Hispanic Role in the West September was the month that large horse raiding parties of Comanche went into Mexico after horses and captives. The Comanche referred to September as the Mexican Moon; Mexicans called it the Comanche Moon. What remained is the language of the Hispanic west. For example, what other word is more identifiable with the "Wild West" than buckaroo? Yet buckaroo (first recorded in 1827) is merely a mispronunciation of the Spanish vaquero (literally "cow-man", ultimately from Latin vacca, "a cow"). Also, what is generally acknowledged but rarely mentioned is that major elements of the clothing, food, language and most importantly the cultural values and attitudes derive from Mexican as well as Southern American sources. In California the Colonial Spanish cattle industry was huge and directly tied to Spain and the Catholic Missions. The Spanish had diverse economics in the new world, mining, sugar and cattle and trade that reached the four corners of the earth. In the arid region of their Northern frontier, what we know now as California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, cattle grazing was sometimes the sole economic prospect until dams and irrigation techniques were developed. Spanish cattle leather often returned to the Spanish colonies as fine leatherworks such as chests, clothing and furniture. The Ranch in Mexico Skilled ropers and riders, Hispanic-American cowboys employed tools and techniques perfected by Spanish vaqueros (buckaroos) in Mexico and the southwestern United States. They snared livestock with ropes made of rawhide or Manila hemp and rode heavy stock saddles equipped with a horn, which served as a snubbing post while roping. Cowboys also adopted a distinctive, often colorful style of dress that reflected the requirements of the job, the local work environment, and included many elements of the Mexican Vaqueros' personal taste. Most wore wide-brimmed hats to protect their head from sun and weather, tall-topped boots with slanted high heels to help secure their feet in the saddle stirrups, and spurs, sometimes embellished with silver, to motivate their horses. In brush-infested regions they also donned leather leggings, called chaps, short for the Spanish term chaparejos. The sharp decline of the herds of the Plains created a vacuum which was exploited by the growing cattle industry. Spanish cattlemen had introduced cattle ranching and longhorn cattle to the Southwest in the 17th century, and the men who worked the ranches, called "vaqueros", were the first "cowboys" in the West.
Also, the area which is now Texas was part of the vast area claimed by the Spanish crown. Since it was not notably superior to other areas of New Spain that the Spanish kings needed to develop not much was done in the Texas area until it looked as though France might establish control there. The Spanish expedition that was sent to investigate possible French incursions into the area found that the French had established a colony at Matagorda Bay but it had been wiped out by hostile natives. The peaceful Caddo and Tonkawa Native Americans that met the expedition announced their peaceful intentions by shouting friends in their language. The word for friends in that language was Thechas, which the Spanish wrote as Tejas and used as the name for the natives. The Spanish version Tejas was converted into Texias by the Anglo immigrants. Those first immigrants in acknowledgement to the stipulation that they become Mexican citizens called themselves Texians for a period of time before the spellings took the modern forms of Texas and Texans. See also: |