Exploring how the deliberate destruction of buffalo herds affected the Comanche tribe's way of life, cultural identity, and sovereignty, linking raiding to governance and power dynamics in the context of empire.
Melvyn and guests discuss the 1846-48 conflict after which the United States of Mexico lost half its territory to the United States of America. The US gained land covered by the states of Texas, Utah, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and part of Colorado. The outcome had a profound impact on Native Americans and led to civil war in defeated Mexico. It also raised the question of whether slavery would be legal in this acquired territory - something that would only be resolved in the US Civil War, which this victory hastened.
With
Frank Cogliano
Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh
Jacqueline Fear-Segal
Professor of American and Indigenous Histories at the University of East Anglia
And
Thomas Rath
Lecturer in Latin American History at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.