Comanche

The Comanche's autonym is nʉmʉnʉʉ, meaning 'the human beings' or 'the people'. The earliest known use of the term "Comanche" dates to 1706, when the Comanche were reported by Spanish officials to be preparing to attack far-outlying Pueblo settlements in southern Colorado. The Spanish adopted the Ute name for the people: kɨmantsi ('enemy'), spelling it Comanche (or Comanchi, Cumanche, Cumanchi) in accord with the Spanish pronunciation. Before 1740, French explorers from the east sometimes used the name Padouca for the Comanche since it was already used for the Plains Apache and the French were not aware of the change of tribe in the region in the early 18th century.

The Comanche Nation is headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. Their tribal jurisdictional area is located in Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman, and Harmon Counties. Their current tribal chairman is Forrest Tahdooahnippah. The tribe requires enrolled citizens to have at least one-eighth blood quantum level (equivalent to one great-grandparent).

In 2025, their administration was:

Chairman: Forrest Tahdooahnippah

Vice Chair: Diana Gail Doyebi-Sovo

Secretary-Treasurer: Benny Tahmahkera Jr.

Committee Member: Jordan Fox

Committee Member: Darrell Kosechequetah

Committee Member: Alice Kassanavoid

Committee Member: Hazel Tahsequah

The tribe operates its own housing authority and issues tribal vehicle tags. They have their own Department of Higher Education, primarily awarding scholarships and financial aid for citizens' college educations. They own 10 tribal smoke shops and six casinos:

Comanche Nation Casino in Lawton, Oklahoma

Red River Casino in Devol, Oklahoma

Comanche Spur Casino in Elgin, Oklahoma

Comanche Star Casino in Walters, Oklahoma.

Comanche Cache Casino in Cache, Oklahoma

Comanche Nation Travel Plaza Casino in Devol, Oklahoma

The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton has permanent and changing exhibitions on Comanche history and culture. It opened to the public in 2007.

In 2002, the tribe founded the Comanche Nation College, a two-year tribal college in Lawton. It closed in 2017 because of problems with accreditation and funding.

Every year on the third Saturday in April, the Annual General Council is held in which the annual budget is approved, new leadership is nominated for election, and tribal members are able to present resolutions to be voted on. Each July, Comanches gather from across the United States to celebrate their heritage and culture in Walters at the annual Comanche Homecoming powwow. The Comanche Nation Fair takes place every September. The Comanche Little Ponies host two annual dances—one over New Year's Eve and one in May.

The Proto-Comanche movement to the Plains was part of the larger phenomenon known as the "Shoshonean Expansion" in which that language family spread across the Great Basin and across the mountains into Wyoming. The Kotsoteka ("Bison Eaters") were probably among the first. Other groups followed. Contact with the Shoshones of Wyoming was maintained until the 1830s when it was broken by the advancing Cheyennes and Arapahoes.

After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, various Plains peoples acquired horses, but it was probably some time before they were very numerous. As late as 1725, Comanches were described as using large dogs rather than horses to carry their bison-hide "campaign tents".

Horses became a key element in the emergence of a distinctive Comanche culture. They were of such strategic importance that some scholars suggested that the Comanche broke away from the Shoshone and moved south to search for additional sources of horses among the settlers of New Spain (rather than search for new herds of buffalo). The Comanche have the longest documented existence as horse-mounted Plains peoples; they had horses when the Cheyenne still lived in earth lodges.

The Comanche supplied horses and mules to all comers. As early as 1795, the Comanche were selling horses to Anglo-American traders. and by the mid-19th century, Comanche-supplied horses were flowing into St. Louis via other Indian middlemen (Seminole, Osage, Shawnee).

Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. The earliest references to them in the Spanish records date from 1706, when reports reached Santa Fe that Utes and Comanches were about to attack. In the Comanche advance, the Apaches were driven off the Plains. The Comanche displaced many indigenous tribes, not just the Apache. By the end of the 18th century, the struggle between Comanche and Apache had assumed legendary proportions; in 1784, in recounting the history of the southern Plains, Texas Governor Domingo Cabello y Robles recorded that some 60 years earlier (i.e., circa 1724), the Apache had been routed from the Southern Plains in a nine-day battle at La Gran Sierra del Fierro, the "Great Mountain of Iron", somewhere northwest of Texas. But no other record, documentary, or legendary, of such a fight has been found.

