Western Apache people


The Western Apache live primarily in east central Arizona, in the United States. Most live within reservations. The Fort Apache Indian Reservation, San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Tonto Apache, and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation are home to the majority of Western Apache and are the bases of their federally recognized tribes. In addition, there are numerous bands. The Western Apache bands call themselves Ndee ; because of dialectical differences the Pinaleño/Pinal and Arivaipa/Aravaipa bands of the San Carlos Apache pronounce the word Innee or Nnēē:.

Language and culture

The various dialects of Western Apache are a form of Apachean, a branch of the Southern Athabaskan language family. The Navajo speak a related Apachean language, but the peoples separated several hundred years ago and are considered culturally distinct. Other indigenous peoples who speak Athabaskan are located in Alaska and Canada.
The anthropologist Grenville Goodwin classified the Western Apache into five groups based on Apachean dialect and culture:
Since Goodwin, other researchers have disputed his conclusion of five linguistic groups, but have agreed on three main Apachean dialects with several subgroupings:
Some 20,000 Western Apache still speak their native language, and efforts have been made to preserve it. Bilingual teachers are often employed in the lower elementary grades to expedite that goal, but the tendency toward children learning to speak only English, mingled with occasional Spanish, remains dominant.
In relation to culture, tribal schools offer classes in native handicrafts, such as basket weaving, making bows, arrows, spears, shields; cradles for infants, native regalia from buckskin for the young women, and the making of silver jewelry at the elementary and secondary level.

Western Apache bands and tribes

White Mountain Apache

The White Mountain Apache or Dził Łigai Si'án N'dee "People of the White Mountains", are currently centered in Fort Apache Indian Reservation. It is the most eastern band of the Western Apache group. The White Mountain Apaches are a federally recognized tribe. Their traditional area ranged from the White Mountains near Snowflake, Arizona and the Little Colorado River in the north over the Gila Mountains south to the Pinaleno Mountains near Safford ), lived and planted along the East Fork and North Fork of the White River, Turkey Creek, Black River and the Gila River.
, today all part of the federally recognized tribe of the White Mountain Apache of the Fort Apache Reservation
, a federally recognized tribe composed of the San Carlos Apache proper and several groups of the Cibecue Apache, some Tonto Apache, Lipan as well Chiricahua Apache peoples.
Often groups of Wi:pukba and Guwevkabaya of the Yavapai lived together with the Tonto Apache in bilingual rancherias, and could not be distinguished by outsiders except on the basis of their first language. The Yavapai and Apache together were often referred to as Tonto or Tonto Apaches. Therefore, it is not always easy to find out whether it is now exclusively dealing with Yavapai or Apache, or those mixed bands. The Wi:pukba and Guwevkabaya were therefore, because of their ancestral and cultural proximity to the Tonto and San Carlos Apaches, often incorrectly called Yavapai Apaches or Yuma Apaches. The Ɖo:lkabaya , the southwestern group of Yavapai, and the Hualapai were also referred as Yuma Apaches or Mohave Apaches.

Notable Western Apache

White Mountain Apaches