The Former Chiricahua Apache Reservation

In 1872, the U.S. government established the Chiricahua Apache reservation encompassing 4,275 square miles in the southeast corner of Arizona following peace negotiations with the Chiricahua Apache Chief, Cochise.

Cochise lived in the Stronghold until he died in 1874. Two years after his passing, the U.S. government closed the reservation and forced the Chiricahua Apache people to relocate to the San Carlos Apache Reservation. They also shut down the Chiricahua’s Ojo Caliente reservation in New Mexico and relocated its residents to San Carlos.

When Geronimo surrendered in 1886, the U.S. government removed all remaining Chiricahua Apaches to Florida, Alabama, and ultimately Oklahoma, holding them as prisoners of war. They remained together until 1913, when the U.S. government separated them upon their release from imprisonment.

Just forty years after Cochise’s death, the U.S. government had removed his people from their homeland and divided them from one another.

Today, only a few Chiricahua Apaches visit their tribe’s former homeland in the Cochise Stronghold. After 150 years, we believe it is time to reconnect the people with their land and with one another. That’s why we founded Ndè Bikéeyá—to facilitate this reconnection.