New Mexico

Cojoya Tribe

Cojoya Indians. An unidentified people, described by Fray Geronimo de Zarate-Salmeron, about 1629 , as living in a fertile and well watered country “80 leagues before reaching New Mexico from the west side, separated by 2 days of travel from the Rio del Norte (Rio Grande) and the King’s highway.” They raised cotton, corn, and other vegetables, and wove very fine, thin mantas. Their neighbors to the east were the Gorretas (Mansos), and on the south were their enemies, the Conchas, or Conchos, who lived about the junction of the Rio Conchas and the Rio Grande, in Chihuahua, Mexico. Zarate-Salmeron … Read more

Apache Indian Research

Apache Indians (probably from ápachu, ‘enemy,’ the Zuñi name for the Navaho, who were designated “Apaches de Nabaju” by the early Spaniards in New Mexico). A number of tribes forming the most southerly group of the Athapascan family. The name has been applied also to some unrelated Yuman tribes, as the Apache Mohave (Yavapai) and Apache Yuma. The Apache call themselves N’de, Dĭnë, Tĭnde, or Inde, `people.’ Read more about the Apache Tribe History. Archives, Libraries, and Societies Museum of New Mexico Apache Cultural Center & Museum (hosted at White Mountain Apache Tribe Apache Indian Biography Indian Chiefs and Leaders … Read more

Lipan Apache Tribe

Lipan Apache Indians (adapted from Ipa-n’de, apparently a personal name; n’de=’people’). An Apache tribe, designating themselves Náizhan (‘ours,’ ‘our kind’), which at various periods of the 18th and 19th centuries roamed from the lower Rio Grande in New Mexico and Mexico eastward through Texas to the Gulf coast, gaining a livelihood by depredations against other tribes and especially against the white settlements of Texas and Mexico. The name has probably been employed to include other Apache groups of the southern plains, such as the Mescaleros and the Kiowa Apache. The Franciscan mission of San Saba was established among the Lipan … Read more

Mimbreños Apache Tribe

Mimbreños (Spanish: ‘people of the willows’). A branch of the Apache who took their popular name from the Mimbres mountains, southwest New Mexico, but who roamed over the country from the east side of the Rio Grande in New Mexico to San Francisco River in Arizona, a favorite haunt being near Lake Guzman, west of El Paso, in Chihuahua. Between 1854 and 1869 their number was estimated at 400 to 750, under Mangas Coloradas. In habits they were similar to the other Apache, gaining a livelihood by raiding settlements in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico. They made peace with the … Read more

Mescalero Apache Tribe

Mescaleros Apache Indians (Spanish: `mescal people,’ from their custom of eating mescal). An Apache tribe which formed a part of the Faraones and Vaqueros of different periods of the Spanish history of the southwest. Their principal range was between the Rio Grande and the Pecos in New Mexico, but it extended also into the Staked plains and southward into Coahuila, Mexico. They were never regarded as so warlike as the Apache of Arizona, otherwise they were generally similar. Mooney records the following divisions: Nataina Tuetinini Tsihlinainde Guhlkainde Tahuunde These bands intermarry, and each had its chief and suhchief. The Guhlkainde … Read more

Jicarilla Apache Tribe

Jicarilla (Mexican Spanish: `little basket’). An Athapascan tribe, first so called by Spaniards because of their expertness in making vessels of basketry. They apparently formed a part of the Vaqueros of early Spanish chronicles, although, according to their creation legend, they have occupied from the earliest period the mountainous region of southeast Colorado and northern New Mexico, their range at various periods extending eastward to western Kansas and Oklahoma, and into northwest Texas. The Arkansas, Rio Grande, and Canadian Rivers figure in their genesis myth , but their traditions seem to center about Taos and the heads of Arkansas River. … Read more

Faraon Apache Tribe

The Faraon Apache, named from early Spanish references to the “Apache hordes of Pharaoh,” were a tribe primarily located in the region between the Rio Grande and the Pecos in New Mexico. Historically, they appear to be the southern division of the Querecho encountered by Coronado in 1541, later identified as the Vaqueros by Benavides in 1630, and possibly part of the Llaneros in more recent times. Their relationship to other Apache tribes is unclear, though they likely had closer ties to the Mescaleros. The Faraon Apache were known for their frequent raids on Spanish and Pueblo settlements in the Rio Grande area and Chihuahua, with the Sandia mountains serving as a significant stronghold. Despite multiple Spanish expeditions and peace treaties, these agreements often failed to bring lasting peace. Noted divisions within the tribe include the Ancavistis, Jacomis, Orejones, Carlanes, and Cuampes, although some, like the Carlanes, were associated with the Jicarillas.

