I am really curious if the wild west was just in the west in US or was that spread/been culture in the whole world? And what kind of government they had? were they dressed the same but just in different city or…? were Cowboys shooting, been outlaws, hunted, killed, riding horses etc. just in wild west or in the whole world?
Anywhere there were large herds of cow there have been "cowboys". in addition to the original Mexican vaquero, the Mexican charro, the cowboy, and the Hawaiian paniolo, the Spanish also exported their horsemanship and knowledge of cattle ranching to the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and (with the spelling gaúcho) southern Brazil,the chalan in Peru, the llanero of Venezuela, and the huaso of Chile. in Australia, cowboys are known as stockmen and ringers.
They all tended to dress similarly, chaps, broad brim hats etc.
The shooting of outlaws etc is mostly a fantasy of Hollywood.
I suspect mostly in the imagination of Hollywood script writers. But yes wherever you had large herd of cattle you had people who herded them. And these would often be hired hands living an unconventional lifestyle. 19th century cowboys wore 19th century dress even mostly in 20th century films; their dress isn't unusual. I just wish there could be some films about the real history of North America — other than 'Drums along the Mohawk'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy
The movies are mostly fiction.
Actually the wild. wild west…was not that much of a shoot em up as you think I watched on the history channel there was only three shootings in one year at Dodge city and I think the population was 50,000 at the time. think about it this way a gun shot wound of the time was messy. Gun lube, unspent powder and wadding would be on the bullet. so getting hit and getting a dirty wound was a strong possibility. so if you do not die from blood poisoning…….out right, then amputation of a limb was the next possibility. You have to remember there was no miro vascular surgery, no antibiotics so if one got a dirty wound, and it was in the limbs…amputation was the norm. also, the real weapon that opened the west was not the colt revolver, but the shot gun. think about this, there were more shotguns than revolvers. A shot gun was a easy firearm to operate, point and shot. It could at close range take out anything. A pistol on the other hand, you had to take out the target accurately or your shot would be wasted. A shot gun with buck shot would just blow a hole the size of a fist at close range. so realistically are you going to pick fights with someone with a shot gun. Remember this all pioneers had this weapon. There is another thing to think about, towns weather founded on cattle, lumber, wheat or even gold….had merchants…and when the merchants were losing money to theft….they would hire a gunfighter to act as a deterrent, and to keep the gunfighter under control he was regulated with laws from a civil judge (and this man would be paid by the towns or city's chamber of commerce……see were I am running with this. The formation of the sheriffs office or Marshall's office was formed for that town. so when things were getting disorderly the formation of setting up law men was there. Going back to the revolver, it was the choice of weapon for a law man, it could be holstered and warn at all times so it was close at hand, it allowed for the law mans hands to be free if shackles had to be applied.
Do not get me wrong, there was crime in the western frontier, but….not to the extent that Hollywood portrays it. Because, if you entered a gun fight, being killed was the reality, so people would think twice before getting into a gun fight. also, everyone was packing a gun.You also have to remember, your neighbour was your social support system if your family was not around. so, being civil and polite was a better option if you need help in the future to ensure survival, then "slapping leather over a dispute". Working to mutual benefit was better than brute force. oh…by the way Dodge City was the first city in the U.S. to pass a ordinance prohibiting the discharge of firearms in the city limits, assuming you did not kill any one heavy fines, or three weeks in lock up for disturbing the public peace. in canada we had the RCMP move out with the settlers. also we had restrictions on hand guns because they were concealable.
Were Wild West Cowboys just in USA or the rest of the planet as well?