They were formidable warriors who developed strategies for using traditional weapons for fighting on horseback. Warfare was a major part of Comanche life. Their raids into Mexico traditionally took place during the full moon, when they could see to ride at night. This led to the term "Comanche Moon", during which the Comanche raided for horses, captives, and weapons. Comanche raids, especially in the 1840s, reached hundreds of miles deep into Mexico, devastating northern parts of the country.

Kavanagh has defined four levels of social-political integration in traditional Comanche society before reservations:

Patrilineal and patrilocal nuclear family

Extended family group (nʉmʉnahkahni – "the people who live together in a household", no size limits, but kinship recognition was limited to relatives two generations above or three below)

Residential local group or "band", comprised one or more nʉmʉnahkahni, one of which formed its core. The band was the primary social unit of the Comanche. A typical band might number several hundred people. It was a family group, centered around a group of men, all of whom were relatives, sons, brothers, or cousins. Since marriage with a known relative was forbidden, wives came from another group, and sisters left to join their husbands. The central man in that group was their grandfather, father, or uncle. He was called paraivo, "chief". After his death, one of the other men took his place; if none was available, the band members might drift apart to other groups, where they might have relatives and/or establish new relations by marrying an existing member. No separate term was used for the status of peace chief or war chief; any man leading a war party was a war chief.

Division (sometimes called tribe, Spanish nación, rama – "branch", comprising several local groups linked by kinship, sodalities (political, medicine, and military), and shared interest in hunting, gathering, war, peace, and trade).

In contrast to the neighboring Cheyenne and Arapaho to the north, a single Comanche political unit or "Nation" was not historically recognized by all Comanche in previous centuries. Rather, the divisions, the most "tribe-like" units, acted independently, pursuing their own economic and political goals.

Before the 1750s, the Spanish identified three Comanche Naciones (divisions): Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi), Yaparʉhka (Yamparika), and Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka).

After the Mescalero Apache, Jicarilla Apache, and Lipan Apache had been largely displaced from the Southern Plains by the Comanche and allied tribes in the 1780s, the Spanish began to divide the now-dominant Comanche into two geographical groups, which only partially corresponded to the former three naciones. The Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) (Buffalo Eaters), which had moved southeast in the 1750s and 1760s to the Southern Plains in Texas, were called Cuchanec Orientales (Eastern Cuchanec/Kotsoteka") or Eastern Comanche, while those Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) who remained in the northwest and west, together with Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi – Timber/Forest People) (and sometimes Yaparʉhka (Yamparika)), which had moved southward to the North Canadian River, were called Cuchanec Occidentales (Western Cuchanec/Kotsoteka) or Western Comanche. The Western Comanche lived in the region of the upper Arkansas, Canadian, and Red Rivers, and the Llano Estacado. The Eastern Comanche lived on the Edwards Plateau and the Texas plains of the upper Brazos and Colorado Rivers, and east to the Cross Timbers.

They were probably the ancestors of the Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka – Honey Eaters).

Over time, these divisions were altered in various ways, primarily due to changes in political resources. As noted above, the Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) were probably the first proto-Comanche group to separate from the Eastern Shoshone.

The name Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi) vanished from history in the early 19th century, probably merging into the other divisions; they are likely the forerunners of the Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni), Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada), and Hʉpenʉʉ (Hois) local group of the Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka). Due to pressure by southward-moving Kiowa and Plains Apache (Naishan) raiders, many Yaparʉhka (Yamparika) moved southeast, joining the Eastern Comanche and becoming known as the Tahnahwah (Tenawa, Tenahwit). Many Kiowa and Plains Apache moved to northern Comancheria and became later closely associated with the Yaparʉhka (Yamparika).

In the mid-19th century, other powerful divisions arose, such as the Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni) (Wanderers, literally "go someplace and return"), and the Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada) (Antelope Eaters). The latter originally were some local groups of the Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) from the Cimarron River Valley and descendants of some Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi), who had pulled both southwards.

The northernmost Comanche division was the Yaparʉhka (Yapai Nʉʉ or Yamparika — (Yap)Root Eaters). As the last band to move onto the Plains, they retained much of their Eastern Shoshone tradition.

