![Spanish Cattle Ranching historical marker, Gainesville FL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Spanish_Cattle_Ranching_historical_marker%2C_Gainesville_FL.JPG)
Cattle ranching was an important industry in Spanish Florida in the second half of the seventeenth century. The Spanish were in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
for almost a century before
ranching became widespread in the colony. Late in the seventeenth century, ranches were located along the middle
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...
, in
Potano Province (present-day
North Central Florida
North Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida which comprises the north-central part of the state and encompasses the North Florida counties of Alachua, Marion, Putnam, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafa ...
), and in
Apalachee Province
Apalachee Province was the area in the Panhandle of the present-day U.S. state of Florida inhabited by the Native American peoples known as the Apalachee at the time of European contact. The southernmost extent of the Mississippian culture, th ...
(the easternmost part of the
Florida Panhandle). Ranches flourished despite conflicts with the native people of Florida. Attacks by the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
colony, the
Province of Carolina, and its native allies brought an abrupt end to ranching in Florida at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Conditions in Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida in the 16th and 17th centuries was a frontier colony. There were only some 2,000 Spaniards in the colony, and between 800 and 1,500 people in the
Presidio
A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th and 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Spanish Philippines in particular, were cen ...
of
St. Augustine. Florida was a poor colony, with no source of precious metals and little else of value to the Spanish. The European population was almost completely dependent on government salaries paid from the ''situado'', an annual subsidy provided to the colony by the Viceroyalty of
New Spain. Most goods used by the colonists had to be imported from
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and New Spain (Mexico). The ''situado'' was often late, sometimes by years, or even skipped. One year the ship carrying the ''situado'' was captured by a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
. Another year, it was lost in a shipwreck.
The small amount of the ''situado'', and the frequent delays in its provision, left the colony constantly short of supplies and funds. The government and the Spanish people of Florida bought goods in
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. on credit, but growing debt caused prices to rise and credit to dry up. The Spaniards of Florida therefore sought means to generate additional income. Products grown or gathered in Florida and shipped to Havana and Spain included
ambergris
Ambergris ( or , la, ambra grisea, fro, ambre gris), ''ambergrease'', or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. Freshly produced ambergris has a mari ...
that washed up on the Atlantic coast of Florida,
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
and beans from Apalachee Province, and deerskins and furs obtained from the
Apalachicola people
Apalachicola (sometimes Palachacola) was the name of a Native American town and chiefdom, and of the people living in it, and of a group of towns associated with it, located along the lower part of the Chattahoochee River in present-day Alabama ...
. However, cattle ranching was, for a few decades, the most successful effort in Spanish Florida to supplement the meager support provided for the colony by the ''situado''.
Early attempts
Juan Ponce de León,
Hernando de Soto and
Tristán de Luna y Arellano
Tristán de Luna y Arellano (1510 – September 16, 1573) was a Spanish explorer and Conquistador of the 16th century.Herbert Ingram Priestley, Tristan de Luna: Conquistador of the Old South: A Study of Spanish Imperial Strategy (1936). http://palm ...
all took cattle with their expeditions to Florida, in line with their intentions to found
Spanish settlements there, but there is no evidence that any of those animals survived to reproduce.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés again introduced cattle to Florida when he founded
St. Augustine in 1565. For the rest of the sixteenth century cattle were periodically imported from Cuba and placed on islands along the coast near St. Augustine, but shortages of pasture and fresh water and, to some extent, excessive mosquito bites, killed them. Householders in St. Augustine each kept a few cows. A few hundred head of cattle were reported in the town in 1600. The failure to establish herds of cattle meant that 2,000
ducats worth of dried beef had to be imported from Havana yearly.
Documentation about ranches in Spanish Florida is scarce, particularly in the first half of the 17th century. Arnade, writing in 1961, stated that there was no evidence of cattle ranching in Florida before 1657, and that cattle ranching in Florida began sometime between 1605 and 1655. It is now known that continuing herds were established in Florida starting in 1618, when governor
Juan de Salinas
Juan de Salinas was the governor of Spanish Florida from August 2, 1618 - October 28, 1624.Ben CahoonU.S. States F-K
Salinas arrived at Saint Augustine in 1618 to replace Juan Treviño de Guillamas as governor of the Spanish territory of ''La Fl ...
began importing cattle from Cuba in sufficient numbers.
Expanses of vacant land became available in Spanish Florida as natives in
mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
villages died in frequent epidemics, or left their villages to avoid the ''
repartimiento
The ''Repartimiento'' () (Spanish, "distribution, partition, or division") was a colonial labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America. In concept, it was similar to other tribute-labor systems, such as the ''mit'a'' of t ...
