a People/El Tesoro del Pueblo | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-8263-4939-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCvxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA207 | language=es | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=207}}</ref> [[Puebloans|Pueblo]],<ref name="American Cowboy p. 96">{{cite book | title=American Cowboy | publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc. | issn=1079-3690 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeoCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA96 | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=96}}</ref> [[Navajo]],<ref name="American Cowboy p. 44">{{cite book | title=American Cowboy | publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc. | issn=1079-3690 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ceoCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA44 | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=44}}</ref> and [[Apache]]<ref name="Cadden 2011 p.">{{cite book | last=Cadden | first=D. | title=Tied Hard and Fast: Apache Adams-Big Bend Cowboy | publisher=Outskirts Press | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-4327-7117-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLYmKQEACAAJ | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=}}</ref> traditions of [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México]] continue to hold significant influence over [[cowboy]] lifestyles in the region. This area became the [[New Mexico Territory]] and eventually the [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern US states]] of [[New Mexico]], [[Arizona]], and the southern portions of [[Colorado]], [[Nevada]], and [[Utah]].<ref name="Sinclair 1996 p.">{{cite book | last=Sinclair | first=J.L. | title=A Cowboy Writer in New Mexico: The Memoirs of John L. Sinclair | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=1996 | isbn=978-0-8263-1728-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BkBbAAAAMAAJ | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=}}</ref><ref name="Travis Abraham 2019 p. 130">{{cite book | last1=Travis | first1=R. | last2=Abraham | first2=K. | title=Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life | publisher=Thomas Nelson | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-4002-0799-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etBgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 | access-date=2021-07-13 | page=130}}</ref> Descendants of the Hispano and [[indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest|indigenous]] cowboys of former ''Nuevo México'' have long been referred to as ''caballero'' or ''caballera'', a Spanish term which translates to gentlemen or lady, but regionally means cowboy or cowgirl.<ref name="Laughlin 2017 p. 8">{{cite book | last=Laughlin | first=R. | title=Caballeros | publisher=Borodino Books | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-78720-565-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lg0qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT8 | access-date=March 4, 2023 | page=8}}</ref><ref name="Robinson Ball 2003 p. 148"/><ref name="American Cowboy p. 56">{{cite book | title=American Cowboy | publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc. | issn=1079-3690 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeoCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA56 | access-date=March 4, 2023 | page=56}}</ref><ref name="Figueredo Figueredo 2014 p.">{{cite book | last=Figueredo | first=D.H. | title=Revolvers and Pistolas, Vaqueros and Caballeros: Debunking the Old West | publisher=ABC-CLIO | series=Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-4408-2919-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HV9hBQAAQBAJ | access-date=March 4, 2023 | page=}}</ref>

Cowboys in the Southwest are associated with popularizing [[Native American jewelry]], [[Santo (art)#In the United States|Christian icons]], [[Cuisine of the Southwestern United States|Southwestern]] and [[New Mexican cuisine]], [[Western music (North America)|Western music]] styles of [[Tejano music|Tejano]] and [[New Mexico music]], along with other aspects into the general [[Western lifestyle]].<ref name="Pardue Sandfield Smith Heard Museum 2011">{{cite book | last1=Pardue | first1=D.F. | last2=Sandfield | first2=N.L. | last3=Smith | first3=C. | author4=Heard Museum | title=Native American Bolo Ties: Vintage and Contemporary Artistry | publisher=Museum of New Mexico Press | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-89013-534-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcY8KQEACAAJ | access-date=March 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Montano 2001">{{cite book | last=Montano | first=M.C. | title=Tradiciones Nuevomexicanas: Hispano Arts and Culture of New Mexico | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-8263-2136-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=atVLm51yPrgC&pg=PA182 | access-date=March 26, 2023 | page=182}}</ref><ref name="Busby 2004 p. 168">{{cite book | last=Busby | first=M. | title=The Southwest | publisher=Greenwood Press | series=Greenwood encyclopedia of American regional cultures | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-313-32805-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lmg142dU3wQC&pg=PA168 | access-date=March 26, 2023 | page=168}}</ref>

====California tradition====
Cowboys of this tradition were dubbed ''buckaroos'' by English-speaking settlers. The words ''buckaroo'' and ''vaquero'' are still used on occasion in the [[Great Basin]], parts of California and, less often, in the [[Pacific Northwest]]. Elsewhere, the term "cowboy" is more common.<ref name="Buckaroos" /> The ''vaqueros'' of the Americas were the horsemen and cattle herders of [[Viceroyalty of New Spain|New Spain]], who first came to California with the [[Jesuit]] priest [[Eusebio Kino]] in 1687, and later with expeditions in 1769 and the [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] expedition in 1774.{{sfn|Clayton|2001|pp=10-11}} They were the first cowboys in the region.<ref name="Buckaroos" />

