The_Mimbres_River_-_Flickr_-_aspidoscelis

The Mimbreños were a sub-tribe of Apache, Native Americans, who were based in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

. Their territory included the narrow valley of the

Mimbres River The Mimbres is a river in southwestern New Mexico. Course The Mimbres forms from snowpack and runoff on the southwestern slopes of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness in the Black Range at in Grant County. The river ends in the Guzmán Basin, a smal ...

to the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio ...

into the Mimbres Mountains and the

Cook's Range The Cookes Range (Cooke's Range, Cooks Range or Cook's Range) is a small, 17-mi (27 km) long mountain range in northern Luna County, New Mexico, which extends slightly north into southeastern Grant County. The range is a southern continu ...

. The band in the Mimbres valley is known as the Tchihende band. Mimbres Apache merged into the

Chiricahua Apache Chiricahua ( ) is a band of Apache Native Americans. Based in the Southern Plains and Southwestern United States, the Chiricahua (Tsokanende ) are related to other Apache groups: Ndendahe (Mogollon, Carrizaleño), Tchihende (Mimbreño), Sehen ...

, and today many of their descendants are enrolled with the Fort Sill Apache in Oklahoma. They should not be confused with the

Mimbres culture Mogollon culture () is an archaeological culture of Native American peoples from Southern New Mexico and Arizona, Northern Sonora and Chihuahua, and Western Texas. The northern part of this region is Oasisamerica, while the southern span of the Mo ...

, a precontact

Ancestral Pueblo people The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...

Civic works

The Mimbreños developed an

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

system in the Mimbres Valley which made it possible for the band to stay in one place.Ackerly, Neal W. (1997). Mimbreno and Gileno Apache Irrigation Systems, 1853-1859. The Kiva (Tucson, Ariz.), 62(4), 349-63. This was different from nomadic Apache groups; however, the irrigation system ultimately failed.

Notable Mimbreños

Mangas Coloradas Mangas Coloradas or Mangus-Colorado (La-choy Ko-kun-noste, alias "Red Sleeve"), or Dasoda-hae ("He Just Sits There") (c. 1793 – January 18, 1863) was an Apache tribal chief and a member of the Mimbreño (Tchihende) division of the Centra ...

, 19th-century chief *

Victorio Victorio (Bidu-ya, Beduiat; ca. 1825–October 14, 1880) was a warrior and chief of the Warm Springs band of the Tchihendeh (or Chihenne, often called Mimbreño) division of the central Apaches in what is now the American states of Texas, ...

(ca. 1824–1880), chief

References

Apache tribes Native American history of New Mexico {{NorthAm-native-stub