The Comanche, also known as the Nermernuh, were a North American Indian tribe of equestrian nomads whose domain included the southern Great Plains in the 18th and 19th centuries. Comanche comes from a Ute phrase that means “someone who wants to battle me all the time.”

The Comanche were one of the first tribes to obtain horses from the Spanish, and one of the few to breed them. They also waged wars on horseback, which was a talent not shared by other Indian tribes. In the 18th and 19th centuries, highly experienced Comanche riders established the pattern of nomadic equestrian life that became common throughout Plains tribes. Comanche raids for goods, horses, and captives took them as far south as present-day Durango, Mexico.