Even though the lands of the California ''vaqueros'' were fertile for farming, "it was not the disposition of Spanish Californians to over-exert themselves, so the raising of cattle, which was little drain on the energies, was a very much more agreeable way of life than farming ... there were few in the world who could surpass ... [the] vaquero in horsemanship."<ref>Cowan, Robert G. (1977) p. 5 "Ranchos of California." Academy Library Guild. Fresno, California.</ref> The future Mexican or Spanish vaqueros were placed in the saddle at 5 years of age, and sometimes earlier, and worked with young, often trained horses, which had originally arrived from Mexico<ref>Cowan p. 5, 7</ref> in the 18th century and flourished in [[California]] and bordering territories during the Spanish/Mexican era.<ref>[http://www.horsechannel.com/western-horse-training/vaquero-way-17722.aspx Stewart, Kara L. "The Vaquero Way", web site accessed November 18, 2007].</ref>

Although the Californios were considered by most foreigners as great horsemen, their treatment and method of training the horses was frowned upon. Englishman William Robert Garner mention that their method of breaking and training horses: “. . . ''likewise tends to break the spirit of the animals, and injure them in their joints.[…] when it is tired they take the saddle off it, and make it fast to a post, without anything to eat, and keep it there for four or five days, on nothing but water''.”<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garner |first1=William Robert |title=Letters from California, 1846-1847 |date=1970 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London |isbn=9780520015654 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lo0moQ_PYPcC&dq=Then+their+method+of+breaking+them+in+likewise+tends+to+break+the+spirit+of+the+animals,+and+injure+them+in+their+joints.+They+will+take+a+wild+colt+and+put+the+saddle+on+it,&pg=PA107 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> William Redmond Ryan, another English writer and immigrant, said that: “''of the wild horses subjected to this process of training, at least one-fourth are killed, and a still larger proportion seriously injured''.”<ref>{{cite book |last1=Redmond Ryan |first1=William |title=Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California, in 1848-9 |date=1850 |publisher=William Shoberl |location=London |page=102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3oFAAAAQAAJ&q=horse+taming+californians |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> German immigrant Edward Vischer once commented that: “''The barbarous Californians look upon a horse as a useful commodity which is of little value and easily replaced''.”<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Deb |title=Conquerors: The Roots of New World Horsemanship |date=1998 |publisher=Amigo Publications |isbn=9780965853309 |page=377 |edition=First |url=https://archive.org/details/conquerorsrootso0000benn/page/376/mode/2up?q=Vischer&view=theater |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref>

Settlers originally arriving from the United States prior to 1846 (Mexican War) could marry a Californio woman or apply for Mexican citizenship in order to receive a [[land grant]], which would then almost require the new ''citizen'' to acquire the ''vaquero'' skills and life styles, a life style in which he would "invariably [keep] a horse saddled before his door, awaiting his pleasure.  If it was necessary to go more than fifty steps, he rode."<ref>Cowan p.8</ref>  After the conquest of California, with the conclusion of the [[Mexican–American War]] in 1848, Americans began to flood the newly conquered territory with immigration, for the 1849 [[goldrush]], which resulted in most of them being miners rather than livestock ranchers. The California vaquero or buckaroo, unlike the Texas cowboy, was considered a highly skilled worker, who usually stayed on the same ranch where he was born or had grown up. He generally married and raised a family.<ref name=free/> In addition, the geography and climate of much of California was dramatically different from that of Texas, allowing more intensive grazing with less [[open range]], plus cattle in California were marketed primarily at a regional level, without the need (nor, until much later, even the logistical possibility) to be driven hundreds of miles to railroad lines. Thus, a horse- and livestock-handling culture remained in California and the Pacific Northwest that retained a stronger direct Mexican and Spanish influence than that of Texas.

<gallery widths="165px" heights="200px">

File:Coleo a pie en Baja California Sur.png|Bull-tailing (coleo) on foot in [[Baja California Sur]] (1762). Baja Vaqueros were the original Californio Vaqueros.
File:California Vaqueros, 1854.jpg|[[Californio]] Vaqueros returned from the chase
File:MaclintockV.jpg|Finished "straight-up [[spade bit (horse)|spade bit]]" with California-style ''bosalito'' and bridle
File:Wade Saddle.jpg|A "Wade" saddle, popular with working ranch buckaroo tradition riders, derived from vaquero saddle designs
</gallery>

====Texas tradition====
[[File:Ranchero de Texas, 1828.jpg|thumb|upright|“Ranchero de Texas”. An 1828 [[Tejano]] Ranchero, by Lino Sanchez y Tapia. [[Charros]] from northern Mexico dressed differently, more modestly and less conspicuous than their southern counterparts]]
[[File:Bosal on horse.jpg|thumb|upright|A Texas-style [[bosal]] with added fiador, designed for starting an unbroke horse]]

