Q 01/05

In Spanish, vaquero is built on the word vaca, meaning what?

A) Cow

B) Horse

C) Ranch

D) Rope

Answer · why

A) Cow

Vaca means cow; the suffix -ero marks a trade, and vaquero traces back to the Latin vaccarius, a cowherd.

Q 02/05

The vaquero traditions behind the American cowboy trace back to Spanish settlers from which region?

A) Catalonia

B) Galicia

C) Andalusia

D) The Basque Country

Answer · why

C) Andalusia

Andalusia's open-range cattle tradition, carried by Spanish settlers to Mexico, is the root of the vaquero; its ranchers worked herds on horseback acr...

Q 03/05

In 1598, Don Juan de Oñate crossed the Rio Grande into New Mexico with roughly how many head of cattle?

A) 7,000

B) 17,000

C) 70,000

D) 170,000

Answer · why

A) 7,000

Oñate's 1598 expedition brought about 7,000 head of cattle across the Rio Grande into New Mexico; from that start, vaqueros drove cattle from New Mexi...

Q 04/05

In the British Isles between 1820 and 1850, the word 'cowboy' meant what?

A) A rustler of cattle

B) A dairy farmer's hired hand

C) A boy tending the family cows

D) A butcher's young apprentice

Answer · why

C) A boy tending the family cows

In the British Isles from 1820 to 1850, 'cowboy' meant a boy tending the family cows; the American sense of an adult cattle hand on horseback came lat...

Q 05/05

Historically, cowboys could be hired as soon as they had the skills, often at what age?

A) 8 or 9

B) 16 or 17

C) 12 or 13

D) 19 or 20

Answer · why

C) 12 or 13

Boys could be hired as cowboys at 12 or 13 once they could ride and rope; the youngest or lowest-status hand on a drive usually served as wrangler, te...