Mescalero - Tribal Territory

Tribal Territory

Originally the different Mescalero bands and local groups ranged in an area between the Rio Grande in the west and the eastern and southern edge of the Llano Estacado and the southern Texas Panhandle in Texas in the east. From Santa Fe in the northwest and the Texas Panhandle in the northeast deep down to the later Mexican provinces of Chihuahua and Coahuila to the south. The diverse landscape of this area is documented by the high mountains up to 4,000 meters with watered and sheltered valleys, surrounded by arid semi-deserts and deserts, deep canyons and open plains. The Mecalero Apache Reservation is located at geographical coordinates 33°10′42″N 105°36′44″W / 33.17833°N 105.61222°W / 33.17833; -105.61222.

Since each group Mescalero had the right to use the resources of deer and plants of the neighboring groups, the different Mescaleros felt at home in any area of their wide tribal territory. Because of this the Mescalero bands undertook huge distances for hunting, gathering, warring and raiding. They called their home Indeislun Nakah ("people, forming a group, when they are there", "place where people get together"). When many Mescalero bands were displaced by the enemy Comanche from the Southern Plains in northern and central Texas between 1700–1750, they took refuge in the mountains of New Mexico, western Texas, and Coahuila and Chihuahua in Mexico. Some southern Mescalero bands, together with Lipan, lived in the Bolsón de Mapimí, moving between the Nazas River, the Conchos River and the Rio Grande to the north. Also lives in parts of Ruidoso.