Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Commanche warriors

If you have 45 minutes or so to spare you might want to watch this Documentary on Comanche warriors, especially since a considerable amount of the presentation is by *Bad Eagle (David), and others of his family and Band and Clan. I just happened to stumble on it.

T

* Great blog. BT Bad Eagle


Comanche Warriors

Documentary Storm
VERBATIM POST

North American Indian tribe of equestrian nomads whose 18th- and 19th-century territory comprised the southern Great Plains. The name Comanche is derived from a Ute word meaning “anyone who wants to fight me all the time.”

The Comanche had previously been part of the Wyoming Shoshone. They moved south in successive stages, attacking and displacing other tribes, notably the Apache, whom they drove from the southern Plains. By the early 1800s the Comanche were very powerful, with a population estimated at 7,000 to 10,000 individuals. Their language, of the Shoshonean branch of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock, became a lingua franca for much of the area.

Like most other tribes of Plains Indians, the Comanche were organized into autonomous bands, local groups formed on the basis of kinship and other social relationships. Buffalo products formed the core of the Comanche economy and included robes, tepee covers, sinew thread, water carriers made of the animal’s stomach, and a wide variety of other goods.

The Comanche were one of the first tribes to acquire horses from the Spanish and one of the few to breed them to any extent. Highly skilled Comanche horsemen set the pattern of nomadic equestrian life that became characteristic of the Plains tribes in the 18th and 19th centuries. Comanche raids for material goods, horses, and captives carried them as far south as Durango in present-day Mexico.

Early 21st-century population estimates indicated some 20,000 individuals of Comanche descent.

Released 2005. Director: Martha Sloan. TV documentary.


2 comments:

  1. IMHO, a most excellent documentary, made only better by the fact that David is involved in the commentary.
    His blog is consistently excellent as well.
    Despite the fact that in the old days the Comanche were formidable enemies of my people the KAW and the Osage, I am proud to say that I have at least a dozen Comanche friends. Actually they are more like brothers to me than friends. I will go on record and say that the Comanche warrior did not die out at the turn of the 20th century. Our military has many Comanche (as well as representatives of many other tribes) serving with valor to this very day.
    I will say that at the end of this doc, I was so pissed off it robbed me of sleep. This was despite that I was already aware of the facts. I suppose it was just another reminder of how history is written by the victors. That still doesn't make it right, or truthful however.
    Thanks Brock for posting the link.
    T

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  2. I suppose it was just another reminder of how history is written by the victors. That still doesn't make it right, or truthful however

    Amen.

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