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Historian Stuart Rosebrook argues the birthplace of the cowboy is in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria in North Africa, where the “…Zeneta Berber [tribesmen], astride their Arab Barbs in light saddles with short stirrups, armed with light swords and pikes, were legendary for their swift and deadly cavalry.”
https://truewestmagazine.com/eye-tech-in-the-old-west/