Apache Chiefs and Leaders

Nahche

Geronimo Geronimo (Spanish for Jerome, applied by the Mexicans as a nickname; native name Goyathlay, `one who yawns’). A medicine man and prophet of the Chiricahua Apache who, in the latter part of the 19th century, acquired notoriety through his opposition to the authorities and by systematic and sensational advertising; born about 1834 at the headwaters of Gila River, New Mexico, near old Ft Tulerosa. His father was Taklishim, ‘The Gray One,’ who was not a chief, although his father (Geronimo’s grandfather) assumed to be a chief without heredity or election. Geronimo’s mother was known as Juana. When it was … Read more

Apache Tribe

Apache Indians (probably from ápachu, ‘enemy,’ the Zuñi name for the Navaho, who were designated “Apaches de Nabaju” by the early Spaniards in New Mexico). A number of tribes forming the most southerly group of the Athapascan family. The name has been applied also to some unrelated Yuman tribes, as the Apache Mohave (Yavapai) and Apache Yuma. The Apache call themselves N’de, Dĭnë, Tĭnde, or Inde, `people.’ They were evidently not so numerous about the beginning of the 17th century as in recent times, their numbers apparently having been increased by captives from other tribes, particularly the Pueblos, Pima, Papago, … Read more

Asa Tribe

Asa (Tansy: mustard), A phratral organization of the Hopi, comprising the Chakwaina (Black Earth kachina), Asa  Kwingyap (Oak), Hosboa (Chapparal cock) , Posiwu (Magpie), Chisro (Snow bunting), Puchkohu (Boomerang hunting-stick), and Pisha (Field-mouse) clans. In early days this people lived near Abiquiu, in the Chama River region of New Mexico, at a village called Kaekibi, and stopped successively at the pueblos of Santo Domingo, Laguna, Acoma, and Zuñi before reaching Tusayan, some of their families remaining at each of these pueblos, except Acoma. At Zuñi their descendants form the Aiyaho clan. On reaching Tusayan the Posiwu, Puchkohu, and Pisha clans … Read more

New Mexico Indian Agencies and Schools

Agencies and Schools listed below are what were listed for the state.  Slight indent after an Agency list all schools in that jurisdiction. Albuquerque School, New Mexico Post-office: Albuquerque, New Mexico Telegraph address: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Postal and Western Union, 2½ miles from school; thence telephone. Railroad station: Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rwy.; thence hired team, 2½ miles. (See School Photos) Acoma day school. Post-office: Cubero, New Mexico Telegraph address: Laguna, New Mexico; Western Union, 12 miles from school; thence telephone. Railroad station: Alaska flag station, near school, on Santa Fe Pacific Rwy. Canon Cito … Read more

Indian Tribes of New Mexico

Governor Charles Bent, the author of the annexed memoir, who received his authority from General Kearny, fell before the perfidy of the assassins of Taos. New Mexico will long lament the loss of his experience and knowledge of Indian affairs. An extensive acquaintance with the tribes south of the Arkansas and Red Rivers, reaching to the Rio Grande and the regions west of it, had qualified him to make a just estimate of the character and population of the aboriginal tribes who rove over those vast and undefined plains, and mountain fastnesses. In his estimation of the tribes, the boundaries … Read more

Tewa Pueblo Indians

Tewa Pueblo Indians. Along the valley of the Rio Grande in the northern part of New Mexico, except for one pueblo, Hano, in the Hopi country, Arizona. They constituted a major division of the Tanoan linguistic family, itself a part of the Kiowa-Tanoan stock.

Zuñi Indians

Zuñi Indians. Located on the north bank of upper Zuni River, Valencia County, New Mexico. The Zuni constitute the Zunian linguistic stock. According to Cushing (1896), the Zuni are descended from two peoples, one of whom came originally from the north and was later joined by the second, from the west or southwest (from the country of the lower Colorado), who resembled the Yuman and Piman peoples in culture.

New Mexico Indian Tribes

The following tribes at one time are recorded in history as having resided within the present state of New Mexico. If the tribe name is in bold, then New Mexico is the primary location known for this tribe, otherwise we provide the tribes specifics as it pertains to New Mexico and then provide a link to the main tribal page. Apache Indians Comanche Indians. In the Spanish period, the Comanche raided into and across the territory of New Mexico repeatedly. (See Texas.) Jemez Indians Jicarilla Indians. An Apache tribe which ranged over the northeastern corner of New Mexico. (See Colorado.) … Read more

Keresan Pueblo Indians

Keresan Pueblo Indians. Located on the Rio Grande, in north central New Mexico, between the Rio de los Frijoles and the Rio Jemez, and on the latter stream from the pueblo of Sia to its mouth.These Indians constituted an independent stock having no affiliations with any other.

Navaho Indians

Navaho Indians, Navajo Indians. Located in northern New Mexico and Arizona with some extension into Colorado and Utah. With the Apache tribes, the Navaho formed the southern division of the Athapascan linguistic family.

Tuscarora Immigration

In the year 1846, on the 16th day of May, about forty of the Tuscarora immigrated from the reservation to their new homes in the Indian Territory, and in one year about one-third of them died on account of the sufferings they endured. They were destitute of everything, and the Government was to have sustained them for one year, and to build houses for them, and provide all the necessaries of life, but they failed in fulfilling their promises on account of the misconduct of Dr. A. Hogeboom, the moving agent of the emigration party. By reference to official documents … Read more

The Cliff Dwellers

In the canons of the Colorado river and its tributaries are found the ruins of an ancient race of cliff dwellers. These ruins are numerous and are scattered over a wide scope of country, which includes Arizona and portions of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Many of them are yet in a good state of preservation, but all show the marks of age and decay. They are not less than four hundred years old and are, in all probability, much older. Their preservation is largely due to their sheltered position among the rocks and an exceptionally dry climate. The houses … Read more