by Mary Gindling

Created on: April 19, 2010

Superb horsemen and legendary warriors, the people known as the Comanche were feared by Native Americans, Mexicans and whites alike. They controlled a vast territory known as the Comancheria, where they hunted buffalo, bred and stole horses, and raided homes and settlements. They came to symbolize the "wild Indian," and are regarded today as an important part of the lore of the old Wild West.

Origins

The people later known as the Comanche were originally members of the Eastern Shoshoni tribe who lived in eastern Wyoming. Some time around 1700, as many as 10,000 people separated from the Shoshoni and began migrating south. They settled first in what would become eastern Colorado and western Kansas, and eventually spread out into Oklahoma into the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico, while other bands could be found as far north as Saskatchewan.

Organization and Society

Unlike many other tribes, the Comanche were never a united "nation." They divided themselves into eight to twelve independent divisions which usually cooperated with one another, although clashes among them were not unknown. Each division often was divided into semi-autonomous bands, each with its own leaders. They called themselves Nemene, meaning ‘our people’ and spoke a language nearly identical to their original Shoshoni dialect.

The Comanche retained a few other Shoshoni traditions. They built their teepees using four poles instead of the three-pole teepees common to other plains tribes. During the summers, they constructed temporary shelters of brush similar to those of the Great Basin Shoshoni.

Buffalo was their staple food and provided the Comanche with clothing, utensils and tools, storage containers and other useful products. But the Comanche diet also included roots and other wild fruits and vegetables gathered by the women.

Comanche society was somewhat fluid. Chiefs were elected based on status gained through battle exploits, family relationships, generosity, and the perceived power of their "medicine." Some chiefs exercised minimal control over their particular band, others held authority over an entire division. Treaties and agreements were seldom observed by all divisions.

While they did not adhere to a clan system, there were organizations within Comanche bands and divisions. They established warrior societies limited only to men, but also created medicine societies for both men and women. Comanche men were polygamous, but an adulterous woman could be killed or disfigured

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