USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -va·que·ro vä-ˈker-(ˌ)ō plural vaqueros. Synonyms of vaquero. : herdsman, cowboy. used in reference to cowboys in areas (such as Mexico and the southwestern U.S.) where Spanish is spoken.

Detailed explanation-2: -Vaqueros were proverbial cowboys-rough, hard-working mestizos who were hired by the criollo caballeros to drive cattle between New Mexico and Mexico City, and later between Texas and Mexico City.

Detailed explanation-3: -Vaqueros had been herding and driving cattle and wild horses for hundreds of years by the time they became part of the Texas ranching landscape. The vaqueros were so renowned for their skills that rancher Richard King traveled to Mexico in 1854 to recruit entire vaquero families to manage his herds.

Detailed explanation-4: -Cowboys have been, and continue to be, an important part of the West. Vaqueros were the first cowboys. Vaquero culture in North America goes back as far as the 1680s. This was a time when the population was much smaller, and life was much different.

Detailed explanation-5: -Like the cowboys of American popular culture, the majority of vaqueros were young single men who could handle the grueling and skilled work and could travel where their ranch employers required them to go.