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The Vaquero
Home to the vaquero was the hacienda, a large ranch. Established
in the early 17th century, these ranches, stretching over thousands
of acres, echoed the days of feudalism in Europe. Each hacienda
was a kind of company town or county, with the workers bound
to the ranch and its boss, the hacendado, by a kind of debt slavery.
Generations of vaqueros were born on haciendas, living and working
their whole lives there.
Hacienda de Zoquiapan, Puebla, hacio 1890. From the book Haciendas poblanas by Mariana Yampolsky.
Tools of
the Vaquero