The other two major tribal groups in New Mexico are the Navahos and the Apaches. Both groups are Athabascan in language and background and are relative newcomers to the area, arriving here possibly some seven hundred years ago. Each calls themselves by some form of the name “the people”. The Navahos are the largest in numbers of all the native peoples in New Mexico. Their area of occupation mainly consists of the extreme northwest portion of the state. Some of this is reservation and some is land occupied by Navahos. Most of the reservation lies in Arizona and there are three smaller Navaho reservations in other parts of New Mexico.
The Navahos have a well developed tribal government that is based around the form of local government called “chapter houses”. They have their own police force, courts, and are in the process of running their own schools. Due to tribal income from minerals and other sources, they have been able, through land purchases, to enlarge the size of the reservation.
There are two Apache reservations in New Mexico; Mescalero in the south central part of the state and the Jicarilla reservation in the extreme northern part of the state. Both are mountainous areas and consist of quite beautiful terrain. The Mescaleros have been very progressive economically and have some quite well developed tourist attractions that bring in good income. The ski area is the best known. They also run casinos and their late tribal president, Wendell Chino was an outspoken promoter of Native American rights to own casinos and native rights in general.
Some of the survivors of Geronimo’s band ended up with the Mescaleros and their descendants live there still.
Both the Navahos and the Mescaleros were deported to Fort Sumner, New Mexico in the 1860’s. They suffered a lot while there and the Navajos in particular lost many people in the journey there. They call it the “Long Walk”. There is now a memorial to the tragedy at the state monument a little south of the modern town of Fort Sumner and it is well worth seeing.
The other tribe that has a small part of their reservation in New Mexico is the Utes. Most of their land is in Colorado. I do not have a lot of information about them.
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