Lipan Apache - History and Cultural Relations

As with the other Apache groups, the Lipan were engaged in a protracted struggle over land use and settlement patterns with the Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. governments from the first mention of them in the early 1700s to their virtual extinction in 1905. Prior to the 1700s there was a plethora of names used for the Apachean people of eastern New Mexico, western Texas, and the Panhandle; it is likely, although not definitively demonstrated, that some of these (Trementina, Limita) were later called "Lipan." Unlike most Apache, the Lipan were missionized in the 1700s in the northeastern reaches of the Spanish empire, in the areas of Eagle Pass and San Antonio, Texas. The missionization effort cannot be termed a success, for the missions were poorly supplied and their inhabitants often left to pursue subsistence activities only to return when supplies were again available in the missions. For the most part, the Lipan were at war with the invaders until there were no longer enough of them left to fight.