An arriero, muleteer, or more informally a muleskinner [1] (Spanish : arriero; Portuguese : tropeiro;) is a person who transports goods using pack animals, especially mules.
In Latin America, muleskinners transport coffee, maize (corn), cork, wheat, and myriad other items. They used to be common in the Paisa Region (Antioquia and the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis) of Colombia but were replaced in the 1950s by tractor trailers called locally "tractomulas" paying homage to the mules that used to do this hard job. In California, muleteers work out of pack stations. In Europe, there are still muleteers in the south of Portugal and the southwest of Spain, in the cork producing area. Their role is now limited to transporting the cork with their mules, out of the Mediterranean oak forest to more accessible routes, where modern means of transport are available.
The English word muleteer comes from the French muletier, from Old French, from mulet, diminutive of mul, mule. The term muleskinner means someone who can "skin", or outsmart, a mule.
The Spanish word arriero is derived from the verb arrear, which means to urge cattle or other stock to walk. The verb itself is derived from arre, which is the call used to cry out to animals for this purpose. In English, an arriero is one type of muleteer, a wrangler of pack animals.[ citation needed ]
The Catalan word traginer comes from the Latin word tragīnare, a variant of tragĕre which means "to transport".
Typical muleteer outfits vary from country to country:
The fictional Juan Valdez, brand representative of the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia , is an archetypal muleteer carrying coffee sacks with his mule.
In Cormac McCarthy's second Border Trilogy novel, The Crossing, Billy's wolf upsets the muleteers' burros, which wreaks substantial havoc before Billy moves on. [2]
"Mule Skinner Blues" is a country music song first recorded in 1930 by Jimmy Rodgers, which has inspired many subsequent variations.
The 1964 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha features a band of muleteers as one of the primary antagonists.
This article concerns systems of transport in Lesotho. As a landlocked country, Lesotho has no seaports or harbours, but does have road, air transport, and limited rail infrastructure.
A hide or skin is an animal skin treated for human use. The word "hide" is related to the German word Haut, which means skin. The industry defines hides as "skins" of large animals e.g. cow, buffalo; while skins refer to "skins" of smaller animals: goat, sheep, deer, pig, fish, alligator, snake, etc. Common commercial hides include leather from cattle and other livestock animals, buckskin, alligator skin and snake skin. All are used for shoes, clothes, leather bags, belts, or other fashion accessories. Leather is also used in cars, upholstery, interior decorating, horse tack and harnesses. Skins are sometimes still gathered from hunting and processed at a domestic or artisanal level but most leather making is now industrialized and large-scale. Various tannins are used for this purpose. Hides are also used as processed chews for dogs or other pets.
A teamster in American English is a truck driver; a person who drives teams of draft animals; or a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union. In some places, a teamster was called a carter, the name referring to the bullock cart.
A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is a working animal used to transport goods or materials by carrying them, usually on its back.
Armenia is the capital of Quindío Department in the South American country of Colombia. Armenia is a medium-sized city and part of the "coffee axis" along with Pereira and Manizales. It's one of the main centers of the national economy and of the Colombian coffee growing axis. As a result, the historic center of Armenia was named as part of the "Coffee Cultural Landscape" of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.
Igualada is a municipality and capital of Anoia county in Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Anoia River and at the western end of the Igualada-Martorell-Barcelona Railway. Igualada is the capital and central market of the Anoia comarca, a rich agricultural and wine-producing district. Its population was 38,918 in 2009.
A carriel is a small leather satchel from Colombia. They are similar in appearance to a saddlebag but worn over the shoulder, usually by men. Carrieles were traditionally made of rawhide or nutria fur and are typical of the Antioquia region of Colombia. The bag is associated with paisa culture. The carriel is part of folkloric dress of the region and is also used by modern businessmen throughout the country.
The Colombian coffee region, also known as the Coffee Triangle is a part of the Paisa region in the rural area of Colombia. It is famous for growing and producing the majority of Colombian coffee. There are four departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda and Tolima. The most visited cities are Manizales, Armenia, Pereira, and Ibagué.
"Blue Yodel no. 8, Mule Skinner Blues" is a classic country song written by Jimmie Rodgers. The song was first recorded by Rodgers in 1930 and has been recorded by many artists since then, acquiring the de facto title "Mule Skinner Blues" after Rodgers named it "Blue Yodel #8".
A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. Use of packhorses dates from the Neolithic period to the present day. Today, westernized nations primarily use packhorses for recreational pursuits, but they are still an important part of everyday transportation of goods throughout much of the developing world and have some military uses in rugged regions.
Colombian Spanish is a grouping of the varieties of Spanish spoken in Colombia. The term is of more geographical than linguistic relevance, since the dialects spoken in the various regions of Colombia are quite diverse. The speech of the northern coastal area tends to exhibit phonological innovations typical of Caribbean Spanish, while highland varieties have been historically more conservative. The Caro and Cuervo Institute in Bogotá is the main institution in Colombia to promote the scholarly study of the language and literature of both Colombia and the rest of Spanish America. The educated speech of Bogotá, a generally conservative variety of Spanish, has high popular prestige among Spanish-speakers throughout the Americas.
The Yipao or Jeep parade is folkloric celebration in the Colombian department of Quindío, specially during the anniversary parties of the departmental capital Armenia.
Colombian folklore are beliefs, customs and cultural traditions in Colombia.
Estrada Real was an epithet applied to the roads built and maintained by the Portuguese Crown both in Portugal itself and in the Portuguese overseas territories.
Juan Valdez is a fictional character who has appeared in advertisements for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia since 1958, representing a Colombian coffee farmer. The advertisements were designed by the Doyle Dane Bernbach ad agency, with the goal of distinguishing 100%-Colombian coffee from coffee blended with beans from other countries. He typically appears with his donkey Conchita, carrying sacks of harvested coffee beans. He has become an icon for Colombia as well as coffee in general, and Juan Valdez's iconic appearance is frequently mimicked or parodied in television and other media.
A ruana is a poncho-style outer garment native to the Colombian and Venezuelan Andes. In Colombia, the ruana is the characteristic and traditional garment of the department of Boyacá, initially made by indigenous and mestizo people, although it is also made in the departments of Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Nariño, Bogotá, Santander (Colombia), Norte de Santander and Caldas. In Venezuela it is widely used and made in the Andean states of Táchira, Mérida and Trujillo, used since the colonial times by all Venezuelan inhabitants, currently only in the Andean region its traditional use is maintained.
Leather has played an important role in Judaism and in Jewish life. Many items widely used by observant Jews are made from leather, such as:
The Antioquia Railway is a historic railway system in Colombia of freight and passenger trains that joined much of the central regions of the Antioquia department along the Magdalena river, and ultimately extended to provinces located south of the department, including Caldas and the Valle del Cauca. It took 55 years to build: from 1874 to its opening on 7 August 1929. The Antioquia Railway was for decades an important link among regions that had previously been isolated and was a large contributor to economic development in the region. With the construction of alternative forms of transportation, especially roads, the use of the train declined in the 20th century. The railway was officially sold in 1961.
The Macedonian Mule Corps was a formation of the British Salonika Army consisting primarily of Cypriot muleteers and their mules. The unit was established in 1916 and dissolved in March 1919. During its service it provided crucial logistical support to the Allied war effort on the Macedonian front and the Southern Russia intervention. 12,288 Cypriots served in the corps, 3,000 of whom received bronze British War Medals.
Tropeiro is the designation given to troop and commissions drovers of horse, cattle and mule moving between commercial regions and consumer centers in Brazil from the 17th century.