A region with several Apache nations
Arizona and New Mexico are the homelands of the Western Apache, the Chiricahua and the Mescalero, along with the Jicarilla in the north of New Mexico. Their territories overlapped with, but were not the same as, one another, and their histories diverged sharply after the 1800s. The land itself is varied: high forested mountains, desert basins, river valleys and mesa country, and Apache economies adapted to each.
Western Apache
The Western Apache are a set of related groups in central and eastern Arizona, including the White Mountain, Cibecue, San Carlos and Tonto Apache, among others. Anthropologists and tribal sources distinguish local groups and clans, and summaries that treat them as one band are oversimplified. Many families combined farming along streams with seasonal hunting and gathering, moving between higher and lower ground through the year.
Western Apache history in the 1800s was shaped by American military posts such as Fort Apache, by the creation of the San Carlos reservation in the early 1870s, and by the forced concentration of different peoples there. The Rio Verde removal of 1875 brought Yavapai and Tonto Apache people to San Carlos after a march of well over a hundred miles. Tensions on the crowded reservation included conflict among officials, communities and military units. One notable episode is the Cibecue Creek incident of 1881, in which a confrontation involving Apache scouts and soldiers ended in deaths on both sides. Accounts of its causes and meaning differ, and historians continue to examine them.
Today, Western Apache communities include the San Carlos Apache and the White Mountain Apache in Arizona, and the Tonto Apache, along with the Yavapai-Apache Nation at Camp Verde, which is shared with the Yavapai. Each is a separate government. Some operate forestry, ranching, recreation and cultural programs, and details are best checked through the nations’ own websites.
Chiricahua
The Chiricahua homeland ran across southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Scholars usually describe several Chiricahua bands, including those associated with leaders such as Cochise and Geronimo. Their history in the 1800s is tied to the Spanish presidio frontier legacy, to conflict with Mexican forces, and then to the arrival of American settlers and soldiers. The Bascom affair of 1861, which took place near Apache Pass, is often cited as a breaking point in relations with the United States. The place itself is remembered in the story of Apache Pass and Fort Bowie.
After the surrender of Geronimo’s group in 1886, the entire Chiricahua population, including peaceful families and men who had served as Army scouts, was removed from the Southwest as prisoners of war. They were not allowed to return as a community to Arizona. The prisoner-of-war period lasted until 1913, and some Chiricahua descendants live today on the Mescalero reservation while others belong to the Fort Sill Apache Tribe in Oklahoma. The full account of this removal appears in a separate article.
Mescalero
The Mescalero lived in the mountains and basins of southern New Mexico and neighboring areas. In the 1860s many Mescalero were held with Navajo people at Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River, a camp that was marked by hardship and that the Mescalero left in 1865, while the Navajo were held until 1868. A Mescalero reservation in their own mountain country was established in the 1870s, and it later became home to Chiricahua and Lipan families as well, which is why the Mescalero Apache Tribe is made up of more than one original group.
Jicarilla
The Jicarilla homeland lay in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. They had long relationships of trade and conflict with neighboring Pueblo and Spanish settlements. The Jicarilla received a reservation in northern New Mexico in the late 1800s, and the early reservation years were hard, with struggles over land and farming. Their story is covered further elsewhere on this site.
Struggles and triumphs in the region
Across these nations, hardships included warfare, loss of land, forced movement, confinement, hunger and the pressure of boarding schools and missions. Endurance took forms such as keeping languages and clan ties alive, protecting sacred places, rebuilding economies and developing tribal governments. Questions of land and water use, public access to mountains and recognition of traditional places remain active for many communities.
Some Apache sacred places and ceremonial knowledge are private. When studying the region, it helps to rely on tribal sources, to name the specific nation, and to avoid treating the Southwest’s Apache peoples as one group.