The Texas tradition arose from a combination of cultural influences, as well as the need to adapt to the geography and climate of west Texas and, later, the need to conduct long [[cattle drives]] to get animals to market. In the early 1800s, the Spanish Crown, and later, independent [[Mexico]], offered [[empresario|''empresario'' grants]] in what would later be [[Texas]] to non-citizens, such as settlers from the United States. In 1821, [[Stephen F. Austin]] and his East Coast comrades became the first Anglo-Saxon community in Texas. Following [[Texas Revolution|Texas independence]] in 1836, even more Americans immigrated into the ''empresario'' ranching areas of Texas. Here the settlers were strongly influenced by the Mexican ''vaquero'' culture, borrowing [[vocabulary]] and [[attire]] from their counterparts, but also retaining some of the livestock-handling traditions and culture of the Eastern United States and [[Great Britain]].

Following the [[American Civil War]], vaquero [[culture]] diffused eastward and northward, combining with the cow herding traditions of the eastern United States that evolved as settlers moved west. Other influences developed out of Texas as cattle trails were created to meet up with the [[railroad]] lines of [[Kansas]] and [[Nebraska]], in addition to expanding ranching opportunities in the [[Great Plains]] and [[Rocky Mountain Front]], east of the [[Continental Divide]].<ref name=Vernam289>Vernam, p. 289.</ref> The Texas-style vaquero tended to be an itinerant single male who moved from ranch to ranch.<ref name=free/>

====Hawaiian paniolo====
The [[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiian]] cowboy, the ''paniolo'', is also a direct descendant of the ''vaquero'' of California and Mexico. Experts in Hawaiian etymology believe "Paniolo" is a Hawaiianized pronunciation of ''español''. (The [[Hawaiian language]] has no /s/ sound, and all [[syllable]]s and words must end in a vowel.) Paniolo, like cowboys on the mainland of North America, learned their skills from Mexican ''vaqueros''.

Curtis J. Lyons, scientist and assistant government surveyor, wrote in 1892 for the [[Hawaiian Historical Society]], that:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lyons |first1=Curtis J. |title=Traces of Spanish Influence in the Hawaiian Islands |journal=Hawaiian Historical Society |date=1892 |pages=26, 27 |url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/e1fdedc1-2e4e-4646-9be5-ee7369cf86f0/content |access-date=7 October 2023}}</ref>

{{quote|“. . . at Waimea, the Mexican Hispano-Indian found his home and occupation. He was called by the Hawaiian, specifically, Huanu, Hoke, Hoakina, etc., these names of course meaning Juan, Jose, Joachin, etc. He had with him sometimes full-blooded Indians of Mexican origin, whom I saw in my boyhood. He was called generically "Paniolo" or "Espagnol," the word that now-a-days means "cow-boy." He brought with him the Mexican saddle in all its rich adornment of stamped bull-hide leather, and stirrups broad-winged. He brought the jingling spur with bells of hand-wrought steel. He brought the hair-rope in strands of alternate black and white, and the hand- whirled wheel for twisting it; also the hand-wrought bit, not so crude as it looked to be, and a necessity in bullock-hunting. All this away back in the thirties, long before the birth of the modern cow-boy. […] Last but not least, the lasso or lariat, braided evenly and lovingly from four strands of well-chosen hide, then well-stretched and oiled, coiled in the same left hand, that with the little and third ringer held the finely braided bridle rein; (Mexican too this was, and Mexican the causing of the rein to bear on the horse's neck, instead of to pull on the mouth.) A more forminable weapon this lasso than revolver or Winchester; and no artist has yet mastered the problem of depicting the throwing of the lasso, not even the inimitable Frederick Remington. […] Mexican saddles, bits and bridles, spurs and pack-saddles were long a specialty of Waimea manufacture. The tan-pit, the black- smith's shop, the saddler's shop, and shoemaker's too, all flour- ished as home industries—now, alas, no longer. The wire fence is limiting the size of the "drive in," the hoohuli bipi,—"round-up," the Americans call it. The merchant ship brings the cheap spur and inferior saddle for the degenerate paniolo of 1892; and so on—in short, the times are changed.}}

By the early 19th century, Capt. [[George Vancouver|George Vancouver's]] gift of cattle to [[Pai`ea Kamehameha]], monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, had multiplied astonishingly, and were wreaking havoc throughout the countryside. About 1812, John Parker, a sailor who had jumped ship and settled in the islands, received permission from Kamehameha to capture the wild cattle and develop a beef industry.

