History ETDs

Publication Date

5-4-1976

Abstract

Few scholarly studies have dealt with Plains Indians and their relations with neighboring tribes. Studies of this kind are valuable, for they tend to demonstrate the manner in which Indian tribes dealt with each other before European contact, while at the same time they help us understand Indian behavior during the subsequent historic period.

Indian relations on the Plains were determined more by economic factors rather than geographic proximity. Often neighboring tribes were bitter enemies when one tribe desired the hunting grounds and/or horses possessed by another. On the other hand, tribes with adjacent hunting grounds often hunted on each other's land and were joined in trade and military alliances. On the Plains, if a tribe was not desirous of a neighbor's buffalo or horses, and perhaps had items to trade, they drew into an informal commercial agreement and also attempted jointly to stave off other tribes who encroached onto their hunting grounds.

In the case of the Kiowa tribe, they had by 1810 taken firm hold of the southern Plains as their hunting grounds and along with their closest ally, the Comanches, were able to keep their Indian enemies from penetrating too far onto their lands. The Navajos, Utes, and Apaches from the west and the Pawnees, Sauks, and Foxes from the east all at one time or another tried to hunt buffalo on Kiowa and Comanche land. In addition, these tribes frequently stole horses from the Kiowas and Comanches. As a result of these activities, the Kiowas and Comanches spent much time combating these inroads.

On the other hand, the Kiowas developed friendly trade relations with the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, other Plains tribes such as the Cheyennes and Arapahos, and the Wichitas, Kickapoos, Delawares, Osages, and the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory. The Kiowas were especially interested in the white goods such as guns, cloth, and knives that these tribes could offer in trade because these items made the nomadic life of the Kiowas easier and less drab.

Level of Degree

Masters

Degree Name

History

Department Name

History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Richard Nathaniel Ellis

Second Committee Member

Donald Colgett Cutter

Third Committee Member

Illegible

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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