Our concept has a traditional western theme so I looked into the history of the traditional western cowboy and the origins of their existence. Our concept is also based on the theme 'Here today gone tomorrow' so I researched the cowboy's history as a drifter and looked into the reasons why they got their reputation of moving around so frequently and being considered 'here today, gone tomorrow'. The origins of the cowboy tradition come from Spain, beginning with the hacienda system of medieval Spain. This style of cattle ranching spread throughout much of the Iberian peninsula and later, was imported 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.
In the good old days the cowboy was the glue that held the West together. Ranchers would hire cowboys to keep a watchful eye over the herds on the wide open range. Although the addition of the fenced in herds has removed some of the need for cowboys, you can still see the skills that these old cowboys had by attending a rodeo. Even today cowboys show off their talent with bullriding, using the lasso, and roping and tying steers. The herding technique was brought over to the New World in the early 15th century by the Spanish and used by Americans who had to control large herds of cattle over a wide open space. The traditional cowboy look didn't come about until after the Mexican-American War in the 1850s. -Emma
No comments:
Post a Comment