The power and success of the Comanche attracted bands of neighboring peoples, who joined them and became part of Comanche society; an Arapaho group became known as Saria Tʉhka (Chariticas, Sata Teichas – Dog Eaters) band, an Eastern Shoshone group as Pohoi (Pohoee – Wild Sage) band, and a Plains Apache group as the Tasipenanʉʉ band.

The Texans and Americans divided the Comanche into five, large, dominant bands – the Yaparʉhka (Yamparika), Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka), Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni), Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka), and Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada)', which in turn were divided by geographical terms into first three (later four) regional groupings: Northern Comanche, Middle Comanche, Southern Comanche, Eastern Comanche, and later Western Comanche. These terms, though, generally do not correspond to the native language terms.

The Northern Comanche label encompassed the Yaparʉhka (Yamparika) between the Arkansas River and Canadian River and the prominent and powerful Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka), who roamed the High Plains of Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles between the Red and Canadian Rivers; the famous Palo Duro Canyon offered their horse herds and them protection from strong winter storms and enemies, because the two bands dominated and ranged in the northern Comancheria.

The Middle Comanche label encompassed the aggressive Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni) (Wanderers, "those who turn back") between the headwaters of the Red River and the Colorado River in the south and the Western Cross Timbers in the east; their preferred ranges were on the Brazos River headwaters and its tributaries, and the Pease River offered protection from storms and enemies. Two smaller bands shared the same tribal areas: the Tahnahwah (Tenawa, Tenahwit) (Those Living Downstream) and Tanimʉʉ (Tanima, Dahaʉi, Tevawish) (Liver Eaters). All three bands together were known as Middle Comanche because they lived "in the middle" of the Comancheria.

The Southern Comanche label encompassed the Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka) (Honey Eaters), the southernmost, largest, and best-known band among Whites as they lived near the first Spanish and Texan settlements; their tribal areas extended from the upper reaches of the rivers in central Texas and Colorado River southward, including much of the Edwards Plateau, and eastward to the Western Cross Timbers; because they dominated the southern Comancheria, they were called Southern Comanche.

The Western Comanche label encompassed the Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada) (Antelope Eaters), who is the last to develop as an independent band in the 19th century. They lived on the hot, low-shadow desert plateaus of Llano Estacado in eastern New Mexico, and found shelter in Tule Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon in northwestern Texas. They were the only band that never signed a contract with the Texans or Americans, and they were the last to give up the resistance. Because of their relative isolation from the other bands on the westernmost edge of the Comancheria, they were called the Western Comanche.

Much confusion has occurred and continues in the presentation of Comanche group names. Groups on all levels of organization, families, nʉmʉnahkahni, bands, and divisions, were given names, but many band lists do not distinguish these levels. In addition, alternate names and nicknames could exist. The spelling differences between Spanish and English add to the confusion.

Yaparʉhka or Yamparika (also Yapai Nʉʉ – (Yap)Root Eaters; One of its local groups may have been called Widyʉ Nʉʉ / Widyʉ / Widyʉ Yapa – Awl People; after the death of a man named Awl, they changed their name to Tʉtsahkʉnanʉʉ or Ditsahkanah – Sewing People [Titchahkaynah].

If a woman went into labor while the band was in camp, she was moved to a tipi, or a brush lodge if it was summer. One or more of the older women assisted as midwives. Men were not allowed inside the tipi during or immediately after the delivery.

First, the midwives softened the earthen floor of the tipi and dug two holes. One of the holes was for heating water and the other for the afterbirth. One or two stakes were driven into the ground near the expectant mother's bedding for her to grip during the pain of labor. After the birth, the midwives hung the umbilical cord on a hackberry tree. The people believed that if the umbilical cord was not disturbed before it rotted, the baby would live a long and prosperous life.

The newborn was swaddled and remained with its mother in the tipi for a few days. The baby was placed in a cradleboard, and the mother went back to work. She could easily carry the cradleboard on her back, or prop it against a tree where the baby could watch her while she collected seeds or roots. Cradleboards consisted of a flat board to which a basket was attached. The latter was made from rawhide straps, or a leather sheath that laced up the front. With soft, dry moss as a diaper, the young one was safely tucked into the leather pocket. During cold weather, the baby was wrapped in blankets, and then placed in the cradleboard. The baby remained in the cradleboard for about ten months; then it was allowed to crawl around.

