n.
Nomadic North American Indian group of southwest Oklahoma, Texas, California, and New Mexico, U.S. The name Comanche is derived from a Ute word meaning "anyone who wants to fight me all the time"; the people call themselves Numunuh (meaning "The People").
Their language is of Uto-Aztecan stock. An offshoot of the Shoshone , they were organized into about 12 autonomous bands, local groups that lacked the lineages, clans, military societies, and tribal government of most other Plains Indian s. They roamed the southern Great Plains in the 18th and 19th century. Their staple food was buffalo meat. Their highly skilled horsemen set the pattern of equestrian nomadism on the Plains. In 1864 Col. Kit Carson led U.S. forces in an unsuccessful campaign against them. Treaties were signed in 1865 and 1867, but the federal government failed to keep whites off the land promised to them, which led to violent conflicts. In later years Comanche Code-Talkers, like other Native American Code-Talkers, played a notable role during both world wars. Some 10,000 people claimed sole Comanche descent in the 2000 U.S. census.