The Hawaiian style of ranching originally included capturing wild cattle by driving them into pits dug in the forest floor. Once tamed somewhat by hunger and thirst, they were hauled out up a steep ramp, and tied by their horns to the horns of a tame, older steer (or [[ox]]) that knew where the [[paddock]] with food and water was located. The industry grew slowly under the reign of Kamehameha's son Liholiho ([[Kamehameha II]]). Later, Liholiho's brother, Kauikeaouli ([[Kamehameha III]]), visited California, then still a part of Mexico. He was impressed with the skill of the Mexican vaqueros, and invited several to Hawaii in 1832 to teach the Hawaiian people how to work cattle.

Even today, traditional paniolo dress, as well as certain styles of Hawaiian formal attire, reflect the Spanish heritage of the vaquero.<ref name="GenegabusPanioloWays">{{cite web |url= http://starbulletin.com/2003/03/17/features/story1.html |title= Paniolo Ways: Riding the range is a lifestyle that reaches back 170 years in Hawaii |author= Jason Genegabus. Photos by Ken Ige |work= [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]] |date= 17 March 2003 |access-date= 6 July 2011 |archive-date= 24 June 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080624233722/http://starbulletin.com/2003/03/17/features/story1.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> The traditional Hawaiian saddle, the ''noho lio,''<ref name="KaheleCecilHanaHou">{{cite web |url= http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=467&MagazineID=28 |title= Way of the Noho Lio |author= Rose Kahele. Photos by Ann Cecil |work= [[Hana Hou!]] Vol. 9, No. 3 |date= June–July 2006 }}</ref> and many other tools of the cowboy's trade have a distinctly Mexican/Spanish look and many Hawaiian ranching families still carry the names of the vaqueros who married Hawaiian women and made Hawaii their home.

==See also==
* [[Cowboy]]
* [[Charro]]
* ''[[El Vaquero]]'', a [[Student publication|student newspaper]] at [[Glendale Community College (California)|Glendale Community College]]
* [[Jarocho]]
* [[Campino (profession)|Campino]]
* [[Gaucho]]
* [[Vaqueiros de alzada]], northern Spanish nomadic people
* [[Western lifestyle]]

==References==
{{reflist
| colwidth = 30em
| refs =

<ref name="Buckaroos">
{{cite web
| url = http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ncrhtml/crview03.html
| title = Buckaroos: Views of a Western Way of Life
| work = Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945–1982
| publisher = Library of Congress
| year = 1980
| access-date = 2010-08-06
}}
</ref>

}}

==Sources==
*Bennett, Deb (1998) ''Conquerors: The Roots of New World Horsemanship''. Amigo Publications Inc; 1st edition. {{ISBN|0-9658533-0-6}}
* {{cite book
  | last = Clayton
  | first = Lawrence
  | author2 = Hoy, James F
  | author3 = Underwood, Jerald
  | title = Vaqueros, Cowboys, and Buckaroos: The Genesis and Life of the Mounted North American Herders
  | publisher = University of Texas Press
  | location = Austin, TX
  | year = 2001
  | isbn = 978-0-292-71240-9
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=acCCGGOxCMIC&q=vaquero&pg=PA2
  | access-date = 2010-08-06
  }}
* Cowan, Robert G. (1977) "Ranchos of California, a list of Spanish Concessions 1775-1822 and Mexican Grants 1822-1846". Academy Library Guild, Fresno, Calif
* Draper, Robert. "21st-Century Cowboys: Why the Spirit Endures."  ''National Geographic'', December 2007, pp.&nbsp;114–135.
* Lehman, Tim. "The Making of the Cowboy Myth". ''The Saturday Evening Post'', vol. 292, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp.&nbsp;80–83.
* Malone, John William. ''An Album of the American Cowboy''.  New York:  Franklin Watts, Inc., 1971. SBN: 531-01512-2.
* Miller, Robert W. (1974) ''Horse Behavior and Training''. Big Sky Books, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
* {{cite web
| url = http://www.horsechannel.com/western-horse-training/vaquero-way-17722.aspx
| title = The Vaquero Way
| last = Stewart
| first = Kara L.
| date = December 2004
| publisher = Horse Illustrated
| department = HorseChannel.com
| access-date = 2010-07-13
}}
* {{Cite video
  | people = Varian, Sheila
  | title = The Vaquero Tradition: Hackamore, 2 Rein and Spade Bit
  | medium = DVD
  | publisher = Santa Ynez Historical Society
  | location = California
  | date = 2004
  }}
* Vernam, Glenn R. ''Man on Horseback''. New York: Harper & Row 1964.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|vaquero|vaqueros}}

{{Mounted stock herders}}
{{Spanish Empire}}
{{Rodeo}}

[[Category:Animal husbandry occupations]]
[[Category:Equestrian history]]
[[Category:Horse-related professions and professionals]]
[[Category:Culture of Mexico]]
[[Category:Cowboy culture]]