Prior to contact with Europeans, the Comanche had separated from the Eastern Shoshone who lived near the Plate River in Wyoming, evolving from Great Basin to Plains cultures.

As they adopted the horse and began to migrate southward, other groups were annexed. Around the year 1740 they crossed the Arkansas River and settled on the margins of the Llano Estacado, from there they began to expand, exercising control of an area known as Comanchería (which today occupies four North American states); maintaining their control until the beginning of the 19th century.

The Comanches were the most skilled horsemen in the region. They obtained their first horses in their invasions of the Spanish and then dedicated themselves to breeding them. They extended their raids as far south as Mexico and kept the Europeans away from their territories.

They lived in tepees and were organized in bands that subsisted on bison hunting. They were characterized by their tattoos, their hats in winter, as well as by their impressive war headdresses, with a bison head that included its horns.

The Comanche religion accentuated the visionary experiences of the prairie tribes. Animal spirits favored particular individuals. The animal world was closely linked to the human world.

The shaman was in charge of the spiritual and moral life of the tribe, advised the tribesmen, observed the sky, interpreted it and predicted it for his people.

Their bows were short and had a double curvature, they were deepened at the hilt, making them efficient for use on horseback; although for hunting they preferred to use long spears up to 4 meters long, catching a bison with it was a sign of pride.

They cooked bison meat over an open fire, or dried it in the sun; they made “pemmikan” a concentrated meal consisting of a mass of pulverized dried meat, dried berries and fats; the fats were binders, it was rich in calories and protein, and they traded the surplus with other tribes.

Women made excellent leather costumes, using mechanical means to soften the leather such as twisting and scraping. Clothing for ceremonial occasions was decorated with embroidery.

They were organized in bands that gave equal emphasis to relatives on the paternal and maternal side, and extended the consideration of siblings horizontally to all known relatives. Normally, bands were aligned into tribes, but in the course of the year, these had to be able to divide into self-supporting local bands during the fall and winter and rejoin in tribal camps in the spring, when the bison gathered in large herds and great religious ceremonies are held.

Their camps were arranged in a circle or semicircle, with each band having its own square in the larger configuration, reflecting in this the social organization of the tribe’s summer bison hunting camps.

Marriages were generally monogamous, and were commonly arranged between the respective families of the contracting parties. Boys were trained for fighting at a very young age; at first such training was part of their games, and as they grew older they were educated in warfare more specifically. The girls were educated by their mothers in domestic chores, which among the Indians were proper to the female sex. Relatives, however, often played a very important role in the education of the children.

Warfare was an important part of Comanche life, with continuous conflicts, either with Europeans or with neighboring tribes, especially the Apaches. Its members had to show disdain for danger; for example: individuals had to get a place in battle by thrusting into the ground with a spear the end of a sash they wore around their waists, and not retreat from it unless it was cut off by a comrade.

In 1800 there were about 30,000 Comanches, by 1834 hostility between the settlers and the Comanches was critical.

On March 19, 1840 a Comanche delegation arrived at the Council House in San Antonio to negotiate the exchange of captives and eventually a peace treaty, the Comanches would try to gain recognition of Comancheria boundaries. The Texans carried out a massacre: 12 Comanche chiefs were shot to death inside the House, 23 escaped through the streets of San Antonio, 30 others were taken captive. The episode ended any possibility of peace and led to years of increased hostility.

On August 4, 1840, led by “Buffalo Hunchback” -chief of the Penateka band-, hundreds of warriors began “The Great Raid of 1840”, raiding and pillaging Texan cities: Victoria on August 6, Linnville on August 8, until they were defeated on August 12 at the Battle of Plum Creek near Lockhart.

In 1867 the treaty of Medicine Lodge was signed between the whites and the chiefs of different tribes of the prairies, among them Ten Bears (Comanche chief), but the problems continued.

In 1875 the new leaders, with their population decimated by wars, smallpox and cholera, barely reached 7000 people, resorted to negotiation, signing peace with the U.S. government.

Today the Comanche Nation has about 10,000 members, almost half of whom live in Oklahoma and the rest in Texas, California and New Mexico. Lawton, Oklahoma is the site of the annual pow-wow, when all Comanche gather to celebrate their heritage and culture.

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