It is thought that in 1493 Christopher Columbus brought longhorns to the Carribean Island of Hispaniola and that in the 1600's the Spanish brought them to what is current day Texas.

In the early 1900's, longhorns had almost become extinct because their beef was so popular on the east coast due to its leanness.  In the 1920's, the federal government created longhorn refuges in order to bring their population back.