Apache

Apache, Native Americans of the Athapaskan language family and of the Southwest culture area. The Apache are closely related to the Navajo (Diné); both peoples separated from other Athapaskans in western Canada and migrated to the southwestern United States sometime between 1200 and 1500. The Zuni, a Pueblo people, gave them the name Apachu, meaning “enemy.” In their dialects the Apache call themselves Tinneh, Tinde, Dini,or one of several other variations, all meaning “the people.”

There are six main Apache groups, each of which speaks a different dialect: (1) the Kiowa-Apache living near the Kiowa on the Southern Plains, (2) the Lipan of eastern New Mexico and western Texas, (3) the Jicarilla of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, (4) the Mescalero of central New Mexico, (5) the Chiricahua of southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, and (6) the Western Apache (or Coyotero) of central Arizona. In historic times, various subgroups formed with their own tribal identities. The Chiricahua were subdivided into the Chiricahua, Mimbreno, Mogollon (a name also applied to a prehistoric culture), and Warm Springs (Ojo Caliente), and the Western Apache included the San Carlos, White Mountain, Cibecue, and Tonto subgroups.

II

HISTORY

Early Apache were a nomadic people, ranging over a wide area of what is now the United States; some groups roamed into Mexico as well. They were primarily hunter-gatherers, with some bands hunting buffalo (American bison) and some practicing limited farming. For centuries they were fierce warriors, adept in wilderness survival, who carried out raids on those who encroached on their territory.

The first intruders were the Spanish, who drove northward into Apache territory in the late 1500s. The Spanish penetration disrupted Apache trade connections with neighboring tribes. When New Mexico became a Spanish colony in 1598, hostilities increased between Spaniards and Apache. An influx of Comanche into traditional Apache territory in the early 1700s forced the Lipan and other Apache to move south of their main food source, the buffalo. These displaced Apache began raiding Pueblo Indians and non-Indian settlers for food.

Apache raids on settlers and migrants crossing their lands continued into the period of American westward expansion and the United States acquisition of New Mexico in 1848. Some Apache bands and the United States military authorities engaged in fierce wars until the Apache were pacified and moved to reservations. The Mescalero were subdued by 1868 and placed on a reservation at Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico with the Navajo. The Western Apache and their Yavapai allies were subdued in the U.S. military’s Tonto Basin Campaign of 1872-1873. The Chiricahua chief Cochise signed a treaty with the U.S. government in 1872 and moved with his band to an Apache reservation in Arizona. But Apache resistance continued under the Mimbreno chief Victorio from 1877 to 1880. The last band of Apache raiders, led in ensuing years by the Chiricahua warrior Geronimo, was hunted down in 1886 and sent first to Florida, then to Alabama, and finally to the Oklahoma Territory, where they settled among the Kiowa-Apache.

III

CUSTOMS AND RELIGION

In traditional Apache culture, each band was made up of extended families with a headman chosen for leadership abilities and exploits in war. Men participated in hunting and raiding activities, while women gathered food, wood, and water. Western Apache tribes were matrilineal, tracing descent through the mother; other groups traced their descent through both parents. Polygamy was practiced when economic circumstances permitted; marriage could be terminated easily by either party. Most family units lived in wickiups, dome-shaped brush huts erected by the women. Some families lived in buffalo-hide tipis, especially among the Kiowa-Apache and Jicarilla. The Apache made little pottery, and were known instead for their fine basketwork.

Religion was a fundamental part of Apache life. Their pantheon of supernatural beings included Ussen (or Yusn), the Giver of Life, and the ga’ns, or mountain spirits, who were represented in religious rites such as healing and puberty ceremonies. Men dressed elaborately to impersonate the ga’ns, wearing kilts, black masks, tall wooden-slat headdresses, and body paint, and carrying wooden swords.

IV

CONTEMPORARY LIFE

In the 2000 U.S. census about 57,000 people identified themselves as Apache only; an additional 40,000 people reported being part Apache. Many Apache live on reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. Farming, cattle herding, and tourist-related businesses are important economic activities. The modern Apache way of life is a mixture of traditional beliefs and rituals, such as mountain spirit dances, and contemporary American culture.