Talk:Cowboy

Vaqueros/Vaqueiros are not just Spanish

Cowboys are originally IBERIAN, not "Spanish". Vaqueiros still exist today in Portugal aswell. I dislike how Spain always overshadows Portugal when it comes to IBERIAN history and culture. Something shared by both countries will be seen as Spanish and not Iberian. 79.169.26.238 (talk) 20:11, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 November 2024

In the section, Modern Work -> Tools -> Firearms, the last link directs to "ATV." which does not exist. This should be a link to the All-terrain_vehicle page. An ATV disambiguation page exists but this would not be a seamless clickthrough. Thanks! PuppyRancher (talk) 03:25, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

 Done FifthFive (talk) 04:57, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 14 January 2026

I request for the Category:Canadian cattlemen and Category:Canadian folklore to be added to the External links, since cowboys lived in Canada too. ~2026-29637-3 (talk) 17:15, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: The article does not mention the cowboy as an example of Canadian folklore, and the other category is for individual Canadian cattlemen. Day Creature (talk) 18:29, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 April 2026

Change

The English word cowboy has an origin from several earlier terms that referred to both age and to cattle or cattle-tending work.

The English word cowboy was derived from vaquero, Spanish for cowherd or cattle-herder,[3] from vaca, meaning "cow",[4] and the suffix -ero used in nouns to indicate a trade, job, occupation, profession or position;[5] itself from the Latin: vaccārius, which means cowherd,[6][7][8][9] from vacca, meaning “cow”,[10] and the suffix -ārius used to form nouns denoting an agent of use, such as a dealer or artisan, from other nouns.[11]

to

The use of cowboy in the American West derives from the pejorative term "cow boy" (similar to houseboy), for a black cow hand circa 1700. White ranchers were exclusively called cowhands at this time. Many state ranching regulations in the 1700s required two or more slaves to manage 100 heads of cattle. After the American Civil War, over 20,000 freed slaves returned to work in cattle ranching as they received similar wages to white ranchers. Over time, the contribution of black cowboys has been largely forgotten as very few Western films portray black cowboys.

The very earliest global English use of cowboy was derived from vaquero, Spanish for cowherd or cattle-herder,[3] from vaca, meaning "cow",[4] and the suffix -ero used in nouns to indicate a trade, job, occupation, profession or position;[5] itself from the Latin: vaccārius, which means cowherd,[6][7][8][9] from vacca, meaning “cow”,[10] and the suffix -ārius used to form nouns denoting an agent of use, such as a dealer or artisan, from other nouns.[11]

New references for after "(similar to houseboy), for a black cow hand" Patton, Tracy Owens; Schedlock, Sally M. (2011). "Let's Go, Let's Show, Let's Rodeo: African Americans and the History of Rodeo". The Journal of African American History. 96 (4): 503–521. doi:10.5323/jafriamerhist.96.4.0503. JSTOR 10.5323/jafriamerhist.96.4.0503. S2CID 141567413.

for after whitewashing has erased the contribution of black cowboys español, GARY GERARD HAMILTON Leer en (2025-11-21). "Jordan Peele's 'High Horse: The Black Cowboy' doc sheds light on an erased part of history". AP News. Retrieved 2025-12-04. Dooginsmalone (talk) 22:45, 22 April 2026 (UTC)

Please provide the referece per wikipedia citation form so that it becomes easier. Thank you. Regards, VerdictByLogic - Let's Discuss 06:23, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

The use of cowboy in the American West derives from the pejorative term "cow boy" (similar to houseboy), for a black cow hand circa 1700. White ranchers were exclusively called cowhands at this time. Many state ranching regulations in the 1700s required two or more slaves to manage 100 heads of cattle. After the American Civil War, over 20,000 freed slaves returned to work in cattle ranching as they received similar wages to white ranchers. Over time, the contribution of black cowboys has been largely forgotten as very few Western films portray black cowboys .

The very earliest global English use of cowboy was derived from vaquero, Spanish for cowherd or cattle-herder,[3] from vaca, meaning "cow",[4] and the suffix -ero used in nouns to indicate a trade, job, occupation, profession or position;[5] itself from the Latin: vaccārius, which means cowherd,[6][7][8][9] from vacca, meaning “cow”,[10] and the suffix -ārius used to form nouns denoting an agent of use, such as a dealer or artisan, from other nouns.[11]

References

Patton, Tracy Owens; Schedlock, Sally M. (2011). "Let's Go, Let's Show, Let's Rodeo: African Americans and the History of Rodeo". The Journal of African American History, 96 (4).

Leer, Gary Gerard Hamilton (2025). "Jordan Peele's 'High Horse: The Black Cowboy' doc sheds light on an erased part of history". AP News.

Let me know if there is anything else I should add to the request to allow it to be updated. Dooginsmalone (talk) 23:00, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

You have just cited few things. Each and every line or paragraph should be cited. Thank you, Regards. VerdictByLogic - Let's Discuss 08:59, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

ok - I have added a reference for each sentence below as requested.

The use of cowboy in the American West derives from the pejorative term "cow boy" (similar to houseboy), for a black cow hand circa 1700. White ranchers were exclusively called cowhands at this time. Many state ranching regulations in the 1700s required two or more slaves to manage 100 heads of cattle. After the American Civil War, over 20,000 freed slaves returned to work in cattle ranching as they received similar wages to white ranchers. Over time, the contribution of black cowboys has been largely forgotten as very few Western films portray black cowboys .

