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This was a very interesting article/book; I never knew there was so much history on the Comanche tribe. I for one never really knew much about them prior to reading this book. Growing up in the Los Angeles County school system, Native American history was limited, and limited to sporadic Indian-American events in time. These moments included Pocahontas and her tribe, the Iroquois and Huron during the French and Indian Wars, President Jackson and the Cherokee Trail of Tears, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Little Big Horn, Geronimo and his guerrilla fighters against the US cavalry, and finally Wounded Knee. This totally sums up my pre-college native American exposure, minus what I learned from movies, documentaries, TV shows and books. With that said, I found this book to be extremely informative and illuminating considering my Southwest knowledge, pre-college, consisted of: the story of the Alamo, some knowledge on Mexican/Spanish settlements in the region, Pueblo Indians, Tombstone, the Mexican-American War, and Geronimo. So, yes, my Southwest history was also lacking for sure.
Despite my above lack of knowledge on the Comanche and the Southwest, I was amazed that such a prominent and politically powerful native tribe could have such an effect on the surrounding Anglo settlements and Indian societies. As was said on pages 3-4, “the Comanche empire was not a rigid structure held together by a single central authority, nor was it an entity that could be displayed on a map as a solid block with clear-cut borders.” As such, the Euro-American empires/republics claimed vast expanses of land, with much of it north of Mexico City, and east of Louisiana, already claimed and populated by native tribes. As an example, if we look at a map of New Spain from the 1600-1800s, Spain claims all of the Southwest, including parts of Nevada, California, Utah, and Colorado depending on the map, yet there was no Spanish citizenry in a majority of these vast regions. In addition, I gathered from Hamalainen’s book that when the Comanche’s first met the Euro-Americans, nothing but bad blood resulted from it. On page 2, he mentioned that the Comanche’s, “manipulated and exploited the colonial outposts in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and northern Mexico…extracted resources and labor from their Euro-American and Indian neighbors through thievery and tribute. [and that] the Comanche empire was powered by violence…” These acts were not taken kindly by their neighbors; as such, violence continued into the late 1800s.
Similar to what Diana and David wrote, I struggled to find proof and evidence to Hamalainen’s claims that the Comanche’s were a legitimate threat to Euro-American advances and settlement in the Southwest. He gives an example on page 2, that, “Without fully recognizing it, the Spaniards, French, Mexicans, and Anglo-Americans were all restrained and overshadowed in the continent’s center by an indigenous empire.” In addition, he claims, the Comanche were able “to reduce Euro-American colonial regimes to building blocks of their own dominant position.” (pg, 3) On one hand, he does does give evidence that the local natives and encroaching Euro-Americans were too busy building their own outpost/settlements and fighting each other to mount a cohesive resistance against their invasion of the Southwest. (pg, 19) Yet it must be understood that the Euro-Americans and local Indians had their own agendas, and fighting a new native enemy was probably not one of them. Spain, France and England were always jostling for land, resources, positon, and had little time for some insignificant native tribe on the far flung frontier; they had world economics at their forefront. The Americans had to deal with economic downturns, fighting England twice, expanding into Louisiana, and fighting a civil war. So, looking at the evidence the author pieced together, I understand his reasoning and point, but the region the Comanches invaded was militarily weak and undermanned, Euro-American wise. The settlements in New Mexico especially experienced the ferocity of their attacks. It was not until the Americans in the mid-to-late 1800s made a cohesive effort to annex the Southwest did the Comanche’s go against a powerful military force.
Comanche Empire was a well-written book, especially the three chapters we were to read. Hamalainen painstakingly pieced together the history of one of the Southwest’s most militarily, financially, and economically powerful Indian tribes. The chapters Conquest and New Order were split into Comanche history and Euro-American history, which gave us a deep insight into the Comanche tribe saga. Pekka Hamalainen refers to the Comanche’s as an “Empire,” yet, his later descriptions make them look and sound like a Confederacy like the Iroquois, because the “empire” was made up of individual bands of Comanche’s. So, in essence, Comancheria should be referred to as The Comancheria Confederacy, not the Comanche Empire. Despite this title issue, Comanche Empire, meticulously covers and recounts the vast trade networks the Comanche established. As seen on page 72, the Comanches, “built an exceptionally comprehensive import structure… they received manufactured goods … from five colonial markets…from British Canada, Illinois (Spanish Upper Louisiana,) Spanish Lower Louisiana, British West Florida, and Spanish New Mexico.” The Comanche trade network was based on their extensive horse husbandry and buffalo hide trade with these other areas. This book was a strong testament to the strength of the Comanche tribe, not only militarily, but also economically. They were a power house of a people who have been overlooked in the history of the American Southwest, and should be recognized and given the respect they deserve.