Comanche
Comanche peoples are Native Americans who lived in an area called the Comancheria. This is where Eastern New Mexico, Southern Colorado, Southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma and most of Northern and Southern Texas are today. There once were as many as 20,000 Comanches. Today the Comanche Nation has 10,000 members, most in Oklahoma (centered at Lawton) and the rest in Texas, California, and New Mexico. The Comanche speak a language of their own, the Comanche language that is related to other Native American ones, called Uto-Aztecan language family.
 Flag of the Comanche[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| United States (Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico) | |
| Languages | |
| English, Comanche | |
| Religion | |
| Native American Church, Christianity, traditional tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Shoshone and other Numic peoples |
The name Comanche was given by the Mexicans and it was the word the Comanche used to call them, kleptomania (enemy, foreigner). But the Comanches' call themselves Numinous, meaning "human being" or "the People". They were very good warriors and fought the white settlers and army for many years until they gave up in 1875.
The woman in the family made the teepees. They gathered wild potatoes, fruits, nuts and berries. The woman in the family cooked, cleaned and made their clothing. The clothing was made out either bear, deer, bison, buffalo, wolves or coyotes.
Comanche Media
War on the plains: Comanche (right) trying to lance an Osage warrior. Painting by George Catlin, 1834
Comanches meeting the U.S. dragoons near the Wichita Mountains in 1834, by George Catlin
- Comancheria
Comanches watching an American caravan in West Texas, 1850, by the US Army officer, Arthur Lee
Comanche warriors, c. 1867–1874
Quanah Parker, prominent chief of the Comanche Indians with a feather fan; photo by James Mooney, 1892
Mac Silverhorn (Comanche), grandson of Silver Horn, drumming with friend at Redstone Baptist Church
Notes
- ↑ "2011 Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory" (PDF). Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission. November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
Further reading
- Thomas, Alfred Barnaby (1940) The Plains Indians and New Mexico, 1751-1778: A collection of documents illustrative of the history of the eastern frontier of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, OCLC 3626655
- Wolff, Gerald W., and Cash, Joseph W. (1976) The Comanche People Phoenix, Arizona: Indian Tribal Series.
Other websites
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