The Comanche emerged as a distinct group shortly before 1700, when they broke off from the Shoshone people^[14] living along the upper Platte River in Wyoming. In 1680, the Comanche acquired horses from the Pueblo Indians after the Pueblo Revolt.^[15] They separated from the Shoshone after this, as the horses allowed them greater mobility in their search for better hunting grounds.

Nicolas de La Fora’s 1771 map of the northern frontier of New Spain shows the Comanche territory in the upper left of the map above the Red River^[16]

Comancheria, the former territory of the Comanche including large portions of Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas

The horse was a key element in the emergence of a distinctive Comanche culture. It was of such strategic importance that some scholars suggested that the Comanche broke away from the Shoshone and moved southward to search for additional sources of horses among the settlers of New Spain to the south (rather than search for new herds of buffalo.) The Comanche may have been the first group of Plains natives to fully incorporate the horse into their culture and to have introduced the animal to the other Plains peoples.^[17] From Natchitoches in Spanish Louisiana, Athanase de Mézières reported in 1770 that the Comanches were “so skilful in horsemanship that they have no equal, so daring that they never ask for or grant truces, and in possession of such a territory that… they only just fall short of possessing all of the conveniences of the earth, and have no need to covet the trade pursued by the rest of the Indians.”^[18]

Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. They reached present-day New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle by 1700, forcing the Lipan Apache people ever southward, defeating them in a nine-day battle along the Rio del Fierro (Wichita River) in 1723.^[19][20] The River of Iron may be the location mentioned by Athanase de Mézières in 1772, containing “a mass of metal which the Indians say is hard, thick, heavy, and composed of iron”, which they “venerate…as an extraordinary manifestation of nature”, the Comanche’s calling it Ta-pic-ta-carre [standing rock], Po-i-wisht-carre [standing metal], or Po-a-cat-le-pi-le-carre [medicine rock], the general area containing a “large number of meteoric masses“.^[21][22] By 1777, the Lipan Apache had retreated to the Rio Grande and the Mescalero Apache to Coahuila.^[23]

During that time, their population increased dramatically because of the abundance of buffalo, an influx of Shoshone migrants, and their adoption of significant numbers of women and children taken captive from rival groups. The Comanche never formed a single cohesive tribal unit, but were divided into almost a dozen autonomous groups, called bands. These groups shared the same language and culture, and rarely fought each other.^[24] They were estimated to have taken captive thousands of people from the Spanish, Mexican and American settlers in their lands. Curtis Marez suggests that this contributed to the development of mestizaje in the borderlands, as the descendants of such captives were mixed-race.^[25]

By the mid-19th century, the Comanche were supplying horses to French and American traders and settlers, and later to migrants passing through their territory on the way to the California Gold Rush, along the California Road.^{[citation needed]} The Comanche had stolen many of the horses from other tribes and settlers; they earned their reputation as formidable horse thieves, later extending their rustling to cattle.^{[citation needed]} Their stealing of livestock from Spanish and American settlers, as well as the other Plains tribes, often led to war.^{[citation needed]}

The Comanche also had access to vast numbers of feral horses, which numbered approximately 2,000,000 in and around Comancheria, and which the tribe was particularly skilled at breaking to saddle. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Comanche lifestyle required about one horse per person (though warriors each possessed many more). With a population of about 30,000 to 40,000 and in possession of herds many times that number, the Comanche had a surplus of about 90,000 to 120,000 horses.^[26]

They were formidable opponents who developed strategies for using traditional weapons for fighting on horseback. Warfare was a major part of Comanche life. Comanche raids into Mexico traditionally took place during the full moon, when the Comanche could see to ride at night. This led to the term “Comanche Moon”, during which the Comanche raided for horses, captives, and weapons.^[27] The majority of Comanche raids into Mexico were in the state of Chihuahua and neighboring northern states.^[2