Cultural Differences Between Texans And Comanche's Life

In Texas during the 1800s, there were many Native American tribes and different settlers competing for land in the same areas. In northwestern Texas, the Comanche and Texans happened to be there at the same time. Throughout the years, the Comanche and Texans had constant clashes with each other, resulting in fights, raiding and even war. The Comanche and the Texans had very different views on culture, relationships with other tribes and settlers, and ways of life, which resulted in many difficulties establishing peace between the two, eventually leading to war.

One thing that made the Comanche very different from the Texans was their culture and traditions. This impacted their relationship heavily. The Comanche were called "Lords of the Southern

Comanche culture grew and flourished through raiding, fighting, and soon, every aspect of life in Comanche culture became intertwined with war. This explains their actions towards the Texans, barbaric and violent. The Comanche would steal animals from other tribes and also would steal from American and Mexican settlers. Raiding sometimes lead to war but in the eyes of the Comanche, it was manly and sufficient to raid others for cattle and loot. The Comanche’s life was based around the art of raiding, resulting in a lot of fighting, mainly with the Texans. Another thing that was very important to the Comanches was trophy hunting. the Comanche would try and take the scalps of their enemies after being killed. The scalp of a human was taken if possible, although it was quite difficult to obtain all of it. The scalp was a representation of victory and was used in a victory dance. After some time, strands of hair from it were useful for clothing. If a raid or war was successful, the Comanche warriors returned to the tribe with an extravagant welcome. Scalp dances and rejoicing occurred. The Comanche warriors would parade into the tribe with the scalps of their enemies held high on poles. This could exemplify how they acted after the buffalo war and after many successful raids. In times where raids or wars were unsuccessful, it was different.

Settlers began moving to Texas in the early 1800s, and Stephen F. Austin formed a colony in order to protect people, but the Comanche continued to raid. When American settlers began moving to Austin's colonies, there were cattle and large horses, which were very easy targets for the Comanche to take and the Texas Rangers had persistent clashes with the Comanche during the mid-1800s. The constant fighting between the two eventually started the unstable relationship between the Texans and the Comanche. This rocky relationship between the two led to many disagreements and