Before there were cowboys in Texas, there were warriors on horses in Africa.
Here’s something they didn’t teach you in school: the cowboy story doesn’t start in America. It starts in Africa, with kings and warriors who ruled on horseback long before Europeans ever saw the New World.
The African Horse Warriors
Hundreds of years ago, African empires had the best cavalry armies in the world:
The Moors ruled Spain for 800 years with their horses and warriors. They built amazing cities and taught Europeans about science and medicine.
The Mali Empire was the richest empire in world history. Their leader, Mansa Musa, had so much gold that when he traveled to Mecca, he gave away so much gold it crashed the economy.
The Songhai warriors trained from childhood to fight on horseback. They protected trade routes and built one of the largest empires in Africa.
These weren’t just good riders. They were the best horse trainers, breeders, and riders in the world.
How African Horse Knowledge Came to America
When slave ships brought Africans to America, they brought more than just people. They brought knowledge. Plantation owners knew this. They paid extra money for enslaved people who knew about horses.
These African horse experts:
- Trained wild horses
- Bred the fastest racehorses
- Taught their owners everything about horse care
- Became the first American cowboys
The Cover-Up
Here’s the part that will make you angry: all this knowledge was stolen and then erased. White plantation owners took credit for what African horsemen taught them. When slavery ended, Black cowboys were written out of history books.
Hollywood made movies showing white cowboys as heroes. But the real heroes were the African horsemen whose knowledge built the American West.
The Connection to Today
When you see the Compton Cowboys riding through the streets, you’re seeing something ancient. When young Black riders compete in rodeos, they’re carrying on traditions that go back thousands of years.
This isn’t new. This is coming home.
Learn the Full Story
Author Louis C. Hook spent years researching this hidden history. In “Black in the Saddle,” he traces the connection from African empires to modern cowboys. He shows how his own family DNA connects back to the West African people of Mali – the same empire that dominated the world centuries ago.
Discover the complete story of how African kings became American cowboys, and how their descendants are reclaiming their rightful place in the saddle.
The cowboy was born in Africa. It’s time the world knew the truth.