Hawaiian Cowboys?

Hawaiian Cowboys?

When British Captain George Vancouver gave King Kamehameha a gift of cattle in the 1790s, he probably didn't anticipate the chain of events he would set in motion. The cattle, which were allowed to roam free, multiplied. Within a few years there were thousands of wild cattle on the island. In the early 1800s, when the young sailor John Palmer Parker jumped ship and settled in Hawaii, he was appointed a wild cattle hunter to control the herds, which were a nuisance to many people. Parker soon began trading the meat, tallow, and hides with visiting ships. He married a high chief's daughter and gradually expanded his lands, eventually establishing Parker Ranch. Thus was born the big country cattle industry.

In the mid-1800s, vaqueros (Spanish-Mexican cowboys) were brought to the Big Island to help control the wild cattle. They also taught the fine art of cowboying to the Hawaiians. The paniolos (Hawaiian for cowboys) taught the natives how to ride horses and rope cattle and the other skills a cowboy needed. Today's Hawaiian paniolos are a product of that cross-cultural experience.