One version goes back to the early 1800′s, and that the cowboy hat evolved from the Sombrero. And the Sombrero came from Muslim Spain.  From the Sombrero came the bowler hat, and the cowboy hat.  The story goes that cattle herders, arriving from the East to work on the plains, adopted the sombrero and remodelled [...]

When we think of Indians we picture a warrior with a spear or bow and arrow sitting on a horse. But, the Indians did not always have horses. In fact, they did not always have bows and arrows, but that is a different story. This page is about horses and Indians. So, even before there [...]

By Phyllis McIntosh Washington File Special Correspondent Washington — On the surface, it may seem like the United States and the Middle East are worlds apart, two separate cultures with little in common and no historical connections. In fact, there is considerable evidence to the contrary. Though little known, Islamic influence runs deep in American [...]

The origins of the cowboy tradition come from Spain, beginning with the hacienda system of Muslim Spain. This style of cattle ranching spread throughout much of the Iberian peninsula and later, was imported to the Americas. Both regions possessed a dry climate with sparse grass, and thus large herds of cattle required vast amounts of land in order to obtain sufficient forage. The [...]