'', in which men from mission villages were required to work, without pay, for the Spanish. The
Saltwater
Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...
and
Freshwater Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The v ...
villages along the St. Johns River were largely empty by 1617, leaving unused land that could serve for cattle ranches. The earliest reference to a cattle ranch in Florida is for one in Potano Province, possibly dating to the mid-1620s, but Hann speculates that earlier ranches had been established closer to St. Augustine.
Growth
Luis Benedit y Horruytiner became governor of Florida in 1633. He encouraged ''
criollos
In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of Spanish descent born in the colonies. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majo ...
'' (people of European descent born in the Americas) in St. Augustine to move to the inland provinces to start farming and ranching, using the native population as laborers. Horruytiner made a significant number of grants of land during his term as governor that were probably used as ranches. Horruytiner stayed in Florida after his term as governor ended, and his family later owned several cattle ranches. A dozen of so ''criollo'' families holding administrative and military positions in St. Augustine obtained land grants. Construction of the
Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, which began in 1672, created an increased demand for food for the workers.
Pablo de Hita y Salazar
Pablo de Hita y Salazar (1646–date of death unknown) was a Spanish military officer who served as governor of Spanish Florida (''La Florida'') from 1675 to 1680. The territory at the time stretched from current-day Florida west to Texas and nort ...
, governor of Spanish Florida from 1675 to 1680, also freely distributed land grants, for which he was reprimanded by the
Spanish Crown. He also stayed in Florida and became a cattle rancher after leaving office.
The best potential pastures in Spanish Florida were grasslands in the Potano Province, 15 leagues west of the St. Johns River. The Potano people had regularly burned their lands to clear them for agriculture and to create better conditions for hunting. The repeated fires converted woodlands to
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
s of wiregrass (''
Aristida stricta
''Aristida stricta'' is a warm-season grass, native to North America, that dominates understory vegetation in sandhills and flatwoods coastal plain ecosystems of the Carolinas in the Southeastern United States. It is known as wiregrass (due to i ...
''). The population of Potano Province started falling soon after the first missions were established there in 1606. Two of the early missions in Potano, San Miguel de Potano and
San Buenaventura de Potano
San Buenaventura de Potano was a Spanish mission near Orange Lake in southern Alachua County or northern Marion County, Florida, located on the site where the town of Potano had been located when it was visited by Hernando de Soto in 1539. The Ric ...
, disappeared from Spanish records after 1613, likely because of loss of population. Repeated epidemics struck Spanish Florida, including several between 1649 and 1655, leading governor
Diego de Rebolledo to observe in 1657 that plague and smallpox had left few natives alive in Timucua Province (which by then included Potano Province).
Operations
Cattle on ranches were allowed to freely browse in the woods for most of the year. They were gathered up and confined in pens in the spring, where calves were branded, and a portion were selected to go to slaughter. Most of the cattle to be slaughtered were driven to St. Augustine. The cattle sent to St. Augustine initially provided meat for the garrison, with any surplus meat sold to civilians in the city. As ranch production increased, surplus hides, tallow and dried meat became available for export. Some was sent to Spain on the one ship a year that was permitted to sail from St. Augustine to Spain. The rest was shipped to Havana and other cities in the
Caribbean.
Juan Márquez Cabrera
Juan Márquez Cabrera was a Spanish soldier who served as governor of Honduras (1668 – 1672) and then of Spanish Florida (1680 – 1687), until he was dismissed for abuses in office against the native peoples and Spanish citizens of Florida. H ...
, governor of Florida from 1680 to 1687, ordered that cattle ready for sale were to be slaughtered at a government slaughterhouse in St. Augustine, at a fixed price, and with the payment of a tax.
Ranches drew on several sources for workers. Some were ''
repartimiento
The ''Repartimiento'' () (Spanish, "distribution, partition, or division") was a colonial labor system imposed upon the indigenous population of Spanish America. In concept, it was similar to other tribute-labor systems, such as the ''mit'a'' of t ...
'' (involuntary unpaid draft) laborers, procured through the ''
caciques'' of mission villages. Mission population declines led to ranchers contracting with natives as day laborers, with resettlement of the workers on ranches. Full-time ranch hands included both contract workers and slaves. In the 1660s a company of soldiers was sent from Mexico to Florida to fill up the ranks of the garrison. The Mexican soldiers were
mestizos or
mulattos, and were regarded in St. Augustine as unfit to be soldiers. Many of them ended up working on ranches.
Ranches and farms in Spanish Florida paid a
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
, or
tax in kind Tax in kind or tax-in-kind usually refers to any taxation that is paid in kind, that is with goods or services rather than money, including:
* ''fisc
Under the Merovingians and Carolingians, the fisc (from Latin ''fiscus,'' whence we derive " ...
