Жикарилья Апачилары: Тарихы мен мәдениеті

Ethnic group of Native Americans
referring to the small sealed baskets they used as drinking vessels. To neighboring Apache bands, such as the Mescalero and Lipan, they were known as Kinya Inde ("People who live in fixed houses"). The Jicarilla called themselves also Haisndayin translated as "people who came from below". because they believed themselves to be the sole descendants of the first people to emerge from the underworld, the abode of Ancestral Man and Ancestral Woman, who produced the first people. The Jicarilla believed Hascin, their chief deity, was responsible for the creation of Ancestral Man and Ancestral Woman and also for the creation of the animals and the sun and moon. The Jicarilla Apache lived in a seminomadic existence in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and plains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, and ranged into the Great Plains starting before 1525 CE. They lived a relatively peaceful life for years, traveling seasonally to traditional hunting, gathering and cultivation along river beds. The Jicarilla learned about farming and pottery from the Puebloan peoples and learned about survival on the plains from the Plains Indians and had a rich and varied diet and lifestyle. The Jicarilla's farming practices expanded to the point where they required considerable time and energy. As a result, the people became rather firmly settled and tended to engage in warfare less frequently than did other Eastern Apache groups. Starting in the 1700s colonial New Spain, pressure from other Native American tribes, such as the Comanches, and later westward expansion of the United States resulted in significant loss of property, expulsion from their sacred lands, and relocation to lands not suited for survival. The mid 1800s until the mid 1900s were particularly difficult, as tribal bands were displaced, treaties made and broken, subject to significant loss of life due to tuberculosis and other diseases, and lack of opportunities for survival. By 1887, they received their reservation, which was expanded in 1907 to include land more conducive to ranching and agriculture, and within several decades, they realized the rich natural resources of the San Juan Basin under the reservation land. Tribal members transitioned from a seminomadic lifestyle and are now supported by their oil and gas, casino gaming, forestry, ranching, and tourism industries on the reservation. The Jicarilla continue to be known for their pottery, basketry, and lived in what they considered their land bounded by four sacred rivers in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado: the Rio Grande, Pecos River, Arkansas River, and Canadian River containing sacred mountain peaks and ranges and ranged out into the plains of northwestern Texas and the western portions of Oklahoma and Kansas. They were found to be in the Chama Valley, New Mexico, and points east by the 1600s. Prior to that time, and the arrival of the Spanish, the Jicarilla lived a relatively peaceful existence. In the 1600s, the Jicarillas were seminomadic, practicing seasonal agriculture that they learned from the Pueblo people and Spaniards of New Spain along the rivers that flow through their territory. The Apache are linked to the Dismal River culture of the western Plains, generally attributed to the Paloma and Quartelejo (also Cuartelejo) Apaches. Jicarilla Apache pottery has also been found in some of the Dismal River complex sites. Some of the people of the Dismal River culture joined the Kiowa Apache in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Due to pressure from the Comanche from the west and Pawnee and French from the east, the Kiowa and remaining people of Dismal River culture migrated south, where they later joined the Lipan Apache and Jicarilla Apache nations. Traditional Jicarilla stories of White Shell Woman, Killer of the Enemies, Child of the Water and others feature places and nearby people special to them, such as the Rio Grande Gorge, Picuris Pueblo, the spring and marsh near El Prado, Hopewell Lake and particularly of the Taos Pueblo and the four sacred rivers. The Jicarilla created shrines in sites that held spiritual meaning, sharing some of the Taos area sites with the Taos Pueblo. Of the connection to Taos, in 1865 Father Antonio José Martínez, a New Mexican priest, commented that the Jicarilla had a long history living between the mountains and the villages and making pottery as an important source of income. Clay for the pottery came from the Taos and Picuris Pueblo areas.

Due to increase in other populations, Manifest Destiny, and Indian Wars, the Apaches' traditional cultural and economic lifestyle became strained. Many people died due to famine, Indian Wars, including the Battle of Cieneguilla and diseases not indigenous to the American continent for which they had no resistance. When the Comanche, who had obtained guns from the French, with their close allies and kin, the Ute, were pushing out onto the plains, they were pillaging the various eastern Apache peoples (Jicarilla, Mescalero and Lipan) occupying the southern plains for control. As they were pushed off the plain, the Jicarilla moved to the mountains and near the pueblos and Spanish missions where they sought alliance with the Puebloan peoples and the Spanish settlers. In 1779 a combined force of Jicarilla, Ute, Pueblo, and Spanish soldiers defeated the Comanche, who, after another seven years and several more military campaigns, finally sued for peace. Thereafter the Jicarilla were able to reestablish themselves in their old tribal territory in southern Colorado.