Both girls and boys were welcomed into the band, but boys were favored. If the baby was a boy, one of the midwives informed the father or grandfather, "It's your close friend". Families might paint a flap on the tipi to tell the rest of the tribe that they had been strengthened with another warrior. Sometimes a man named his child, but mostly the father asked a medicine man (or another man of distinction) to do so. He did this in the hope of his child living a long and productive life. During the public naming ceremony, the medicine man lit his pipe and offered smoke to the heavens, earth, and each of the four directions. He prayed that the child would remain happy and healthy. He then lifted the child to symbolize its growing up and announced the child's name four times. He held the child a little higher each time he said the name. It was believed that the child's name foretold its future; even a weak or sick child could grow up to be a great warrior, hunter, and raider if given a name suggesting courage and strength. Boys were often named after their grandfather, uncle, or other relative. Girls were usually named after one of their father's relatives, but the name was selected by the mother. As children grew up they also acquired nicknames at different points in their lives, to express some aspect of their lives.

The Comanche looked on their children as their most precious gift. Children were rarely punished. Sometimes, though, an older sister or other relative was called upon to discipline a child, or the parents arranged for a boogey man to scare the child. Occasionally, old people donned sheets and frightened disobedient boys and girls. Children were also told about Big Maneater Owl (Pia Mupitsi), who lived in a cave on the south side of the Wichita Mountains and ate bad children at night.

Children learned from example, by observing and listening to their parents and others in the band. As soon as she was old enough to walk, a girl followed her mother about the camp and played at the daily tasks of cooking and making clothing. She was also very close to her mother's sisters, who were called not aunt but pia, meaning mother. She was given a little deerskin doll, which she took with her everywhere. She learned to make all the clothing for the doll.

A boy identified not only with his father but with his father's family, as well as with the bravest warriors in the band. He learned to ride a horse before he could walk. By the time he was four or five, he was expected to be able to skillfully handle a horse. When he was five or six, he was given a small bow and arrows. Often, a boy was taught to ride and shoot by his grandfather, since his father and other warriors were on raids and hunts. His grandfather also taught him about his own boyhood and the history and legends of the Comanche.

As the boy grew older, he joined the other boys to hunt birds. He eventually ranged farther from camp looking for better game to kill. Encouraged to be skillful hunters, boys learned the signs of the prairie as they learned to patiently and quietly stalk game. They became more self-reliant, yet, by playing together as a group, also formed the bonds and cooperative spirit that they would need when they hunted and raided.

Boys were highly respected because they would become warriors and might die young in battle. As he approached manhood, a boy went on his first buffalo hunt. If he made a kill, his father honored him with a feast. Only after he had proven himself on a buffalo hunt was a young man allowed to go to war.

When he was ready to become a warrior, at about age 15 or 16, a young man first "made his medicine" by going on a vision quest (a rite of passage). Following this quest, his father gave him a good horse to ride into battle and another mount for the trail. If he had proved himself as a warrior, a Give Away Dance might be held in his honor. As drummers faced east, the honored boy and other young men danced. His parents, along with his other relatives and the people in the band, threw presents at his feet – especially blankets and horses symbolized by sticks. Anyone might snatch one of the gifts for themselves, although those with many possessions refrained; they did not want to appear greedy. People often gave away all their belongings during these dances, providing for others in the band, but leaving themselves with nothing.

Girls learned to gather berries, nuts, and roots. They carried water and collected wood, and at about 12 years old learned to cook meals, make tipis, sew clothing, prepare hides, and perform other tasks essential to becoming a wife and mother. They were then considered ready to be married.

During the 19th century, the traditional Comanche burial custom was to wrap the deceased's body in a blanket and place it on a horse, behind a rider, who would then ride in search of an appropriate burial place, such as a secure cave. After entombment, the rider covered the body with stones and returned to camp, where the mourners burned all the deceased's possessions. The primary mourner slashed his arms to express his grief. The Quahada band followed this custom longer than other bands and buried their relatives in the Wichita Mountains. Christian missionaries persuaded Comanche people to bury their dead in coffins in graveyards, which is the practice today.

