The Big Idea: For most of the Old West times (1740s – 1870’s), Comanche tribes controlled the Southern Great Plains. The westward migration of settlers decimated their power and population.

1500
The Comanches start off as a Shoshone linguistic group that migrate to the Great Plains.

1680
The Pueblo tribe revolts against the Spanish colonists. They manage to obtain horses which they learned to use as transportation and as a main tool for everyday life.

1700
Pre-Comanche groups move southwards because of the “pre ice-age” and also to follow the bison/food south.

1719
Comanches raid a Spanish fort in present day New Mexico for horses.

1720
The Comanches begin to trade with the French.

1746
Comanches raided the Pecos Tribe and control of the land for 40 years.

1854
Texas Congress provides 23,000 acres and establishes three Indian reservations on the upper Brazos River for the Texas tribes, Caddo, Cherokee, Delaware, Shawnee, Wichita, Tonkawa and the Comanches

1864
In the Battle of the Adobe Plains, Comanches and other tribes battle the U.S. Army.

1874
In the Second Battle of the Adobe Plains, the Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowas, and Apaches battle against 24 American bison hunters.

1879
By 1879, almost all the bison have been hunted to extinction by American bison hunters.