The Navajo occupied a portion of the Colorado Plateau adjacent to Hopi lands. The Apache claimed the basin and range country east and south of the Plateau and surrounding the Rio Grande pueblos. Together, the Navajo and Apache are referred to as Apacheans.
The Native American Navajo tribe is one of the largest tribes of American Indians. They lived in the Southwest in areas that are today Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. The name “Navajo” comes from the Spanish who called them the Apaches of Navajo. They called themselves “Dine” or “the People”.
The Navajo and the Apache are closely related tribes, descended from a single group that scholars believe migrated from Canada. Both Navajo and Apache languages belong to a language family called “Athabaskan,” which is also spoken by native peoples in Alaska and west-central Canada.
“Navajo” is a Spanish adaptation of the Tewa Pueblo word navahu’u, meaning “farm fields in the valley.” Early Spanish chroniclers referred to the Navajo as Apaches de Nabajó (“Apaches who farm in the valley”), which was eventually shortened to “Navajo.” What is clear from the history of this word is that the early …
What were the Apache best known for?
For centuries they were fierce warriors, adept in wilderness survival, who carried out raids on those who encroached on their territory. Religion was a fundamental part of Apache life.
Is Apache Indian Indian?
Apache, North American Indians who, under such leaders as Cochise, Mangas Coloradas, Geronimo, and Victorio, figured largely in the history of the Southwest during the latter half of the 19th century. Their name is probably derived from a Spanish transliteration of ápachu, the term for “enemy” in Zuñi.
What was the Comanche region?
Their historic territory consisted of most of present-day northwestern Texas and adjacent areas in eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, western Oklahoma, and northern Chihuahua.