The Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been involved in a controversy with the Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week about the origins of the American cowboy, which has sparked a larger conversation on social media about the history of the Wild West.
Ocasio-Cortez has criticized a recent speech by Rubio and cast doubt on what she said was the secretary of state’s claim that American cowboys came from Spain.
“My favorite part was when he said that American cowboys came from Spain”he pointed out. “I think that Mexicans and the descendants of enslaved African people would like to give their opinion on the matter,” he concluded.
AOC mocks Rubio: “My favorite part is he said cowboys are rooted in Spain. Uhhh, speak to Mexicans & African slaves!”
Spain introduced horses to Mexico pic.twitter.com/xHt1jZCoSi
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 15, 2026
The comment has gone viral and has generated a debate among experts (and other people not so specialized) about what is believed to be the mixture of origins of cowboy culture in the United States (USA).
The cowboy’s legacy
‘The History Channel’ reports that American cowboy culture dates back to the time of Spanish colonialism.
“Hundreds of years before there was the American cowboy, there was the cowboy.”he says, referring to the expert horsemen who arrived after the arrival of the Spanish in 1519 to what is now Mexico.
The first cowboys, he says, were “Mesoamerican indigenous people who learned from their Spanish colonizers to herd cattle on horseback.”
US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Reuters
the historian Pablo A. Rangelwho has studied cowboy history extensively, says it is “a forgotten history of centuries of horsemanship in the Americas that roots cowboys in the colonial past.”
The word “cowboy” comes from “cow.” As Spain extended its North American empire to what is now Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, the cowboy played a crucial role.
The cowboy tamed wild horses, braided ropes, made saddles and learned to use the lasso with skill.
A mixed cultural heritage
Several cultures contributed to the development of cowboy culture, which later spread to the United States.
After the independence of Texas from Mexico and its subsequent incorporation into the United States in 1845, Anglo settlers began to take on tasks on the ranches. Mexicans remained as skilled workers on Texas ranches, training Anglo cowboys in handling horses and cattle.
Historians estimate that up to a quarter of all 19th century cowboys were black.
Performers such as Buffalo Bill Cody also incorporated Mexican cowboys into their traveling Old West shows, although in a rather romantic and stereotypical manner.
Los westerns Hollywood audiences of the early 20th century began to portray cowboys as heroic white Americans, rather than the multiracial groups that developed the practice.
“That’s when the cowboy becomes something more”Rangel tells the ‘History Channel’. “He becomes a racialized and vilified character.”