HISTORY9 - History of Rodeo
Pat and I have recently attended rodeos in Tucson and Sells, Arizona. Belatedly this time, here is a short history of rodeo. Origin and History Rodeo today is a competitive sport that arose out of the practices of Spanish ranchers and their ranch hands (vaqueros) in Mexico, a mixture of cattle wrangling and bullfighting, that dates back to the 16 th -century conquistadors. The American English word “rodeo” is taken directly from the Spanish word rodeo , which roughly translates into English as “round up.” The Spanish word is derived from the verb rodear , meaning “to surround” or “go around,” used to refer to a “a pen for cattle at a fair or market,” derived from Latin rota or totare , meaning to rotate or go around. Early rodeos in northern Mexico in the 1820s and 1830 were informal events at fairgrounds, racetracks, fiestas, and festivals that tested the vaqueros work skills against one another. Rodeo came to the United States in the ...