The Kiowa lived in the early 18th century around the Black Hills and upper Yellowstone River, where they were allies of the Crow and enemies of the Cheyenne and Sioux.
About 1805 they moved south to eastern Colorado and western Oklahoma.
They made peace permanently with the Comanche about 1790, the Osage in 1834, the Cheyenne and Arapaho about 1840, and were friendly with the Wichita.

The Kiowa language seems to be related to the Tanoan-speaking Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico. Kiowa means "principal people" in the tribe's language.

The Kiowa were part of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 and were assigned a reservation in Oklahoma in 1868. They never really confined their activities to the reservation, however, and in 1874 resumed warfare with the white settlers in the vicinity. It wasn't until about a year later in September, when large numbers of their horses were captured and destroyed, and several of their leaders were captured that the Kiowa were defeated.

The Kiowa were nomadic buffalo hunters who lived in tipis.
They owned many horses and were expert horsemen.
They, along with their Comanche allies, made raids far into Mexico, and capturing large numbers of horses and captives.

Although in some ways the Kiowa displayed a typical Plains Indian culture, they were thought to be some of the most warlike. They had an effective and well military organisation.