Apache History Timeline

A coalition of Nadahéndé, Guhlkahéndé, and Lipan splinter groups fought the Comanche on the Plains under Picax-Ande-Ins-Tinsle, known as Strong Arm.

French explorer Jean Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe encountered Lipan Apache near present-day Latimer County, Oklahoma, in 1719.

Between 1720 and 1726, Faraones referred to Apache groups living between the Rio Grande, Pecos River, Santa Fe, and Conchos River.

After 1722, Spanish documents increasingly distinguished among Apache groups; Apaches de Gila referred to Western Apache living along the Gila River and were synonymous with Coyotero.

In 1726, some Apache groups joined the Cuartelejo and Paloma, and by the 1730s they lived with the Jicarilla.

Natagés was used from 1726 to 1820 for the Faraón, Sierra Blanca, and Siete Ríos Apaches of southeastern New Mexico.

After 1726, Faraones referred only to groups in the northern and central portions of the region between the Rio Grande, Pecos, Santa Fe, and Conchos.

A 1745 report described Natagé as consisting of Mescalero around El Paso and the Organ Mountains and Salinero around the Rio Salado, likely referring to the same broader group.

After 1749, Natagés became synonymous with Mescalero, the designation that eventually replaced it.

In 1812, the term Carlana was used to mean Jicarilla.

After 1814, the term Faraones disappeared from usage and was replaced by Mescalero.

In 1938, Harry Hoijer divided the Apachean language family into an eastern branch of Jicarilla, Lipan, and Plains Apache and a western branch of Navajo, Western Apache, Chiricahua, and Mescalero.

Hoijer revised his classification in 1971 after finding that Plains Apache did not participate in the relevant sound merger, treating Plains Apache as equidistant from the other languages and calling the grouping Southwestern Apachean.

In 1973, Michael Krauss and other linguists argued that classification based only on initial consonants in noun and verb stems was arbitrary and that broader sound correspondences produced more complex relationships.

Morris Opler noted cultural similarities between Jicarilla and Lipan communities and Eastern Apache language speakers, along with differences from Western Apache speakers.

The historical list of Apache groups draws on the work of Foster and McCollough, Morris Opler, and Willem de Reuse, published between 1983 and 2001.

After Texas gained statehood in 1846, Americans waged a brutal campaign against the Lipan Apache, destroying villages and attempting to force them out of Texas.

Indian Affairs recorded 9,248 Apaches on reservations in 1875, excluding Apache people who remained outside the reservations.

The United States military forcibly removed an estimated 1,500 Yavapai and Dilzhe'e, or Tonto Apache, from the Rio Verde Indian Reserve and treaty lands promised to them.

At the San Carlos reservation, Buffalo soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Regiment guarded Apache communities from 1875 to 1881 while the 8th Cavalry was stationed in Texas.

Image source: Buffalo Soldier

An Apache uprising against the reservation system beginning in 1879 led to Victorio's War between Chief Victorio's band and the 9th Cavalry.

Image source: Victorio's War

Most United States histories identify the final defeat of an Apache band with the surrender of Geronimo's group of 30 to 50 men, women, and children at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, on September 4, 1886, after 5,000 U.S. troops had pursued them.

Image source: Geronimo

In 1900, the U.S. government classified Apache people in the United States as Pinal Coyotero, Jicarilla, Mescalero, San Carlos, Tonto, and White Mountain Apache.

The 1910 census recorded at least 6,119 Apache people.

The 2020 United States census recorded an Apache population of 148,936, reflecting a major rebound from the low counts reported in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 2021, Lipan Apaches were present at a summit involving the Apache tribes.