The Apache Indians were late arrival in the Southwest,
having drifted down from then Canadian homeland about 500
They did not settle down to become primarily herders and
farmers as other pueblo peoples did.
Instead, for centuries they zealously maintained their
reputation as ferocious warriors and raiders by striking
hard, time and again, at the various Pueblo tribes to kill and
Loosely organized into bands of hunters and raiders, all
Apache Indians tribes or groupings shared a common language.
varied widely from band to band depending, in large measure,
on the particular region each group roamed and the customs they borrowed from the peoples with whom they
came into contact.
The Jicarilla Apache Indians, of present-day northern New Mexico, for example, adopted many of the
characteristics of the Plains Indians and became buffalo hunters, but they also did some farming, having learned
the rudiments of agriculture from the Pueblos.
The Lipan Apache Indians, on the other hand, did little farming, preferring to engage in hunting, gathering, and
raiding throughout eastern New Mexico and west Texas. Yet another group joined the plains-dwelling Kiowas to
become the Kiowa Apache Indians.
The Mescaleros of South-central New Mexico, so known for their appetite for the mescal plant, lived exclusively
by hunting, gathering, and raiding, while the Chiricahuas, who ranged through southern Arizona and New Mexico,
achieved a reputation as the fiercest of all Apache Indians.
The Western Apache Indians, of east-central Arizona. These included the White Mountain, Cibecue, San Carlos,
and orthern and Southern Tonto subdivisions. They farmed more extensively than the others and were closely
linked in language and culture to the Navajos.
Apache Indians had no central tribal government. The band; within each tribe had headmen, whose positions
were maintained through their persuasiveness and warlike prowess. Each band was made up of a number of
extended families, and together they loosely controlled a region. Yet even within the bands there was little
organized government, and warriors were free to carry out raids on their own.
Peculiarly, for so militant a people, the Apache Indians bad a horror of death. Enemy scalps had to be purified in
smoke to make them safe and, when a band member died, he was quickly buried, his dwelling and possessions
burned. Then the mourners purged themselves in sagebrush smoke and moved away from the immediate area to
escape harm from the ghost of the deceased.
Haley, J. Apaches: A History and Culture Portrait. 1997.
Roberts, D. Once They Moved Like The Wind : Cochise, Geronimo, And The Apache Wars. 1994.