The Kiowa called themselves Gai-gwu

The Kiowa called themselves Gai-gwu, which translates closest to “the people” or “our people.” According to tribal history, they moved from the region of the Yellowstone River in Montana. They traveled south in the late 1700s to the region of eastern Colorado and western Kansas and formed a loose confederation with the Comanche. This allowed the Kiowa to establish a camping area in the land between the Red River and Arkansas River. From this area, they roamed to hunt buffalo. They were also exceptional horsemen similar to the Comanche (Mayhall, 1971). Some of the notable warriors associated with Kansas include Satanta, Lone Wolf, and Satank (Wunder, 1989). Nadiisha-dena is what the Kiowa Apache called themselves which, similar to the Kiowa, translates to "Our People." The name has since been changed to the Plains Apache of Oklahoma. They speak a different language from the Kiowa tribes, more Athapascan in nature, but are still most closely aligned with the larger Kiowa tribe in tradition and ceremony (Bittle, 1971). The Kiowa Apache did not share the Kiowa aggressive stance towards whites and requested to separate from the Kiowa under the terms of the Little Arkansas Treaty. They attached themselves to the Cheyenne and Arapaho until the Medicine Lodge Treaty re-associated them with the Kiowa. They were not participants in the final actions in the period from 1874 to 1875, remaining on their reservation (Brant, 1969).