Comanche exceptionalism- again.

Thesis:
The Comanche are exceptional in the sense of their expert use of their unshakable sphere of influence in the Plains culturally, economically, and militarily throughout their rein; this is rooted in the adaptability of Comanche culture to the opportunistic circumstances of their geographical position and the introduction of horses and firearms, which the Comanche mastered and used to build a powerful empire that facilitated their domination of their geographical area and all those within in it.

This is evident at the very beginning of their arrival to the geographical area. "The long migration from the central plains to the southern rockies forced Comanche to reshape their economic strategies and social traditions: and they entered the southern plains with an elastic cultural system to which new elements could be added with relative ease." 346. This allowed the Comanche to, once they gained access to horses and guns to integrate these elements into their culture and use them to exploit those in their area and facilitate their entrance onto the Plains a powerful military force, as well fund a successful economy based around trade and hunting buffalo.
One of the ways in which the way the influence of Comanche culture grew to prevail on the Plains itself is most evident is through the necessity of their language as being dominant language of the plains due to their political and economical power over trade. Pekka quotes that:
"So too does the ascendancy of the Comanche language denote a larger truth: having yielded unparalleled economic, political, and cultural influence, the Comanches were re-creating the mid-continent in their own image." pg 171.
This idea is later reinforced by Pekka's description of the extent of Comanche influence in so-called Spanish-dominated New Mexico. "at the same time that some administrators still entertained plans for the hispanization of the Comanches, eastern New Mexico was blending into Comancheria. by the early 19th century, Comanche was widely spoken in New Mexico's eastern frontier..."
In this we get the sense that it is not in realtiy the Spanish who are colonizing but the Comanche. Rather than the traditional idea of the Spanish being the major power on the Great Plains it is clear that they too are victim to Comanche will and are in fact dominated by the power of their influence on the plains, if nothing else through their military power. It became necessity for them to seek the Comanche as allies, but their attempts at this resulted in one way relationship in which the Comanche required gift regularly less they raid Spanish settlements and take what they wanted leaving total detestation behind. Their manipulation of the Spanish and other actors in their area is exemplified in this relationship.
"What Comanches did not do was reciprocate Spain's generosity. Their recompense was the absense of violence...The peace lasted only as long as gift distributions did." pg 184
"...Comanches would step up and cut back raiding in the province inn line with the availability of gifts. Under the ever-present possibility of violence, offerings of diplomatic presents became fixed tribute payments to protect the exposed colony[Texas]." pg 184
Perhaps the personification of this reality of Comanche domination on the plains is a recorded event taking place in the capital of New Mexico:
"In June 1825, a party of 330 Comanche men, women, and children rode into the capital[San Antonia] and leisurely looted the town for six days." pg. 196
This kind of power is indicative of the Comanche's military, political, and economic power, which in many ways rendered them virtually untouchable and the undisputed power in control of the Great Plains to those living there.
However it is not simply the mark that the Comanche left on their area that made them exceptional, their rise to power was brought on through the structuring of their economic system allowing them to build a community and continue to expand and perpetuate their way of life. "Comanches never lost their ability to operate as a community" " Comanche leadership managed time and again to coordinate trade and diplomacy, build broad consensuses behind treaties, mobilize large inter divisional military operations, and neutralize the manipulative interferences of Euro-American state powers. That hybrid political organization may well have been the elemental factor that set the Comanches apart. Their political system allowed coordinated decision making at the national level without compromising social and strategic plasticity on the local level. Comanches' political system largely escaped the internal disputes that disrupted or paralyzed many of the more rigidly organized Native American powers." pgs 348-349

The Comanche story retells history in a very different light, showing their agency in their legacy and that of the Plains.
"Rather than a reflection of Euro-American indifference, Comanche rise to dominance stemmed from their own adaptive culture, their ability to harness Euro-American resources-both material and non material- to their own advantage" pg 346
In relation to the rise and expansion of the Comanche empire this shows the Comanche story to be exceptional in all areas of influence, from the cultural elements that led to the origin of an empire, to the role of that empire on the Plains and its downfall hailing a period of change in North American History.