, of two-and-one-half percent of their produce. Governor Hita y Salazar, needing funds for construction of the Castillo de San Marcos, and for founding new Spanish towns at strategic points in Florida, introduced new taxes on farms and ranches, including an annual tax of 50
pesos
The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
for each ranch, and a charge of 50 pesos per league to make the grazing licenses inheritable. The new taxes brought in 2,500 pesos for the government between 1677 and 1685. Inspired by the new taxes imposed by the Spanish government, ''
caciques
A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...
'' (native chiefs) began levying a charge on the use of old fields in their chiefdoms, which they called "tribute".
Menéndez Márquez family
Foremost among the ''criollos'' engaged in cattle ranching in Spanish Florida was the Menéndez Márquez family. The family was descended from
Pedro Menéndez Márquez
Pedro Menéndez Márquez (c.1537 – 1600) was a Spanish military officer, conquistador, and governor of Spanish Florida. He was a nephew of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who had been appointed ''adelantado'' (an elite military and administrative p ...
, nephew of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the founder of Spanish Florida. Pedro Menéndez Márquez was the third royal governor of Spanish Florida. Pedro Menéndez Márquez's great-nephew (or, possibly, his grandson),
Francisco Menéndez Márquez
Francisco Menéndez Márquez y Posada (died 1649) was a royal treasurer (''teosoro real'') and interim co-governor of Spanish Florida, and the founder of a cattle ranching enterprise that became the largest in Florida.
Treasurer and acting gover ...
, was the Royal Treasurer-Steward for Spanish Florida from 1628 until 1637, and again from 1639 until his death in 1649. When governor
Benito Ruíz de Salazar Vallecilla was suspended from office in 1646, Francisco Menéndez Márquez and acting accountant
Pedro Benedit Horruytiner
Pedro Benedit Horruytiner y Catalán (1613 – November 20, 1684) was a Spanish soldier who served as interim co-governor of Spanish Florida (''La Florida'') between 1646 and 1648, and as governor between 1651 and 1654. When governor Benito Ruí ...
acted as co-governors until Salazar Vallecilla was returned to office in 1648.
By the 1640s Potano Province had become largely depopulated and subsumed into Timucua Province. Francisco started cattle ranching in the abandoned Potano lands, with the approval of Timucua chief Lúcas Menéndez, probably in 1646 or 1647, while acting as co-governor. By 1649 the ranch was worth 8,000 pesos and earning 700 pesos a year. A few years after Francisco's death, the royal treasury in St. Augustine was audited, and it was found that between 16,000 and 20,000 pesos were missing (Francisco's salary as treasurer was 1,470 pesos a year). Bushnell calculates that 6,000 pesos would have purchased about 200 head of cattle, five horses, and two slaves to serve as ranch hands. This sum accounts for much of the 16,000 to 20,000 pesos that Francisco had "borrowed" from the royal treasury. Francisco's family repaid about three-quarters of the missing funds, and was allowed to repay the balance over six years.
Cattle ranching boomed in Spanish Florida in the latter part of the 17th century. Francisco's son,
Tomás Menéndez Márquez
Tomás Menéndez Márquez y Pedroso (1643–1706) was an official in the government of Spanish Florida, and owner, with his brothers, of the largest ranch in Spanish Florida. He was captured by pirates in 1682 and held for ransom, but was rescued ...
, and Tomás's son Francisco II, founded or bought most of the ranches located between the St. Johns River and the Potano missions (in what is now western
Alachua County). The best known of the ranches was
La Chua, on the north side of what is now known as
Paynes Prairie
Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is a Florida State Park, encompassing a savanna in Alachua County, Florida lying between Micanopy and Gainesville. It is also a U.S. National Natural Landmark. It is crossed by both I-75 and U.S. 441 (which ha ...
. Tomás also formed alliances with other cattle ranchers. Several of his children married into other ranching families.
As did other ranches, the Menéndez Márquez ranches sent cattle to St. Augustine. Cattle were sometimes driven to Apalachee Province, as well. A port called San Martin was established in the early 1670s on the Suwannee River, and Tomás shipped hides, dried meat and tallow to Havana from that port. Tomás owned a ship which was engaged in the trade between San Martin, Havana and
San Marcos
San Marcos is the Spanish name of Saint Mark. It may also refer to:
Towns and cities Argentina
* San Marcos, Salta
Colombia
* San Marcos, Antioquia
* San Marcos, Sucre
Costa Rica
* San Marcos, Costa Rica (aka San Marcos de Tarrazú)
...
in Apalachee Province.
