First accounts of contact between the Apache and the Spanish come from Coronado's expedition in 1542 at Pecos Pueblo in eastern New Mexico. The Apaches arrived in the Southwest between A.D. 1000 and 1400. After somehow being separated from their northern kinsmen, they carved out a home in the Southwest. They migrated south along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, then spread westward into New Mexico and Arizona. In time, pressure from the Comanches and other tribes pushed the Apaches farther south and west. Two groups of Apaches, the Lipans and the Mescaleros, lived partially or entirely within the confines of Texas. The name Apache most probably came from the Zuni word apachu, meaning "enemy." The Apaches referred to themselves as Inde or Dine, meaning "the people." The Apaches were nomadic and lived almost completely off the buffalo. They dressed in buffalo skins and lived in tents made of tanned and greased hides. They were among the first Indians to learn to ride horses. The Apaches quickly adapted to the use of the horse. They became a powerful nation of mounted Indians and dominated the Texas Plains until the Comanche force them to migrate farther south and west. By 1903 most Apaches were relocated to the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico.

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