Kiowa Apaches

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Former residential areas

The Kiowa Apaches , increasingly referred to today as the Plains Apache , are a tribal group that linguistically belongs to the Apaches in the southwest of the United States and (formerly) in northern Mexico , but culturally and politically they belong to the Kiowa . With their long-standing allies - the Kiowa and Comanche - they dominated the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle as well as adjacent areas of the High Plains from the beginning of the 18th century .

Geographically, linguistically and culturally they are usually counted together with the Mescalero , Chiricahua , Jicarilla and Lipan to the Eastern Apache (English Eastern Apache).

Their language, the Plains Apache, Kiowa Apache or Naishan , belongs - together with Jicarilla Apache (Abáachi or Abáachi mizaa) and the Lipan Apache - to the eastern branch of the South Apache languages ​​of the Athapaskan language from the Na-Dené language family . According to Hoijer and Opler, however, their language differs so far from all Apache languages ​​that the latter together form the Southwestern group and the Kiowa Apache language is the only member of the so-called Plains group.

Surname

Due to their linguistic and therefore partly cultural similarity with the eastern groups of the Apaches as well as their military-political alliance with the more numerous and powerful Kiowa , they were and are often referred to as Kiowa Apache or Plains Apache (incorrectly in German: Prairie Apache ). Today, however, they and the specialist literature increasingly use their own designation as Naishan or Naishan Dené . This name as well as other variants as Na-di'isha-de'na or Na'isha ("Those Who Carry or Transport Things About" - "Those who carry robbery (?) Goods" or "Stealers" - "Robbers, thieves “) Most likely referred to their predatory and warlike tradition; the Kiowa therefore referred to them simply as Semat ("stealers" - "robbers, thieves"). For larger tribal meetings (such as the Sun Dance ), the Plains Apache were a tightly integrated part of the teepee ring of Kiowa, therefore designated presumably this also as Taugui ( "sitting (at the) Outside" - "Those who Outside Sitting") .

In addition, they identified themselves as Káłt'inde , khat tleen-deh or γát dinde ( "Cedar People" - "Cedar wood -Volk") but linguistically related hostile Mescalero took this as Keeditłénde . Like other Plains tribes also called the Cheyenne they Mûtsíănă-täníuals ( "Whetstone People" - " Wetzstein -Volk"), the Kiowa k'a-pätop ( "Knife Whetters" - "Knife Wetzer") and the Arapaho Tha 'kahine'na ("(People) whetting a knife (men)"), all of these terms derive from Bek'áhe or Bay-ca-yeh ("Whetstone People" - "Wetzstein-Volk"), another proper name of the Kiowa Apache. The linguistically related hostile Diné (Navajo) called them Halgai hóteeljí chíshí (derived from halgai - "Plains (plains), flat", hóteel - "wide area", hence Halgai Hóteel - "Great Plains" and Chíshí - "Chiricahua") , as well as for all Southern Apache in general); the equally hostile Pawnee, however, as Tsaka-Taka ("face-white"), hence the white explorers called them Gattacka or Katacka .

residential area

In the early 18th century they lived in the Black Hills area and on the upper Yellowstone River . By 1790, both Kiowa and Kiowa Apache had made a lasting peace with the militarily powerful Comanche, and from then on they began to slowly advance southward onto the High Plains and Southern Plains. The Kiowa Apache (Plains Apache) and the Kiowa, however, roamed mostly north of the Comanche, between the Canadian River and Red River in the south to the Arkansas River in the north, mostly in today's Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma Panhandle ; later some of the Kiowa bands moved to the Llano Estacado and south to the Brazos River in Texas .

From then on, these three tribes together controlled a huge tribal area on the Southern Plains , which included the east of present-day Colorado , the west of Kansas , large parts of Oklahoma , northeast of New Mexico and north, west and central Texas . Because of its almost seamless control by the most populous and powerful tribe in this alliance - the Comanche - the Spaniards, Mexicans and later Americans usually referred to the area simply as Comancheria .

Socio-political organization

The core of the Kiowa Apache society was the matrilocal (the man moves to the woman's family and is related to their relatives) and matrilineal (the origin is derived from the mother's line) extended family or kustcrae . For organizing hunts - particularly the Bison Hunt - (and the processing of the meat and the hide) and for collection, several extended families formed a local group (English "local group".) Or Gonka . Several local groups formed bands (groups) for raids and war campaigns . Before the reservation time, there were at least four bands, divided into more than 12 local groups, who together fought against neighboring tribes and settlements. In contrast to the neighboring Lipan Apache or Mescalero Apache , who never developed a political organization beyond the band (sometimes even just the local group), the Kiowa Apache (Plains Apache) saw themselves as a tribal unit, and so it often happened to joint ventures by all four bands.

