Farming and Ranching Essential Questions: How does geography influence the way people live?

Vocabulary Subsistence Crop (Self-Existence Crop) – A crop grown to be used on the farm where it was raised Cash Crop ($ Crop) – A crop grown for the purpose of being sold

Vocabulary Squatter (trespasser) – A person who settles on or uses land that does not belong to him or her

Farming Life in the Republic of Texas revolved around agricultural activities. Some crops were grown on small family farms. (subsistence farming)

Farming The two major cash crops in Texas, cotton and sugarcane, were grown on plantations. Plantation owners relied on the labor of enslaved African Americans. #1 - COTTON #2 - SUGARCANE

This ranch is located in the Chihuahuan Desert near Presidio in the Rio Grande Valley. Cattle ranching began along the Rio Grande during the Spanish colonial era. History of Ranching

The Texas Longhorn is a signature breed. Old steers (more than four years old) have extremely long horns of up to 7 feet (2.1 m). Longhorns are known for their gentleness and intelligence. Some Texas longhorns can bring $40,000 today when sold.

Native Americans in Texas mostly raised sheep for meat and the coarse wool they produced, which was used to weave blankets. In the 1850s the first Angora goats were brought to the hilly country in the Edwards Plateau. These goats produce mohair, a luxury fiber. Today, 90 percent of the mohair grown in the United States comes from Texas.

Native Americans in Texas mostly raised sheep for meat and the coarse wool they produced, which they used to weave blankets. Later, Anglo American colonists introduced new breeds of sheep with higher-quality wool that was in demand by New England woolen mills.

The Texas cowhand is a national icon. In the heyday of cattle drives in the late 1800s, the average age of a cowhand was 24. The pay was low and the work was lonely and exhausting. In less than twenty years, cowhands herded more than six million cows and steers to the railroads.

Ranching Spanish ranchers influenced Anglo American ranchers, who raised cattle, sheep, and goats. Some people known as squatters grazed their herds on lands they did not own. Squatters benefitted Texas by helping to settle land not otherwise settled and by producing ranchers who would one day pay taxes. Many of the successful ranchers in the Republic of Texas were Tejanos.

Slavery The Republic of Texas protected the practice of slavery, which allowed its agricultural economy to develop. Enslaved people suffered abuse and were denied basic human rights. Religion and music thrived in slave communities and brought some relief to their hard lives.

African American Population in Texas, 1840

African American Population in Texas, 1850

Quiz A A

C A

D D

A C

B B