"The Comanche Empire " Topic

"In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a Native American empire rose to dominate the fiercely contested lands of the American Southwest, the southern Great Plains, and northern Mexico. This powerful empire, built by the Comanche Indians, eclipsed its various European rivals in military prowess, political prestige, economic power, commercial reach, and cultural influence. Yet, until now, the Comanche empire has gone unrecognized in American history.

This compelling and original book uncovers the lost story of the Comanches. It is a story that challenges the idea of indigenous peoples as victims of European expansion and offers a new model for the history of colonial expansion, colonial frontiers, and Native-European relations in North America and elsewhere. Pekka Hämäläinen shows in vivid detail how the Comanches built their unique empire and resisted European colonization, and why they fell to defeat in 1875. With extensive knowledge and deep insight, the author brings into clear relief the Comanches' remarkable impact on the trajectory of history"
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Any other book you recomended about the Comanches?

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Amicalement
Armand

I've seen the Comanche dominance of a great swath of the plains called an "Empire" before, but it was not a unified entity in any way.
The dominance was real. Using Empire is a reach.

Lets call it a very long road trip with a lot of raiding going on.

Empire? Do they say these conquered, took land from, other "natives" before the vile Europeans allowed themselves of the whole place?

I live in Oklahoma and the Comanche Nation license plates here do bare the motto "Lords of the Plains." I guess it is possible that one could interpret that to mean that the Comanche themselves once felt that they possessed an empire.

link

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

"Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gwynne is an outstanding discussion of the Comanche culture. They were triumphant until
they encountered 19th century technology combined with the Scotch-Irish pioneers.

Smallpox and cholera didn't help.

"Yet, until now.." Blurb.

Leckie and Fehnrenbach covered this theme in the '60s and '70s. Hoebel and Adamson in 'Lords of the Southern Plains' as long ago as 1952.

I have a large warband of Comanches, mounted and dismounted, to fight my Texans. Fierce warriors indeed. But they dominated a vast stretch of NOTHING. And like the Aztecs (who really did have an empire) they were so hated that the whites had an easy time finding allies -- Apache, Tonkawa, etc -- to oppose them.