In addition, they were considered a band of the Kiowa by neighboring tribes during the sun dance and at tribal gatherings .

history

Their myths and oral traditions speak of a homeland in the north, probably the eastern range of the Rocky Mountains , where they lived as an independent tribe with a northern and a southern division.

Today's scientists suspect that the Apaches parted at some point on their migration south. One group migrated on the west side of the Rocky Mountains in the American Southwest, while a second smaller group migrated south east of the mountains. It is likely that the Kiowa Apache felt too weak on their own and sought protection from the more powerful Kiowa . Practically part of the Kiowa tribe, they shared the same way of life, culture and religion, and differed only in language. Some old Apache men usually learned to speak some Kiowa, but the normal means of communication between the two tribes was sign language . Since the Kiowa Apaches were culturally and politically part of the Kiowa, but linguistically belonged to the Apaches, the Kiowa were later able to maintain a neutrality towards the enmity between the Comanche and the Apaches. Sometimes they even acted with the active support of the Kiowa Apaches as mediators between Jicarilla , Mescalero , Lipan and the Comanche.

In 1681 or 1682 she met Robert Cavelier de La Salle in what is now Illinois at Peoria Lake , called her Gattacka and reported that they had got horses from the Spanish, which they were now selling to the Pawnees. Apparently the Kiowa, and with them the Kiowa Apaches, commuted between the Platte River and eastern New Mexico in order to conduct a lucrative trade in Spanish horses and even occasionally came to the French trading post on Peoria Lake.

In 1805, Lewis and Clark met them with the Kiowas in the Black Hills of northeast Wyoming , where about 300 of them lived in 25 tepees. The Absarokee were allied with them, while the Cheyenne , Arapaho and Sioux were among their enemies.

At the end of the 18th century, the Kiowa made a lasting peace with the Mescalero-Apache through the mediation of the Kiowa-Apache, this enabled the two groups to have easier access to the Tewa Pueblo in order to be able to barter there. Around 1790 they made lasting peace with the Comanche, in 1834 with the Osage and around 1840 with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In 1837 they signed their first contract with the United States under the name Katacka at Fort Gibson . They followed the Kiowa, with whom they shared a common story since they merged. In 1853 they were referred to as a warlike group (English band ) who lived on the Canadian River and accompanied the Comanche in joint raids.

At their own request, the Kiowa Apaches were joined to the Cheyenne and Arapaho in the Treaty of Little Arkansas because the Kiowa were too hostile to the whites. But already in the contract of Medicine Lodge there was a reunification with the Kiowa two years later.

Under the leadership of their chief Essa-queta , also known as Pacer or Peso, the majority of the Kiowa Apaches behaved peacefully. In October 1872 , Essa-queta (Pacer) and two other chiefs of the tribe, Daha and Gray Eagle , were part of a delegation that traveled to Washington . As a result of this peacekeeping mission, AJ Standing, a Quaker missionary, set up a school on their reservation in 1874 . Although some tribesmen took part in Quanah Parker's campaign to Adobe Walls that summer , the majority of the Kiowa Apaches remained calm during the Red River Wars . After Pacer's death in 1875, the tribe settled on a piece of land between Fort Cobb and Fort Sill in Indian Territory and quickly got used to a sedentary life as a farmer. After the reservations in Oklahoma were opened, the city of Apache in Caddo County became the center of the tribe.

Way of life and religion

Except for the other language, the Kiowa Apaches were indistinguishable from the Kiowa. Like the Kiowa, they belonged to the typical nomadic tribes. After getting horses from the Spaniards , they hunted buffalo from horseback; they did not farm and lived in large leather tepees made up of three bars. They had military companies (Engl. Soldier societies ) in which the members took a rank according to their special achievements in the war - that did not involve killing an enemy, but just touching his body in battle (English coup.).

Like the Kiowa, they believed that dreams and visions gave them supernatural powers in war, hunting and curing diseases. It was believed in ten bundles of medicine that protect the tribe and become the focus of the Kiowa sun dance and the transition of the mind into another world. Because death instilled fear, the names of the dead were no longer spoken, but circumscribed.

