Qualla: Jicarilla Apache

Jicarilla Apache: Introduction

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The name gives them away: Jicarilla, from the Spanish for "little basket," a nod to the finely sealed drinking vessels these Apache people crafted with such skill that the Spanish could not help naming them for it. The Jicarilla called themselves Haisndayin, "people who came from below," believing they were the sole descendants of the first humans to emerge from the underworld. For centuries they moved between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Great Plains, learning pottery from the Pueblo peoples and buffalo hunting from the Plains peoples, becoming something rare among Apache bands: a people equally at home in the mountains and on the open grasslands.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Jicarilla Apache: Two Peoples in One Nation

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit USDA, Public domain. The Jicarilla's dual identity crystallized into two distinct bands shaped by the geography of their territory. The Olleros, whose name means "potters" in Spanish, settled in the mountain valleys west of the Rio Grande along the Chama River, farming, making micaceous clay pottery,...

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Image: USDA | Public domain

Jicarilla Apache: Squeezed from Every Direction

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carptrash, CC BY-SA 3.0. Peace did not last. Starting in the 1700s, the Comanche, armed with French guns, and their Ute allies began pillaging the eastern Apache peoples for control of the southern plains. Pushed off their hunting grounds, the Jicarilla retreated to the mountains and sought alliances wit...

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Image: Carptrash | CC BY-SA 3.0

Jicarilla Apache: The Darkest Decades

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Public domain. The mid-1800s through the mid-1900s brought the Jicarilla to the edge of extinction. Treaties were made and broken. Bands were displaced from their sacred lands. When the reservation finally came in 1887, the land was largely unsuitable for agriculture. The tribe sold timber to s...

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Image: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve | Public domain

Jicarilla Apache: Black Gold Beneath Sacred Ground

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daderot, CC0. The Jicarilla reservation sits atop the San Juan Basin, the largest oil producer along the Rocky Mountains and the second largest natural gas producer in the United States. Oil and gas development began after World War II, generating up to one million dollars annually and funding...

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Image: Daderot | CC0

Jicarilla Apache: Baskets, Fiddles, and Living Culture

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Public domain. The Jicarilla remain renowned for the craft that gave them their name. Their baskets feature distinctive diamond, cross, and zigzag designs, sometimes depicting deer, horses, or other animals. They are equally known for their micaceous clay pottery, a tradition stretching back ce...

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Image: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve | Public domain