When you hear the word “cowboy,” what comes to mind? Probably some rugged guy in a ten-gallon hat riding across the dusty plains of Texas or Montana. Maybe he’s chewing on a piece of hay, tipping his hat to a tumbleweed. But what if I told you that the original American cowboys weren’t in Texas, Montana, or even the so-called Wild West? No, the first real cowboys, who existed way before John Wayne, and even the word “cowboy” itself, were in Florida. Yes, Florida. The home of alligators, theme parks, and Cuban sandwiches was once filled with vaqueros, and now they’re all but forgotten. But why?
Origins of Florida’s Forgotten Vaqueros
Long before Texas claimed the cowboy aesthetic, Spanish explorers were raising cattle in far away Spain. In 1521, Juan Ponce de León, while searching for the Fountain of Youth, brought the first cattle to North America, from Spain. He brought them to Florida. However, his expedition ended badly when he was fatally wounded by the Calusa tribe.
So, what happened to all of Ponce de León’s cattle? They stuck around, multiplying into massive herds.
RELATED POST: The Sizzling History of Fajitas
“Spain’s attempts to colonize the interior of Florida were abandoned by the early 1700s,” Tampa Magazine writes. “Spanish colonists retreated to the fortress towns of St. Augustine and Pensacola or departed for their Caribbean holdings in Cuba and Hispaniola (the island now made up of the Dominican Republic and Haiti), leaving behind massive herds of Andalusian cattle, an ancestor of today’s modern Texas longhorn.”
Who Were the Original Vaqueros?
The face of Florida changed over the next century, with inhabitants …
“The second generation to settle in the Florida territory after the Spanish were pioneers who traveled south through the state in the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War,” Tampa magazine explains. “Control of Florida was still disputed by Spain and England, so settlers in the state lived outside the political control of both nations. Cattle rustlers, charged with rounding up the loose cattle in Central Florida, used long, braided leather bullwhips to bring cattle out from the underdeveloped forest brush.”
This is how the first real cowboys, or vaqueros, as they called in Spanish, were born. These men were the ultimate cattle wranglers, pioneering the skills and tools that would become cowboy staples.
“In 17th century Spain, it was illegal for commoners to ride horses, but the owners of haciendas in Mexico, Cuba and Florida quickly learned that vaqueros were an absolute necessity in order to keep herds of cattle from going feral in the vast, unsettled expanses of the Americas,” Apalache Research writes. “Thus, the vaqueros immediately had much higher status than peon farmers.”
How Did Texas Take All the Credit?
So if Florida had the first cattle ranches and the first cowboys, how did Texas and Montana end up with all the glory? Timing and marketing. By the mid-1800s, Florida’s cattle industry was already centuries old, but it wasn’t as flashy as the big cattle drives of the post-Civil War era in Texas. Florida cowboys were driving cattle through swamps, not across the wide-open plains.
Meanwhile, Texas and Montana had Hollywood on their side. The larger-than-life image of the cowboy came from Wild West shows, silent films, and eventually John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. The wide-open plains of Texas made for a much more cinematic backdrop than Florida’s mosquito-infested marshes. But make no mistake: Florida cowboys were here first.
Where Are Florida’s Ranches Today?
Believe it or not, Florida is still one of the biggest cattle-producing states in the country. In Osceola, Polk, or Highlands Counties, in central Florida, you’ll find sprawling cattle ranches that have been around for generations. Even Miami, known for beaches and nightlife, has its cowboy roots. Drive a little west, and you’ll find small cattle operations on the outskirts of the city. Florida’s cattle industry is alive and well, hidden in plain sight among the palm trees and tourist traps.
So next time you picture a cowboy, maybe swap out that Texas image for a Florida cracker, wading through a swamp, dodging gators, and doing it all before Texas even had its first ranch. Because when it comes to cowboys, Florida was the Wild East long before the Wild West was even a thing.