When they lived with the Shoshone, the Comanche mainly used dog-drawn travois for transportation. Later, they acquired horses from other tribes, such as the Pueblo, and from the Spaniards. Because horses are faster, easier to control and stronger, this helped with hunting, warfare and moving camp. Larger dwellings were made due to the ability to pull and carry more belongings. Being herbivores, horses were also easier to feed than dogs, since meat was a valuable resource. The horse was of the utmost value to the Comanche. A Comanche man's wealth was measured by the size of his horse herd. Horses were prime targets to steal during raids; often raids were conducted specifically to capture horses. Often horse herds numbering in the hundreds were stolen by Comanche during raids against other Indian nations, Spanish, Mexicans, and later from the ranches of Texans. Horses were used for warfare with the Comanche being considered to be among the finest light cavalry and mounted warriors in history.

The Comanche covered their tipis with buffalo hides sewn together. To prepare the hides, women spread them on the ground, scraped off the fat and flesh with blades of bone or antler, and dried them in the sun. Then the women scraped off the thick hair and soaked the hides in water. After several days, they vigorously rubbed them in a mixture of fat, brains and liver to soften them. They softened them further by rinsing and working back and forth over a rawhide thong. Finally, they were smoked over a fire, which gave them a tan color. To finish the tipi covering, women laid the tanned hides side by side and stitched them together. As many as 22 hides could be used, but 14 was the average. The sewn cover was tied to a pole and raised, wrapped around the cone-shaped frame, and pinned with pencil-sized wooden skewers. Two wing-shaped flaps at the top of the tipi were turned back to make an opening, which could be adjusted to keep out moisture and held pockets of insulating air. With a fire pit in the center of the earthen floor, the tipis stayed warm in winter. In summer, the bottom edges of the tipis could be rolled up to let in a breeze. Cooking was done outside during hot weather. Tipis were very practical homes for nomads. Working together, women could quickly set them up or take them down. An entire Comanche band could be packed and chasing a buffalo herd within about 20 minutes. The women did most food processing and preparation.

The Comanche were initially hunter-gatherers. When they lived in the Rocky Mountains, during their migration to the Great Plains, both men and women shared responsibility for gathering and providing food. When the Comanche reached the plains, hunting predominated. Hunting was considered a male activity and was a principal source of prestige. For meat, the Comanche hunted bison, elk, black bear, pronghorn, and deer. When game was scarce, the men hunted wild mustangs, and sometimes ate their own ponies. In later years the Comanche raided Texas ranches and stole longhorn cattle. They did not eat fish or fowl, unless starving.

Women prepared and cooked bison meat and other game. Women also gathered wild fruits, seeds, nuts, berries, roots and tubers, including plums, grapes, juniper berries, persimmons, mulberries, acorns, pecans, wild onions, radishes, and tuna, the fruit of the prickly pear cactus. The Comanche also acquired maize, dried pumpkin, and tobacco through trade and raids. They roasted meat over a fire or boiled it. To boil fresh or dried meat and vegetables, women dug a pit in the ground, which they lined with animal skins or bison stomach and filled with water to make a kind of cooking pot. They placed heated stones in the water until it boiled and had cooked their stew. After Spanish contact, Comanche traded for copper pots and iron kettles, which made cooking easier.

Women used berries and nuts, as well as honey and tallow, to flavor bison meat. They stored the tallow in intestine casings or rawhide pouches called oyóotû¿. They especially liked to make a sweet mush of bison marrow mixed with crushed mesquite beans.

The Comanches sometimes ate raw meat, especially raw liver flavored with gall. They also drank the milk from the slashed udders of bison, deer, and elk. Among their delicacies was the curdled milk from the stomachs of suckling bison calves. They also ate bison tripe, or stomachs.

Comanche generally ate a light meal breakfast and a large dinner. They ate during the day when they were hungry or when it was convenient. Like other Plains tribes, the Comanche were very hospitable. They prepared meals whenever a visitor arrived in camp, which led to outsiders' belief that the Comanches ate at all hours of the day or night. Many families offered thanks as they sat down to eat their meals.

Comanche children ate pemmican, but this was primarily a high-energy food reserved for war parties. Carried in a parfleche pouch, pemmican was eaten only when the men did not have time to hunt. Similarly, in camp, people ate pemmican only when other food was scarce.