page_title: Llanero
section_title: The Llanero
hierarchical_section_title: Llanero / The Llanero
caption_attribution_description: Español: TÍTULO Hacendado de Bogotá ARTISTA Edward Walhouse Mark NÚMERO DE REGISTRO AP0091 FECHA DE INGRESO A LA COLECCIÓN Miércoles, Diciembre 18, 1957 TÉCNICA Acuarela sobre papel DENOMINACIÓN Acuarela DIMENSIONES 25 x 17,3 cm
context_page_description: A llanero is a South American herder. The name is taken from the Llanos grasslands occupying western-central Venezuela and eastern Colombia.
  During the Latin American wars of independence, Llanero lancers and cavalry served in both armies and provided the bulk of the cavalry during the war. They were known for being skilled riders who were in charge of all the tasks related to livestock and other ranch-related activities. The historical figure emerged in the 17th century until its disappearance at the end of the 19th century with the Andean hegemony and the birth of the Venezuelan oil industry.
  Its ethnic origin dates back to the union of the Arawaks, Andalusians, Canarians and to a lesser extent the slaves brought by The Crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The way of working and being comes from the current Apure and Barinas states of the Venezuelans who adapted and modified Andalusian customs, and then exported them to the New Kingdom of Granada. Thanks to their mannerisms, ethnic origin, dialect, culture, and role in the Spanish American Wars of Independence, Venezuelan civil wars and in Montoneras it has been romanticized and idealized.
context_section_description: In the beginning, these riders lived in a semi-nomadic way, being hired by different herds to carry out their tasks; in these journeys there was always a cook, a doctor, and a physicist apart from the team of cabresteros and baquianos. They practiced fishing, hunting, bartering, and trading with each other. Due to the hostile flora and fauna of the plain, these adapted to combat it, so it was frequent the taming of alligators, bulls and pimps with their different utensils such as rope and knife. Tall in stature, lean bodies and strong muscles, adapted to the tropical climate. According to Ramón Páez, the llanero had several physical characteristics that resembled the Arabic one. Bolívar Coronado said 
  La amada, o la querida, o la esposa, el caballo y la guitarra: he aquí los dioses del llanero
  — Bolívar Coronado, El llanero
  Always on horseback, sober, haughty and extremely manly. Black coffee drinker and chimó chewer, a kind of tobacco. The llanero did both the male and female tasks. The great terrain of the plain forced them to be versatile when working so we have not only the cabresteros, but the cheese makers, saddlers, bongueros and vegueros, each of them doing tasks that would be considered feminine for the time .
  Sobre la paja, la palma;
  sobre la palma, los cielos; sobre mi caballo, yo,
  
  y sobre mi, mi sombrero
  — A llanero poem
  His way of riding a horse is different from that of his American companions. Ramón Páez in his book Wild Scenes in South America; or Life in the Venezuelan Llanos makes two observations about the way of riding of these riders 
  Just like among the Arabs, riders never put their foot fully into the stirrups, and only hold on with their big toes to quickly get rid of them in the event of a fall. This continued habit of riding, arches the legs and feet in a characteristic way, and accredits them fame of good horsemen
  — Ramón Páez, Wild Scenes in South America; or Life in the Venezuelan Llanos
  Very few people in the world are better riders than the Llaneros of Venezuela, excepting perhaps the Gauchos of Buenos Ayres, equally skilled than these in their dexterity where they show beautiful feats in horsemanship, due to their work in the field of which they are accustomed since childhood. Their horses, moreover, are so well adapted to the different tasks of their profession that beast and man seem to be the same being.
  — Ramón Páez, Wild Scenes in South America; or Life in the Venezuelan Llanos
caption: A farmer in Bogotá, Edward Walhouse Mark, 1845.
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