Most of us associate nomadic empires with the Huns, Mongols, and other great equestrian powers of central Asia.

However, the last blossoming of expansionist no­madic regimes took place not in Asia but in the Americas. One of the consequences of the Columbian Exchange was the rise of powerful equestrian societies in the North and South American grasslands.

The most notable among them were the Comanches and Lakotas. Both harnessed equestrian mobility to dominate others, and both shared key characteristics with the better-known Eurasian nomadic powers: stunning geographical reach, extensive hinterlands of extraction, com­plex systems of dependencies, and dynamic multiculturalism. Such similarities went unnoticed for a long time, obscured by lingering notions of militarily formi­dable but organizationally shallow American Indian societies. Recent studies have challenged such notions, revealing sophisticated social organizations capable of sustaining enduring power regimes and imperial formations.

More on the topic Most of us associate nomadic empires with the Huns, Mongols, and other great equestrian powers of central Asia.:

1. From Pastoral Chiefdoms to Nomadic Empire