Comanche Culture

The Apache’s agricultural attempts were indeed a strategically sound effort before the war with the Ute and Comanche – their diverse diet helped to avoid the laundry list of problems associated with high-protein, bison-based methods of substinence, chief amongst these concerns would be birth defects in pregnant women (Hamalainen, 31). The Apache’s formerly advantageous development of farming began to backfire, however, since their rivals simply traded in their bison meat for Pueblo maize and attacked the numerous Apache villages with guerrilla raids, exploiting their dependence on the land (Hamalainen, 32). By the 1720s, the Apache grew increasingly desperate from Comanche attacks, and they began to offer submission to Spanish rule as a potential

At this point, the Comanche also continued to accept Spanish gifts while extending their hospitality to the American newcomers – unlike the Spanish, national loyalty wasn’t a concept with any relevance in Comanche culture, and their entire society at this point met the qualifications for a form of indigenous imperialism that predated American imperialism (Hamalainen, 142-145). By 1800, the Comanche story was one of victory – through shifting alliances, brutal practices in warfare, and cultural evolution, the Comanche managed dominance over fellow Plains Indian tribes while outwitting their would-be Spanish overlords and checking the expansion of the Americans at every step of the

Since they were quite accustomed to serving as the “trade pioneers” of their region, it made perfect sense to open up the avenues to Europeans, although they did this on their own terms rather than completely acquiescing to the will of the would-be conquerors. By manipulating kinship structures and trade, Maquinna,Wickaninish, and Tatoosh were able to serve as the “primary historical actors” in this circumstance – because these waters were so unfamiliar, European explorers did not find an area ripe for exploitation when they entered the ca di borderlands, and the diplomatic protocols/boundaries followed by natives existed prior to the arrival of Meares (Reid, 51). In a sense, this story defies the usual tropes of Native history because the pre-1800 account of the Makah does not involve Europeans landing in a region, being worshipped as gods, and swiftly conquering the primitive locals without being