Last Updated: 3 years

QUESTION:

How many Apache sub-tribes were there and where were they located?

~Submitted by Mindy D.

ANSWER:

The original homelands of the Apache Indians were in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, western Oklahoma, Western Texas, and Northern Mexico. The Jicarilla also ranged into what is now Kansas. The Apache tribe consists of six subtribes: the Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan and Kiowa. Each subtribe is from a different geographial region.

Apaches belong to the Southern Athapascan linguistic family.

The Anglo theory is the Apache Indian migrated to the Southwest from Northern Canada in the 1500’s. The Apache indian history says it was the other way around, that most of the Athapaskan speaking people migrated to the North and a few stayed in their homeland. In any event, it is generally agreed that about 5,000 Apaches lived in the Southwest at the end of the 1600’s.

The Apache are composed of six regional groups:

Western Apache – Coyotero – Their territory covered most of eastern Arizona which include the White Mountain, Cibuecue, San Carlos, and Northern and Southern Tonto bands. It is possible, due to their nomadic nature, that several names were used to identify the same tribe.

Chiricahua – southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and adjacent Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora – The band was the informal political unit, consisting of followers and a headman. They had no formal leader such as a tribal chief, or council, nor a decision-making process. The core of the band was a “relative group,” predominantly, but not necessarily, kinsmen. Named by the Spanish for the mescal cactus the Apaches used for food, drink, and fiber. The basic shelter of the Chiricahua was the domeshaped wickiup made of brush. Similar the Navajo, they also regarded coyotes, insects, and birds as having been human beings; the human race, then, but following in the tracks of those who have gone before.

Mescalero – Faraon – live east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, with the Pecos River as their eastern border.

Jicarilla – Tinde – southeastern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and northwest Texas – During their zenith in the SouthWest, two divisions of the Jicarilla Apache were known: the Llanero, or “plains people,” and the Hoyero, the “mountain people.” They roamed from central and eastern Colorado into western Oklahoma, and as far south as Estancia, New Mexico. As a result of their eastern contacts, the Jicarilla adopted certain cultural traits of the Plains Indians, as did the Mescalero who also ranged the eastern plains. From an estimated population of 800 Jicarilla in 1845, the tribe today numbers about 1,800.

The Jicarilla (little basketmakers) are of the Athabascan language group and anthropologists say that these people came from Canada down the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains about 1300-1500 AD.

All tribes deny the migration theories and say that they have always been there.

Though limited to using dogs as pack animals, the Jicarilla were the most successful raiders. When the Spaniards brought horses once again to North America (the previous horses had been eaten long before) the Jicarilla took full advantage.

They were not recognized as being distinctive from the other southern Athabascans: Chiricahuas, Navajos, Western Apaches, Mescaleros, Kiowa Apaches, and Lipans, until about 1700. Jicarilla are further identified as the plains people (Llaneros), and the mountain-valley people (Olleros) or Hoyero.

Though all of these are in New Mexico, the Jicarilla have been all through parts of southeastern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and adjoining areas of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Their contacts with the Spaniards began with Coronado in 1540 to 1542, perhaps as the Querechos, whom the later Spanish explorers called Vaqueros.

Hostilities began almost at first contact with the Spaniards, and though a Spanish mission was attempted near Taos in 1733, it was short-lived. The Spanish drive northward disrupted ancient Apache trade connections with neighboring tribes.

When New Mexico became a Spanish colony in 1598, hostilities increased between Spaniards and Apaches. An influx of Comanche into traditional Apache territory in the early 1700s forced the Lipan and other Apaches to move south of their main food source, the buffalo. These displaced Apaches began raiding for food.

Apache raids on settlers accompanied the American westward movement and the United States acquisition of New Mexico in 1848. The Native Americans and the United States military authorities engaged in fierce wars until all Apache tribes were eventually placed on reservations.

The Chiricahua, continued their attacks until 1872, when their chief, Cochise, signed a treaty with the U.S. government and moved with his band to an Apache reservation in Arizona.

The last band of Apaches, led by the chief Geronimo, was hunted down in 1886 and was confined in Florida, Alabama, and finally Oklahoma Territory.

There are thirteen different Apache tribes in the United States today: five in Arizona, five in New Mexico, and three in Oklahoma.

FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED APACHE TRIBES

• • Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
  • Fort McDowell Mojave-Apache Indian Community of the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation
  • Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
  • Jicarilla Apache Tribe of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation
  • Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation (Membreno-Mescalero Apache)
  • San Carlos Apache Tribe of the San Carlos Reservation
  • Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona
  • White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation

  • Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation

STATE RECOGNIZED APACHE TRIBES
(Not recognized by the Federal Government)

• Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb

UNRECOGNIZED TRIBES
(Petitions Pending)

• Lipan Apache

The concept of “tribe” in Apachean cultures is very weakly developed, essentially being only a recognition of similar speech and culture. No leadership existed for all of the Apache tribes as a whole. In fact, not all Apaches recognize the existence of tribes within their cultures. The seven Apachean tribes had no political unity and often were enemies of each other. The Apache tribes are divided into many band divisions and further divided into clans or moieties which can cross multiple bands.

Local groups comprised loose confederations called bands. The bands were territorial units, not formal political groups. Nonetheless the bands had distinct names and leadership. The local groups consisted of several units of extended families occupying a given territory. The Chiricahua and Mescalero local groups had as many as 30 extended families. Among the Western Apaches the local groups were comprised of from two to six large, extended family units with three to eight nuclear families each and as many as 200 people. The Mescalero did not have bands.

There are two separate Apache clan systems: The Chiricahua and the Jicarilla. Apache clans are not totemic and they usually take their names from the natural features of localities, never from animals. Like clans of different Apache tribes recognize their affiliation. Clans can be closely related, related or distantly related. Closely related and related clan marriage is taboo.

The term Apaches, as used in our contemporary English language, generally includes 6 of the 7 major traditional Apachean speaking groups: Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipans, Mescalero, Plains Apache, and Western Apache. The seventh Apachean group, the Navajo, are now considered as a separate tribe.

Keeping the relationships of Apachean language divisions, apache tribes, bands, and clans (called moities in some groups) straight can be difficult. This is complicated further because anthropologists do not agree on how to classify these civilizations, and records from past centuries and various languages contain many spelling variations referring to the same peoples. Here is a little chart to help you sort it all out.