Abstract
The paper looks at the history of the Comanche Indians and their relationship with the Europeans and Americans who attempted to settle their territory. The paper explores the Comanche culture, including the social order, their methods of raising children, their food and their dwellings. The paper also discusses famous Comanche chiefs and the modern-day Comanche.

Outline:
History
Relationship with Settlers
Comanche Culture
Famous Comanche Chiefs
Modern-Day Comanche

From the Paper
"The Comanche broke off from the Shoshone Indians who lived near the upper Platte River in what is now Wyoming. They appeared as a separate group just before 1700. It was at this same time in history that the Comanche discovered the miracles of the horse. This acquisition gave them much greater mobility, especially in their constant search for the best hunting grounds. They are considered the first Indians to make such comprehensive use of the horse.
"The mustang was the first Comanche pony. Stray horses were called mustang. Stolen from southwestern Spanish towns, the pony became crossed with other breeds over time. By the end of the 1800s the mustang bore little resemblance to that original mustang pony.
"Comanche provided horses to many tribes, including those with whom they fought. They would even break them first. It is no exaggeration to say that they absconded with about every horse in New Mexico and northern Mexico. They also took most of the available supply in Texas. Needless to say, the lives of the nomadic Plains tribes were transformed by the horse. There is no doubt that the horse permitted the various Indian tribes to stop the Spanish from establishing colonies in the Southwest and halted white pioneering and settling for two hundred years."

Tags:Texas, Quanah, Parker, war, chiefs, tribes

Abstract
This paper discusses the Comanche Indians of the American West, starting at around 1830 and continuing until the tribe was forced onto a reservation. The author focuses the discussion upon why the Comanche were important.

From the Paper
"This paper will examine the law of some of the Plains Indians and will use the laws of the Cheyenne and Comanche tribes as case studies. The case studies selected for this paper will illustrate the political and legal systems of the Cheyenne and Comanche tribes. This paper will also compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the legal systems of these two tribes.

A review of several case histories of the Cheyenne and Comanche tribes reveals that, although the Cheyennes have a more sophisticated culture than the Comanches and the economic base of the two societies is similar, the Cheyenne culture reflects a higher level of institutionalization (Hoebel, 1969, p. 6). The most notable difference between the legal systems of the two societies is that the Comanches do not recognize their behavior ..."

Abstract
This paper discusses how when When American pioneers crossed the Mississippi River more than a century-and-a-half ago and began to settle in the Southern Plains, they encountered the Comanches, who dominated this region in the mid-nineteenth-century because they were one of the first Native American tribes to acquire horses from the Spanish and one of the few to breed them to any extent. The paper further discusses that because Comanche horsemen had become so highly skilled, they set the pattern of equestrian nomadism that was so characteristic of the Plains Indians in the nineteenth century, and made possible the pervasive buffalo culture of most Native American tribes.

Tags:western, expansion, issues

Abstract
This paper relates that Andrew Isenberg in "The Destruction of the Bison" looks at the 10,000 years story of the interrelationship between people and the bison. Next, the author highlights Isenberg's telling of how the paleoindians, the American nomadic Indians, such as the Comanche, and the euroamericans used the bison for food, shelter, cloths, small tools, trade and sport. The paper underscores that Isenberg believes that both these humans and climatic events led to the near decimation of the American bison; however, the herd has been rebuilt and remains the symbol of the American West.

From the Paper
"Bison fed on grasses in the Great Plains; grasses were at their peak in the summer time when they grew the most. The taller the grass the more carbohydrates they possessed, so that is when bison gathered in large groups to eat the grasses and mate. Autumn was also the most dry period of the year, and fire storms, such as the one in the 1760's, were common across the rolling great plains, which annihilated large numbers of bison that got caught in the wake of the flames.
"Drought was also another factor in the decimation of the bison, there would be decades of normal weather, but then there would be a decade of drought, during droughts grass remained innutritious and short, which was not the ideal circumstances for bison."

Tags:paleoindians droughts plains, long range rifle, railroad

Abstract
This paper explains that Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor's social penetration theory suggests as relationships grow deeper as self-disclosure deepens and uses social exchange theory, also called the game theory, to analyze the cost-reward balance of these self-disclosures. The author points out that "Dancing With Wolves" provides excellent examples of how totally different cultures can both attract and repel one another, how friendships and trust are formed by deeds not just words and how different intersecting strata of social and cultural lives either repel or attract one another. The paper relates that it teaches that the differences among people tend to be created without truly being aware of one another and can be resolved as those "onion skin" layers are removed revealing our true inner personalities.

From the Paper
"There are many examples of initial encounters in "Dances With Wolves", and the manner of the meeting does not always provide the result of closeness, of course. What makes the novel so fascinating is the contact, verbal and non-verbal that links the white man with the Comanche, and prepares him for a life he had never known or understood before. Was it simply loneliness or necessity that brought these encounters to fruition? Is social penetration merely a theory that evolves as social circumstances change? Are we different, socially, today, than were the people in the post-Civil War era covered by this novel?"

Tags:depenetration, cost-reward, comanche, white, man, relationships