page_title: Apache
section_title: Western Apache
hierarchical_section_title: Apache / List of names / Western Apache
caption_attribution_description: English: Standing studio portrait vignette of a Native American San Carlos Apache woman posed in profile carrying a pitch covered basket jar with a head strap and wearing patterned blouse and skirt; props include baskets, cactus and brush.
context_page_description: The Apache are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe, Salinero, Plains and Western Apache. Distant cousins of the Apache are the Navajo, with which they share the Southern Athabaskan languages. There are Apache communities in Oklahoma, Texas, and reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. Apache people have moved throughout the United States and elsewhere, including urban centers. The Apache Nations are politically autonomous, speak several different languages and have distinct cultures.
  Historically, the Apache homelands have consisted of high mountains, sheltered and watered valleys, deep canyons, deserts, and the southern Great Plains, including areas in what is now Eastern Arizona, Northern Mexico and New Mexico, West Texas, and Southern Colorado. These areas are collectively known as Apacheria. The Apache tribes fought the invading Spanish and Mexican peoples for centuries. The first Apache raids on Sonora appear to have taken place during the late 17th century. In 19th-century confrontations during the American-Indian wars, the U.S.
context_section_description: Western Apache include Northern Tonto, Southern Tonto, Cibecue, White Mountain and San Carlos groups. While these subgroups spoke the same language and had kinship ties, Western Apaches considered themselves as separate from each other, according to Goodwin. Other writers have used this term to refer to all non-Navajo Apachean peoples living west of the Rio Grande (thus failing to distinguish the Chiricahua from the other Apacheans). Goodwin's formulation: "all those Apache peoples who have lived within the present boundaries of the state of Arizona during historic times with the exception of the Chiricahua, Warm Springs, and allied Apache, and a small band of Apaches known as the Apache Mansos, who lived in the vicinity of Tucson."
  Cibecue is a Western Apache group, according to Goodwin, from north of the Salt River between the Tonto and White Mountain Apache, consisting of Ceder Creek, Carrizo, and Cibecue (proper) bands.
  San Carlos. A Western Apache group that ranged closest to Tucson according to Goodwin. This group consisted of the Apache Peaks, Arivaipa, Pinal, San Carlos (proper) bands.
  Arivaipa (also Aravaipa) is a band of the San Carlos Apache. Schroeder believes the Arivaipa were a separate people in pre-reservation times. Arivaipa is a Hispanized word from the O'odham language. The Arivaipa are known as Tsézhiné ("Black Rock") in the Western Apache language.
  Pinal (also Pinaleño). One of the bands of the San Carlos group of Western Apache, described by Goodwin. Also used along with Coyotero to refer more generally to one of two major Western Apache divisions. Some Pinaleño were referred to as the Gila Apache.
  Tonto. Goodwin divided into Northern Tonto and Southern Tonto groups, living in the north and west areas of the Western Apache groups according to Goodwin. This is north of Phoenix, north of the Verde River. Schroeder has suggested that the Tonto are originally Yavapais who assimilated Western Apache culture. Tonto is one of the major dialects of the Western Apache language. Tonto Apache speakers are traditionally bilingual in Western Apache and Yavapai. Goodwin's Northern Tonto consisted of Bald Mountain, Fossil Creek, Mormon Lake, and Oak Creek bands; Southern Tonto consisted of the Mazatzal band and unidentified "semi-bands".
  White Mountain are the easternmost group of the Western Apache, according to Goodwin, who included the Eastern White Mountain and Western White Mountain Apache.
  Coyotero refers to a southern pre-reservation White Mountain group of the Western Apache, but has also been used more widely to refer to the Apache in general, Western Apache, or an Apache band in the high plains of Southern Colorado to Kansas.
caption: A Western Apache woman from the San Carlos group
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