Conflict with chiefdoms
The natives of Spanish Florida did not take well to cattle ranching in their territories. Resistance to the ranches was part of an ongoing struggle between the "republic of Indians" and the "republic of Spaniards" over the control of land and of the labor of the natives. That struggle was complicated by differences between ''caciques'' and "common" natives, and by
missionaries supporting native complaints against Spanish ranchers and the Spanish government.
Trouble over cattle started with the founding of the colony. At the very beginning of the colony, cattle had to be placed on an island on the coast, where they were protected from native attacks by trained attack dogs. Reports of natives complaining about cattle destroying crops occurred throughout the 17th century. In 1694, the residents of San Diego de Salamototo, the ferry station on the St. Johns River for the
trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...
connecting St. Augustine and Apalachee, were severely short of food after cattle had destroyed their crops. Timucuas sometimes killed cattle to protect their fields, with the earliest report of such killing dating from 1614. During the Timucua Rebellion in 1658, Timucuas raided the Menéndez Márquez family's ''la Chua'' ranch, killing four ranch hands (two on the trail and two at the ranch) and all the cattle they could find.
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
missionaries to the Apalachee and Timucua resisted Spanish settlements and ranches near native towns as threats to the conversion of natives, as well as threats to the power of the ''caciques''.
Another source of conflict was the recruitment of natives as ranch hands. The power of the ''caciques'' of Apalachee and Timucua chiefdoms was dependent on their control of land and labor. A sufficient number of subjects working in the fields was required for the production of agricultural surpluses, which gave ''caciques'' the means to compete against other ''caciques'', and facilitated the acquisition of prestige goods. Shortages of labor available to ranches through the ''repartimiento'' system led to ranchers offering higher wages to voluntary contract workers. This in turn led native men to leave their villages and take up residence on ranches, which deprived their ''caciques'' of their labor in the village's fields, and of their availability to meet the ''repartimiento'' demands of the Spanish government. It also removed the native men and their families from the Christianizing efforts of the missionaries.
Prosperity, decline and sudden destruction
Late in the 17th century, there were 34 permanent ranches in Spanish Florida. In 1698 and 1699, those 34 ranches paid a tax in kind of 222 head of cattle. The largest ranch, ''la Chua'', paid a tax of 77 head of cattle. The tax rate on the produce of ranches ("fruits of the land") was two-and-a-half percent. A paid tax of 222 head of cattle implies that 8,880 calves were born in those two years, including 3,080 calves born on the ''la Chua'' ranch alone. In 1763,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
colonial official
James Robertson noted that, before the destruction of the Spanish missions in Florida at the beginning of the 18th century, cattle abounded in Florida, and one Spaniard (presumably, Tomás Menéndez Márquez, whose family owned ''la Chua'') owned 7,000 head.
Ranching had become less profitable with time. A beef steer was worth 21
peso
The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...
s in 1651, but only six pesos in 1689. The value of a horse fell from 100 pesos in 1651 to 25 pesos in 1682. A pair of draft
oxen was worth 80 pesos in 1651, but only 25 pesos in 1682. Moreover, the abundance of cattle attracted unwanted attention. French pirates based on
Anclote Key
Anclote Key is an island off the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida, the largest island in the Anclote Keys, located at near Tarpon Springs. Its name originates from the Spanish term for "anchor." The island is accessible only by boat and is ...
on the Gulf coast of Florida raided Spanish ranches in 1682 and 1684, reaching the ''la Chua'' ranch in the Potano region both times. Runaway slaves and natives who had left their mission villages killed cattle for food. Native allies of the English
Province of South Carolina
Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...
who participated in the
siege of St. Augustine in 1702, retreated through the Potano region, taking cattle, horses and Timucua captives with them to Carolina. By the first years of the 18th century, raids by pirates,
rustlers, and the English had severely affected ranching in Spanish Florida. A
blockhouse was constructed at ''la Chua'' and soldiers were stationed there to help work the ranch and protect it. The pressure of further raids forced the defenders to burn the blockhouse in 1706 and retreat to St. Augustine. The Spanish had lost control of Florida outside of the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine, including the cattle ranches.
See also
*
Florida Cracker cattle
The Florida Cracker or Florida Scrub is an American breed of cattle which originated in Spanish Florida and later in the American state of Florida. It is named for the Florida cracker culture in which it was kept. It is one of the Criollo breed ...
*
Florida Cracker Horse
The Florida Cracker Horse is a breed of horse from the state of Florida in the United States. It is genetically and physically similar to many other Spanish-style horses, especially those from the Spanish Colonial horse group. The Florida ...
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*{{cite book, last=Hann, first=John H., title=A History of the Timucua Indians and Missions, year=1996, publisher=University Press of Florida, location=Gainesville, Florida, isbn=0-8130-1424-7
Spanish Florida
Livestock
Ranches