CHAPTER 1 Homelands The Comanche have lived in North America for thousands of years For many centuries the Comanche were part of the large Northern Shoshone tribe They lived in the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado In the 1600s the Comanche acquired horses from the Spanish who had started exploring North America The Comanche used these horses to travel to the plains of eastern Colorado and Kansas There they hunted buffalo The Comanche were fierce warriors and skilled horsemen Soon they pushed other tribes aside They moved farther south into Oklahoma and Texas The Comanche were most powerful in the early 1800s The tribe had about 10,000 people 4
The Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma are part of Comanche territory
CHAPTER 2 Society The Comanche tribe was made up of several large bands A family could live with any Comanche band they chose These Comanche bands all spoke the same language They rarely fought with each other The Penateka or honey eaters lived in central Texas North of them lived the Nokoni or wanderers The Kotsoteka or buffalo eaters lived in Oklahoma The Yamparika or root eaters lived in Kansas The Quahadi or antelope eaters lived in west Texas and New Mexico Each band followed the advice of peace chiefs who were respected elders Peace chiefs were wise even-tempered and generous They possessed great knowledge of the land Peace chiefs from different family camps often met in council They helped solve the band’s problems 6
THE COMANCHE HOMELANDS WASHINGTON MAINE MONTANA NORTH DAKOTA OREGON MINNESOTA IDAHO WISCONSIN SOUTH DAKOTA NEW YORK VERMONT NEW HAMPSHIRE MASSACHUSETTS RHODE ISLAND CONNECTICUT NEW JERSEY WYOMING MICHIGAN IOWA PENNSYLVANIA NEVADA NEBRASKA OHIO UTAH ILLINOIS INDIANA DELAWARE MARYLAND WASHINGTON DC WEST VIRGINIA COLORADO KANSAS VIRGINIA MISSOURI KENTUCKY CALIFORNIA NORTH CAROLINA TENNESSEE ARIZONA OKLAHOMA NEW MEXICO ARKANSAS SOUTH CAROLINA MISSISSIPP ALABAMA GEORGIA TEXAS ALASKA LOUISIANA FLORIDA THE COMANCHE HOMELANDS HAWAII
