Nice summary, although some might argue against the introduction of cows to the New World. The cows displaced the buffalo and they had a negative effect on the land that they grazed on.
TS
(using weasal words, like "some might argue . . .")
Yes, buffalo were better adapted to the Great Plains than cows, and their meat is supposed to be better for you than beef, but they are hard to tame...I don't know if it has ever been done. Imagine American history with no cowboys. I guess we might have had buffalo girls instead.
The first European to see an American buffalo was the Spaniard Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, who speaks of them in his Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition. He was shipwrecked on the coast of Texas in 1528 and spent several years as a captive of local Indians. He says he had eaten the meat (he calls them "cows" but must mean bison). His own name "Cabeza de Vaca" means "cow's head."