Native American Vaqueros on the California Frontier

In this episode, we look at the history of Native American Vaqueros. 

Vaqueros were skilled horsemen who managed cattle and horses. Their tradition probably originates in the horse culture that arrived in Spain from North Africa in the 8th century AD and is widespread in Latin America. 

The mission era brought ranching life to Alta California and created the unique figure of the California vaquero. Franciscan friars had some of the most trusted Native Americans at the missions trained as vaqueros, who excelled at horsemanship. Eventually, Indian vaqueros were a key part of rancho life on the California frontier.

Full text of the podcast

Learn more about Native American Vaqueros:

• Book: Rose Marie Beebe and Robert Senkewicz. Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815–1848.
• Book: Russell Freedman. In the Days of the Vaqueros: America’s First True Cowboys.
• Book: Jo Mora. Californios: The Saga of the Hard-riding Vaqueros, America’s First Cowboys.
• Book: George Harwood Phillips: Vineyards and Vaqueros: Indian Labor and the Economic Expansion of Southern California, 1771–1877.
• Book: Arnold Rojas. These Were The Vaqueros: Collected Works of Arnold R. Rojas
• Book: Stephen W. Silliman: Lost Laborers in Colonial California: Native Americans and the Archaeology of Rancho Petaluma.
• Book chapter: Lee Panich: “Indigenous Vaqueros in Colonial California” in Foreign Objects: Rethinking Indigenous Consumption in American Archaeology.
• Article: Paul Albert Lacson. “Born of Horses:’ Missionaries, Indigenous Vaqueros, and Ecological Expansion during the Spanish Colonization of California.”