The integration of the Kiowa Apache was problem-free, the number of adaptable groups was low. The kinship system formed the basis of the social structure, because in the extensive extended families everyone was related to everyone. Often times a man had more than one wife and usually lived with the relatives of one of the women ( matrilocal ). Like the Kiowa, they had a heraldry system, painted motifs that were applied to the tipis and sacred shields and were personal property. The family groups were economically independent, but the buffalo hunt required several groups to work together. As a result, several families came together to form groups (English bands ), including the dance societies , of which there were four: Kasowe for children, Manatide for adults, Klintidie for older men and Izuwe for older women. These causes undoubtedly preserved their identities for generations to come, during a time when they were surrounded by vastly outnumbered, often hostile, tribes. Their symbiotic relationship with the Kiowas over such a long period is most unusual in cultural history. Although the two tribes lived together, there were very few marriages between them.

Todays situation

Today the descendants of the Kiowa Apache as the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma are a federally recognized tribe , which also includes some descendants of the Shá i'a Nde Band of the Lipan Apache . They had joined them in 1874 while fleeing from the US Army. Around 300 relatives were forced to move with the Kiowa Apache to the Washita Agency in 1884. In 1913, however, most of the Lipan Apache moved to the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico to join the Lipan Apache already living there and the related Mescalero and Chiricahua Apache . A minority stayed with the Kiowa Apache and has been part of the tribe ever since. The administrative and tribal center is located in Anadarko , Caddo County , Oklahoma. Today's reservation area includes parts of Caddo, Comanche , Cotton , Grady , Jefferson , Kiowa, and Stephens Counties in Oklahoma. Tribal members need a 1/8 blood quantum , i.e. a minimum number of Kiowa Apache ancestors with a corresponding blood percentage, in order to be accepted into the tribe. In 2000 there were 1,802 tribe members, in 2011 there were 2,263 Kiowa Apache.

Chiefs

  • Gonkon / Gonkan ('Stays in Tipi' - "Stay in his Tipi " or 'Defends His Tipi' - "Defend his Tipi", better known in English as Apache John , sub-chief of the Kiowa Apache and brother of Chief Essa-queta (Pacer or peso), the most important leader during the last resistance and the first reservation period)
  • Koon-Ka-Zachey / Koon-Kah-Za-Chy (also Kootz-Zah - 'The Cigar' - "the cigar ")
  • Essa-queta ("the striding ", therefore better known in English as Pacer , in Spanish as Peso , derived from Pay-Sus ; Essa-queta belonged to the tribe of the peace faction and convinced the majority of the Kiowa Apache during the Red River -War from 1874 to 1875 to remain in the reservation, † 1875)
  • Si-tah-le ('Poor Wolf' - "poor, puny wolf")
  • Oh-ah-te-kah ('Poor Bear' - "Poor, wretched bear")
  • Ah-zaah ('Prairie Wolf' - " Coyote ")
  • Tsayaditl-ti / Ta-Ka-I-Tai-Di (also Da-Kana-Dit-Ta-I - "White Man", approx. * 1830 - † 1900)

Demographics

year source number Remarks
1805 Lewis & Clark 300 estimated
1871 unknown 378 -
1875 census 344 -
1889 census 349 -
1896 census 208 after the measles epidemic of 1892
1910 census 139 -
1930 census 184 -
1937 census 340 probably through mixed marriages with neighboring tribes 

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Campbell, Lyle: American Indian Languages. Oxford University Press 1997.
  2. ^ Mithun, Marianne: The Languages ​​of Native North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999.
  3. Kiowa Apache
  4. The “Kiowa Apaches”: Neither Kiowa Nor Apache?
  5. Raymond J. DeMallie and James Mooney: The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890, Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, June 1, 1991, ISBN 978-0803281776
  6. ^ William C. Meadows: Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche Military Societies: Enduring Veterans, 1800 to the Present, University of Texas Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0292705180
  7. NAISHAN DENE 1 CREATIVITY WITH MONSTERS
  8. ^ Wiktionary Apache
  9. Apache Indians
  10. ^ Access Genealogy - Kiowa Apache Indians
  11. Encyclopedia - PLAINS APACHES
  12. the Pawnee probably referred to the Kiowa Apache as face-white, as the latter always tried to maintain good relations with the nearby Spanish and later Mexican settlements in order to obtain weapons, ammunition and trade goods to assert themselves against the enemy Pawnee
  13. Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
  14. Famous Chiefs, Cabin # 5 ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wildcatterranch.com

literature

Web links

See also