It has often been argued that the widespread Native American practice of capturing and adopting outsiders served, for some indigenous groups, as a way to recover from Euro-American–induced population decline. In this study I contend that Comanche looting expeditions, including raids in which captives were taken, resulted in Comanche deaths outnumbering the captives who were eventually assimilated. Hence, rather than compensating Comanche population decline, as is often assumed, those expeditions brought about a net population loss. I further argue that Comanches primarily seized captives to use them as laborers. A premeditated intention to capture enemies for adoption was seldom (if ever) the primary motivation for Comanche raids, which were fundamentally aimed at obtaining horses. These findings raise critical questions concerning widely accepted interpretations of Native American population decline that attribute the decline to external forces without exploring in depth the consequences of the manifold courses of action followed by Indians themselves.
En juillet 1787, Paruanarimuco, principal chef des Comanches jupes, sollicita le soutien de Juan Bautista de Anza, gouverneur espagnol du Nouveau-Mexique, en vue de la construction d’un village pour accueillir les siens. Les autorités du nord de la Nouvelle-Espagne s’empressèrent de donner suite à cette requête pour le moins inhabituelle, envisageant de créer ainsi un précédent chez les nomades païens de la frontière dans la sédentarisation et l’hispanisation des Jupes. C’est ainsi que débuta, en été 1787, la construction du village de San Carlos de los Jupes sur les rives de l’Arkansas, dans l’État actuel du Colorado, mobilisant main-d’oeuvre et fonds espagnols. Or, en janvier 1788, les Jupes quittèrent le village et n’y retournèrent jamais plus. Cet essai explore la fondation et la disparition de San Carlos selon une perspective ethnohistorique. L’auteur affirme que ce village comanche éphémère était voué à l’échec, et ce, pour diverses raisons écologiques, culturelles et géostratégiques.
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