Known as Apache We call ourselves Ndeh or Ndee meaning The People, but to nearly everyone else in their world we were known as The Enemy. We fought harder than others to preserve our territory and our way of life, and gained respected territories that exists to this day. Descendants of the ancient people, whom we are known today as Apache, made a prolonged, determined, and successful effort to protect from the Spanish, the Mexicans, and finally the Anglo-Americans their sacred ancestral lands. Although initial lands established for the Ndeh were created, numerous reductions from its original 90,000 square mile district were due to mineral discoveries and settler encroachments on these sacred territorial lands. This entire region was created at one time by the U.S. Government, as the Apache Reservation, but once mineral deposits were discovered, settlers demanded more land for homesteading and livestock, and the government acquiesced and stole the land from the Apache. The San Carlos Apache Reservation was established west of Mount Graham by executive order in 1852. San Carlos was one of the United States’ first experiments in a concentration camp policy that included the forced relocation of all our western region Apache Clanships to one area, included were a number of other southern Native Nations. Before the genocide began, traditional Apache homelands were structured by regions very much like states with natural boundaries established and respected by all the various Apache communities as well as the other neighboring Indigenous Nations in the area. Dzil Nchaa Si An (known to non Apaches as Mt. Graham) is known to this day as the home of the Ga’an or Mountain Spirits. It is also recognized and now undergoing re-utilization for traditional purposes by various surrounding Native Nations. The most sacred mountains where for thousands of years people went to pray, fast, meditate and gather medicinal plants, we once again come forward to claim and protect. This land remains and will always remain sacred to the Apache and all people who revere the Earth Mother as our life giver, provider and protector.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 14:36:16 +0000
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