Apache Nation

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The Apache call themselves
N'de, Dišn, Tišnde, or Inde, `people.'

"The people have prevailed."

Mescalero Apache Nation

Hon Dah....
Apache for Welcome

Apache Leaders

Geronimo

Cochise

Black Knife

The Apache Indians are divided into six sub-tribes:

Bedonkohe....Be-don-ko-he

Chieahen....Chi-e-a-hen

Chihenne....Chi-hen-ne,(Ojo Caliente),
(Hot Springs)Apaches

Chokonen....Cho-kon-en,
Chiricahua Apache

Nedni....Nendi

White Mountain Apache

Da go Te'....
An Apache Hello

History of the Apache

Apache (probably from Apachu, 'enemy,' the Zuni name for the Navaho, who were designated "Apaches de Nabaju" by the early Spaniards in New Mexico). A number of tribes forming the most southerly group of the Athapascan family. The name has been applied also to some unrelated Yuman tribes, as the Apache Mohave (Yavapai) and Apache Yuma.

Being a nomadic people, the Apache practiced agriculture only to a limited extent before their permanent establishment on reservations. They subsisted chiefly on the products of the chase and on roots (especially that of the maguey) and berries. Although fish and bear were found in abundance in their country they were not eaten, being tabued as food. They had few arts, but the women attained high skill in making baskets. Their dwellings were shelters of brush, which were easily erected by the women and were well adapted to their arid environment and constant shifting. In physical appearance the Apache vary greatly, but are rather above the medium height. They are good talkers, are not readily deceived, and are honest in protecting property placed in their care, although they formerly obtained their chief support from plunder seized in their forays.

Apache Games

Apache Medicine Dance

Apache Photo Gallery

How the Apache Began

Information Concerning

Industries and Ceremonies

No group of tribes has caused greater confusion to writers, from the fact that the popular navies of the tribes are derived from some local or temporary habitat, owing to their shifting propensities, or were given by the Spaniards on ac count of some tribal characteristic; hence some of the common names of apparently different Apache tribes or bands are synonymous, or practically so; again, as employed by some writers, a name may include much
more or much less than when employed by others.

The Apache are divided into a number of tribal groups which have been so differently
named and defined that it is sometimes difficult to determine to which branch writers refer.

The most commonly accepted divisions are the Querechos or Vaqueros,
consisting of the Mescaleros, Jicarillas, Faraones, Llaneros, and probably the Lipan; the Chiricahua;
the Pinalenos; the Coyoteros, comprising the White Mountain and Pinal divisions; the Arivaipa;
the Gila Apache, including the Gilenos, Mimbrenos, and Mogollones; and the Tontos.

The word "Apache" comes from the Yuma word for "fighting-men". It also comes from a Zuni word meaning "enemy". The Zuni name for Navajo was called "Apachis de Nabaju" by the earliest Spaniards exploring New Mexico. Their name for themselves is N'de, Inde or Tinde ("the people"). The Apaches are well-known for their superior skills in warfare strategy and inexhaustible endurance. Continuous wars among other tribes and invaders from Mexico followed the Apaches' growing reputation of warlike character. When they confronted Coronado in 1540, they lived in eastern New Mexico, and reached Arizona in the 1600s. The Apache are described as a gentle people; faithful in their friendship.

They belong to the Southern Athapascan linguistic family. The Apache are composed of six regional groups: the Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache. On marriage, men customarily take up residence with their wives' kin. Maternal clans exist among the Western Apache, who depend more on cultivation than did other groups. All Apache rely primarily on hunting of wild game and gathering of cactus fruits and other wild plant foods. The Western Apache (Coyotero) traditionally occupy most of eastern Arizona and include the White Mountain, Cibuecue, San Carlos, and Northern and Southern Tonto bands. The Chiricahua occupy southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and adjacent Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. The Mescalero (Faraon) live east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, with the Pecos River as their eastern border. The Jicarilla (Tinde) range over southeastern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and northwest Texas, with the Lipan occupying territory directly to the east of the Jicarilla. The Kiowa Apache (Gataka), long associated with the KIOWA, a Plains people, range over the southern plains of Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Apache Divisions

Arivaipa Apache
Chiricahua Apache
Faraon Apache
Gila Apache
Jicarilla Apache
Lipan Apache
Mescalero Apache
Pinal Coyotero
Tonto Apache
Yachin
Yagoyekaydn
Yavapai Apache

Akonye
Chilchadilkloge
Chiltneyadnaye
Destchin
Gontiel
Indelchidnti
Inoschuhochen
Iyaaye
Kaihatin
Kaynaguntl
Kiyahani
Klokadakaydn
Mayndeshkish
Natatladiltin
Natootzuzn
Peiltzun
Satchin
Tizsessenaye
Tseskadin
Tuakay
Tudisishn
Tushtun
Tutonashkisd
Tutzone
Tzaedelkay
Tzebinaste
Tzecheschinne
Tzetseskadn
Tzintzilchutzikadn
Tziseketzillan
Tzlanapah
Tzolgan

The Apache attained their greatest fame as guerrilla fighters defending their mountainous homelands under the Chiricahua leaders Cochise, Geronimo, Mangas Coloradus, Victorio, and Juh. Today the Apache occupy reservations in New Mexico and Arizona, with some Chiricahua, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache in Oklahoma. In 1680 the Apache population was estimated at 5,000; in 1989 it was estimated at about 30,000, of whom most live on reservations. While accommodating to changed economic conditions, the Apache on reservations have maintained much of their traditional social and ritual activities. Their invincible spirit is still shown today by an energy and fire that makes them a strong and hardy people in modern day society.

The Jicarilla are part of the Apache people. The name Jicarilla means "little basket," deriving from the expertise of their women in making baskets of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Within recent times, they make their homes in southeastern Colorado and northern New Mexico, though a few groups went to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Originally they came from northwestern Canada among the migration of Athapascan language tribes, then along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains. When first met by explorers in the 1540s, they were called the Vaqueros by the Spanish. Though the Spanish established a mission for Jicarillas in 1733 near Taos, New Mexico, it did not succeed. Later, in 1880, the government set aside a reservation for the Jicarillas in the Tierra Amarilla region of New Mexico. Today they live on their reservations in Arizona and in Rio Arriba and Sandoval Counties, New Mexico.

Apaches have always been inherently aware of earth and sky spirits. From their early morning prayers to the Sun-God, through their hours, days, and their entire lives--for them every act has sacred significance.

Stories

Naiyenesgani went around looking in vain for monsters.
When he failed to find any he started off in this direction, toward the Mescalero country.
He climbed to the top of White Mountain and looked about in all the different directions in vain.
There were no monsters. Then he threw away his staff.

"You will get your living by means of this," he said, and
right where he threw it, it became a yucca.
Then he washed from his hands the pollution from the killing of the monsters
and threw it in different directions. "With this you will live," he said, referring to the Mexicans.

That is why sheep and cattle have a bad odor.
The dirt he washed from his hands became cattle and sheep.
All the monsters were gone. The Mescalero live upon the staff which he threw away,
the Mexicans live upon the cattle and the sheep.
That is why Mexicans have many sheep and cattle. He spoke to them this way.

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