![]() In return, the tribe agreed to cede some 38 million acres, permit railroads to be built, and stop raiding. But in 1867 the Treaty of Medicine Lodge established a reservation for the Comanche. Anglo-American settlers demonized the tribe, in part because of the brutal treatment of white captives. Later married to Comanche leader Peta Nocona, she would be the mother of the last great chief, Quanah Parker.Ĭomanche-white relations were generally bloody, with some periods of relative peace. In 1836, the Comanche raid at Fort Parker killed several people and took five hostages, including Cynthia Ann Parker. The Anglo-Americans clashed with the Comanche almost at once. When Mexico acquired Texas in 1821, there was an attempt to bring in Anglo-American settlers to form a bulwark against Comanche raids. Punitive expeditions were failures, so the Spanish generally negotiated peace agreements with the tribe. In 1758 Comanche warriors destroyed Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba in Texas, sacking and burning the mission and killing eight inhabitants. The Spanish in New Mexico and Texas encountered the Comanche in the early eighteenth century. Epidemics of cholera and other diseases swept through the Comanche, complicating modern estimates. ![]() Some scholars say there might have been as many as 40,000 Comanches, while others insist the tribe was small, perhaps only 4,000. The Comanche became expert horsemen, which made them more formidable in the hunt and in war. They obtained horses in the late seventeenth century, perhaps in the 1680s. Evidence seems to suggest that they were originally hunters and gatherers in the Great Basin region. The people we know as Comanche were an offshoot of the Shoshoni nation. The last major band, the Quahadis (“Antelopes”) roamed the high plains of the Llano Estacado. The name “”yap” comes from an edible root. By contrast, the Yamparikas (“Yap Eaters’) were north of the Arkansas River. Sometimes the three were styled “Middle Comanches.” The Kotsotekas, or “Buffalo Eaters,” had a territory that included much of western Oklahoma. The Tamina (“Liver Eaters”) and Tenawa (“Those Who Stay Downstream”) were the names of the other two bands. The Nokoni, or “Those Who Turn Back,” were the largest of the trio. North of the Penatekas three bands shared the same range. Their territory brought them into conflict with the Anglo-American settlers, called Texicans, starting in the 1830s. Their range stretched from the Edwards Plateau to the headwaters of the rivers in central Texas. ![]() The Penatekas, or “Honey Eaters,” were the southernmost band. But the major bands that played significant roles in Comanche history are well known. ![]() There were at least thirteen bands at the height of the tribe’s power and influence in the early to mid-nineteenth century, and it is possible there were even more, but never recorded. There is some dispute over the origins of the name “Comanche.” Most scholars think it was derived from the Ute word Komanticia, roughly translated as “enemy,” or more literally “anyone who wants to fight me all the time.” In their own language they call themselves “Numinu,” or “the people.” The Comanche language is an offshoot of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family, and closely allied to the Shoshoni tongue. The tribe boasts a modern Comanche Nation complex at Lawton, Oklahoma, a site that employs about 145 staffers. Roughly half of the Comanche nation, about 7,763 people, reside in Fort Sill or the surrounding areas of southwest Oklahoma. The Comanche are a Plains Indians tribe, numbering 14,732 enrolled members. They now face the twenty-first century with confidence. Though their numbers are disputed, historians agree that the Comanches had a profound impact on western history.
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