Ch. 17: Mexicano
Contributions to the Southwest
What is a Mexicano Contribution?
• As you learned in Ch. 15, Texas gained its
independence from Mexico in 1836 and was
annexed by the U.S., becoming a state in
1845. The U.S. then fought and won a war
against Mexico in 1848, gained much of what
is know as the
southwestern part
of the U.S.
(California, Nevada,
Utah, New Mexico,
and Arizona).
What is a Mexicano Contribution?
• Spanish-speaking people had made their homes in
this region since the 1500s.
• There were 80,000 to 100,000 Mexicanos, or
Mexican citizens, living in the territories given up by
Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe in 1848.
• Most of these people remained in the Southwest
and became citizens of the U.S.
• Their experience in this rugged environment would
greatly contribute to the prosperity of the American
settlers moving in.
• This chapter discusses these areas of Mexicano
contribution.
This picture of a Mexicano helping an American
settler pack a mule illustrates how Americans moving
out west benefited from the Mexicanos’ knowledge
and experience.
Lets Look at the Nine Mexicano
Contributions Discussed in Ch. 17
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17.2: Mexicano Mining Contributions (pg. 230)
17.3: Cattle Ranching (pg. 231)
17.4: The Cowboy (pg. 232)
17.5: Sheep Raising (pg. 233)
17.6: Irrigated Farming (pg. 234)
17.7: Mexican Food (pg. 235)
17.8: Spanish-style Architecture (pg. 236)
17.9: Mexican Laws (pg. 237)
17.10: Mexicano Entertainments (pg. 238)
17.2: Mexicano Mining Contribution
• Americans knew nothing about mining
techniques, or about quartz, silver, and
copper mining.
• Mexicanos taught
American miners
how to use the batea,
riffle box, and
Batea
arrastra to
(gold pan)
mine.
17.2: Mexicano Mining Contribution
Arrastra (grinding mill)
Riffle box
(the
heavy
gold was
trapped
behind
the riffles)
17.2: Mexicano Mining Contribution
A Closer Look at the Riffle Box: Dirt is placed at the top and water is
poured over it, washing away everything but the gold. The gold, being
heavy, gets stuck behind the riffles (the little rectangle pieces of wood).
Arrastra (grinding mill)
17.2: Mexicano Mining Contribution
• Mexicanos were also responsible for
discovering the two precious metals of silver
and copper in the West.
• Silver was mined mostly in Nevada, while
copper was mined mostly in Arizona.
17.3: Cattle Ranching
• Branding is the burning
of a rancher’s mark
(symbol) onto his cattle
to identify it as
belonging to him.
• The branding was
done by his hired
cowboys (as you
can see in the
picture to the
right).
17.3: Cattle Ranching
• Cowboys would tie down
cattle, then place the end of
the hot iron in a fire until it
turned a bright orange. Then,
they would place it against
the hide of the cattle.
• Branding was necessary
because herds belonging to
different owners often mixed
together on unfenced
grasslands.
17.3: Cattle Ranching
• Before branding the
cattle, they first had to
be rounded up, called
a rodeo.
• Today’s professional
sport of rodeo has it’s
roots in the cattle
roundups on Mexicano
ranchos (ranches).
17.4: The Cowboy
A vaquero is a
Mexicano cowboy.
17.5: Sheep Raising
• Sheep raising was a
big, well-organized
business for the
Mexicanos.
• Americans moving to
the Southwest quickly
adopted this large scale
system of
producing
wool.
17.5: Sheep Raising
• One particular type
of sheep, the
churro was used
throughout the
Southwest rather
than other forms of
sheep because it
knew how to
survive in a dry
environment like
that of the
Southwest.
17.6: Irrigated Farming
• Irrigation is the process of supplying dry land
with water, often through ditches (like those
you see in this picture).
• Irrigation was necessary to farming in the
West, because many areas of the Southwest
had dry environments where months could
go by with no rain. In other words, there
wasn’t enough water without irrigation.
17.6: Irrigated Farming
• In the Mexican system of irrigation, a field is
divided into squares marked off by a wall of
earth high enough to hold in water.
• When one square has been soaked with
water, a hole is made in the wall so water can
flow into the next square.
• This process is repeated
until the entire field is
soaked.
17.6: Irrigated Farming
• Irrigation allowed for many foods to be farmed
that hadn’t been farmed by Americans
previously, including many citrus fruits.
• This included grapes, dates, olives, apples,
walnuts, pears, plums, peaches, apricots,
quinces, lemons, limes, and oranges.
17.7: Mexican Food
• The mostly widely
recognized Mexicano
contribution is
Mexican food.
• But what many
Americans view as
Mexican food is really
“Tex-Mex.”
• “Tex-Mex” is the
blending of Mexican
and American dishes.
17.7: Mexican Food
• The food you get at Taco Bell is a good
example of “Tex-Mex” cooking.
17.8: Spanish-style Architecture
Spanish-style architecture consists of courtyards,
rounded arches, thick adobe walls, and red tile
roofs.
17.8: Spanish-style Architecture
• Since there weren’t a lot of trees in the
Southwest, Mexicanos used adobe bricks as
their main building materials.
• Adobe is a mixture of earth, grass, and water
that is shaped into
bricks and baked in
the sun.
• Many homes in the
Southwest today are
made using of adobe.
17.9: Mexican Laws
• Mining Law- Before the discovery of gold in
California, there was so little mining in the
U.S. that there was no mining law. But with
the gold rush in California, it quickly became
clear that the forty-niners needed rules in
order to keep order.
• As a result, Americans developed
a “law of the mines” based on
Mexican mining law, which helped
keep order.
17.9:
Mexican Laws
• Community Property Law- In the eastern
states, married women had few property
rights and any property acquired by a married
couple—such as a home, farm, or business—
belonged solely to the husband.
• In contrast, Mexican law said that all property
acquired during a marriage was “community
property.” If a couple separated, half of the
property belonged to the wife and half to the
husband. This greatly benefited women.
17.9: Mexican Laws
• Water Law- Under Mexicano water law,
known as “pueblo law,” water is seen as
too valuable to be owned or controlled by
any one person. Instead, water is
considered to belong to the entire
community and should be used
for the benefit of all (shared).
17.10: Mexicano Entertainments
• Mexicanos worked hard, but
they also knew how to
entertain themselves with
music, dance, and fiestas
(celebrations, parties).
17.10: Mexicano Entertainments
• Mexicano music greatly
influenced country and
western music in the
Southwest.
• The most important
contribution was the
corrido, or folk ballad.
• A corrido is a dramatic
story sung as a guitar
is played.
17.10: Mexicano Entertainments
• The most widely celebrated
Mexicano holiday is El Cinco
de Mayo (the Fifth of May).
• It is similar to the Fourth of
July for Americans.
• It commemorates an important victory in
Mexico’s fight for independence from French
rule in 1862.
• Today, Cinco de Mayo fiestas bring together
Mexican and non-Mexican Americans to
Mexicano music, dance, and food.