The Battle of Cieneguilla (pronounced sienna GEE ya; English: small swamp) was an engagement of a group of Jicarilla Apaches, their Ute allies, and the American 1st Cavalry Regiment on March 30, 1854 near what is now Pilar, New Mexico.

By the mid 1800s tensions between the Spanish, multiple Native American nations and westward expanding United States settlers erupted as all sought and laid claim to land in the southwest. Diseases to which Native Americans had no immunity "decimated" their tribes, creating greater pressure for their lands to be taken from them. As tensions of Native Americans grew and numerous attempts to relocate them from their traditional hunting and gathering land and sacred homelands, the Jicarilla became increasingly hostile in their efforts to protect their lands. The United States military developed a defense system of forts and troops to restrict attacks on westward travelers. Fort Union was established, in part, to provide protection from the Jicarillas. The disruption and "mutual incomprehensions" of one another's culture led to warfare among the Spanish, Native American nations and Americans. Leo E. Oliva, author of Fort Union and the Frontier Army in the Southwest, notes that: "The three cultural groups in the Southwest had different concepts of family life, personal values, social relations, religion, uses and ownership of land and other property, how best to obtain the provisions of life, and warfare." In late March, Maj. George A. Blake, commanding officer at Burgwin Cantonment, sent a detachment of 1st U. S. Dragoon of 60 men (company I and part of company F) to patrol along the Santa Fe trail, and on March 30, 1854, a combined force of about 250 Apaches and Utes fought the U. S. dragoons, led by Lieutenant John Wynn Davidson, near Pilar, New Mexico, then known as Cieneguilla. The battle lasted for 2, or 4 hours according to surviving soldier James A. Bennett (aka James Bronson). The Jicarilla, led by their principal chief, Francisco Chacon, and Flechas Rayadas, fought with flintlock rifles and arrows, killing 22 and a wounding another 36 of 60 dragoon soldiers, who then retreated to Ranchos de Taos lighter by 22 horses and most of the troops' supplies. Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke of the 2nd Dragoons Regiment at once organized an expedition to pursue the Jicarilla. With the help of 32 Pueblo Indian and Mexican scouts under Captain James H. Quinn, with Kit Carson as the principal guide. After a winter pursuit through the mountains, Cooke caught up with the Jicarilla, whose leader, Flechas Rayadas offered an agreement for peace in exchange for the horses and guns the Jicarilla acquired from the Battle, but the arrangement was not accepted. On April 8, Cooke Chief fought tribal members at their camp in the canyon of Ojo Caliente. Dispersing in small bands, the Jicarilla evaded further pursuit, but many died from the harsh cold weather. Although they had finally obtained a reservation, it was spiritually disheartening to realize that they would no longer roam on their traditional holy lands and have access to the sacred places. The land on the reservation, except that held by non tribal members, was not suitable for agriculture. As a means of survival, timber from the reservation was sold. In 1907 additional land was secured for the reservation, for a total of , that was suitable for sheep ranching which became profitable in the 1920s. Until that time, many people suffered from malnutrition and up to 90% of the tribe members had tuberculosis in 1914; By the 1920s it seemed likely that the Jicarilla Apache nation may become extinct due to trachoma, tuberculosis, and other diseases. After several difficult ranching periods, many of the previous sheep herders relocated to the tribal headquarters in Dulce, New Mexico. The Jicarilla suffered due to lack of economic opportunities for decades. Oil and gas development began on the reservation after World War II resulting in up to $1 million annually, some of which was set aside for a tribal scholarship fund and to develop the Stone Lake Lodge facility. As a means of repayment for lost tribal lands, the Jicarilla received a settlement in 1971 for $9.15 million. A two volume technical report was submitted to the Commission on Spanish and Mexican grants, both unconfirmed and confirmed as part of the case. The tribe was awarded $9,150,000 in the Commission's final judgment of April 20, 1971. In 2019, the census showed that there were 3,353 people living on the reservation. A site for New Mexico states that there are about "2,755 tribal members, most of whom live in the town of Dulce."