The very earliest global English use of cowboy was derived from vaquero, Spanish for cowherd or cattle-herder,[3] from vaca, meaning "cow",[4] and the suffix -ero used in nouns to indicate a trade, job, occupation, profession or position;[5] itself from the Latin: vaccārius, which means cowherd,[6][7][8][9] from vacca, meaning “cow”,[10] and the suffix -ārius used to form nouns denoting an agent of use, such as a dealer or artisan, from other nouns.[11]

References

Patton, Tracy Owens; Schedlock, Sally M. (2011). "Let's Go, Let's Show, Let's Rodeo: African Americans and the History of Rodeo". The Journal of African American History, 96 (4).

Leer, Gary Gerard Hamilton (2025). "Jordan Peele's 'High Horse: The Black Cowboy' doc sheds light on an erased part of history". AP News.

Dooginsmalone (talk) 20:53, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

Sorry it didn't save my new references for some reason. I have reupdated below. Let me know if there is anything else needed.

The use of cowboy in the American West derives from the pejorative term "cow boy" (similar to houseboy), for a black cow hand circa 1700 . White ranchers were exclusively called cowhands at this time . Many state ranching regulations in the 1700s required two or more slaves to manage 100 heads of cattle . After the American Civil War, over 20,000 freed slaves returned to work in cattle ranching as they received similar wages to white ranchers . Over time, the contribution of black cowboys has been largely forgotten as very few Western films portray black cowboys .

The very earliest global English use of cowboy was derived from vaquero, Spanish for cowherd or cattle-herder,[3] from vaca, meaning "cow",[4] and the suffix -ero used in nouns to indicate a trade, job, occupation, profession or position;[5] itself from the Latin: vaccārius, which means cowherd,[6][7][8][9] from vacca, meaning “cow”,[10] and the suffix -ārius used to form nouns denoting an agent of use, such as a dealer or artisan, from other nouns.[11]

References

Patton, Tracy Owens; Schedlock, Sally M. (2011). "Let's Go, Let's Show, Let's Rodeo: African Americans and the History of Rodeo". The Journal of African American History, 96 (4).

Leer, Gary Gerard Hamilton (2025). "Jordan Peele's 'High Horse: The Black Cowboy' doc sheds light on an erased part of history". AP News.

Toussaint-Strauss, Josh et. al.(2020) “Why the First US Cowboys Were Black.” 'The Guardian'.

Nodjimbadem, Katie (2017) “The Lesser-Known History of African-American Cowboys.” Smithsonian Magazine, 13.

Glasrud, Bruce A.; Searles, Michael N. (2016) "Black Cowboys in the American West: On the Range, On the Stage, Behind the Badge".

Dooginsmalone (talk) 21:17, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

References

Please provide full citations, as explained in Wikipedia:Citing sources. Short citations can be used in the body of the text, but should be supported by full citations, usually in a "References" or similarly named section at the bottom of the article. Readers of Wikipedia should be able to find cited sources to verify the content, and the more information we can give a reader about a given source, the better. Links to on-line sources are important, but sources do not need to be on-line. - Donald Albury 00:19, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

All the citations are there as per Wikipedia citing sources. ~2026-33368-46 (talk) 11:59, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

My apologies, I apparently did not notice the references section in the body of your post, and was looking at the References section created by the reflist template. Unfortunately the full citations you supplied are still missing a few things. Full citations for printed (paper or ebook) sources should include, at a minimum, the name(s) of all author(s), if any, the year of publication, the title of the book or article, and the publisher. Page numbers for sources more than a few pages long need to be included either in the short citations in the text or with the full citations (see WP:SFN). For books, please include the ISBN if it has one. For articles, include the name of the publication, volume, and issue. If the book or article is available on-line, include the URL. For websites, provide at a minimum the URL, name, and publisher of the site, and the date you viewed the site (the access-date). All of this information needs to be available so that other users can access the sources to verify the content in the Wikipedia article for which the source is cited, and for further reading and research. For the Leer source, please indicate where you found the article (AP news is too vague). For the Toussaint-Strauss source, the month and day are needed, and the URL, if it is on-line. The Glasrud and Searles source needs the publisher.Donald Albury 18:03, 5 June 2026 (UTC) Edited 18:19, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: the page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. Marking this as answered. Conversation can continue if needed. win8x (talk) 22:04, 25 July 2026 (UTC)

The first cowboy were black people

https://www.science.org/content/article/america-s-first-cowboys-were-enslaved-africans-ancient-cow-dna-suggests

Why was this not included? I would suggest this is a significant discovery that changes the way we know about cowboys. I think it’s time to stop suppressing cowboys’ African origins, especially as the first cattle herders of the Americas were more likely to be Fulani slaves as opposed to white American settlers of the “Wild West” or the mixed-race vaqueros. ~2026-29815-02 (talk) 08:05, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

You should make an edit request, then I'll do it for you! Hamimh2 (talk) 00:04, 20 May 2026 (UTC)

Note that the cited article is referring to the introduction of cattle ranching in Hispaniola. The people who herded cattle in the 17th century in Florida also included African slaves. As far as I know, there is no continuity between the people who herded cattle in the Spanish Caribbean and Spanish Florida and the vaquero/cowboy traditions of Mexico and the United States. Donald Albury 18:33, 5 June 2026 (UTC)