Lipan Apache people

Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico. Historically, they were the easternmost band of Apache.

The descendants of the Lipan Apache live primarily in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona, and northern Mexico. Some are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes: the Mescalero Apache Tribe in New Mexico, the Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, and Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, which is also known as the Kiowa Apache or Plains Apache. The Lipan Apache, however, are not a federally recognized tribe. Additionally, Lipan Apache descendants are members of non-federally recognized groups.