The Comanche are a Plains Indian tribe whose historic territory, known as Comancheria, consisted of present day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. The Comanche people are enrolled in the federally recognized Comanche Nation, in Oklahoma.
Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers with a horse culture. There may have been as many as 45,000 Comanches in the late 18th century.
Today, the Comanche Nation Comanche tribal enrollment numbers 15,191 with approximately 7,763 members residing in the Lawton – Fort Sill and surrounding areas of Southwest Oklahoma. The Comanche Nation Homecoming Powwow is held annually in Walters, Oklahoma in mid-July. The Comanche spoke the Comanche language, a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, sometimes classified as a Shoshone dialect; however, only about 1% of Comanches speak it today.
Read more about Comanche: Government, Economic Development, Cultural Institutions, Notable Comanches
Famous quotes containing the word comanche:
“Signal smokes, war drums, feathered bonnets against the western sky. New messiahs, young leaders are ready to hurl the finest light cavalry in the world against Fort Stark. In the Kiowa village, the beat of drums echoes in the pulsebeat of the young braves. Fighters under a common banner, old quarrels forgotten, Comanche rides with Arapaho, Apache with Cheyenne. All chant of war. War to drive the white man forever from the red man’s hunting ground.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)