It's all Trew: Horses enabled Comanches to rule Texas

It's hard to find anyone, young or old, who is not familiar with the term Six Flags Over Texas. Most would say it is the big tourist attraction in the Metroplex. Few can name the actual flags or countries that have claimed ownership of Texas since the beginning, which is the real reason for the existence of the term. Few historians acknowledge another dominating owner of much of Texas for more than 150 years, the Comanche Indian tribes. The name comes from "Komantieia," a Ute Indian word meaning enemy. The Comanche tribe call themselves "Nermernal," which means human beings. Comancheria, the name given to the area ruled by the Comanche in 1850, includes approximately one-half of Texas, more than one-half of New Mexico, about two-thirds of Colorado and one-third of the southern part of Kansas. Their rule lasted almost 150 years as no matter who you were, civilian or military, or how big a stick you carried, when you entered Comancheria, you literally put your life and the lives of those with you into Comanche hands. Comanche culture was built around the use of horses for all reasons. Over time they learned that approximately 100 members was the best sustainable group and split the tribes into 12 groups originally for that purpose. Eventually they grew to 4,000 members in their heyday. Many stories and theories have been written about how the Indians acquired horses. The most practical theory, backed up in Spanish archives, stated horses became plentiful when Don Juan Onate brought 300 mares and colts to the Santa Fe area in New Mexico in 1598...Amarillo.com