The Apache Indians: In Search of the Missing Tribe

by Helge Ingstad

Available in English for the first time, The Apache Indians tells the story of the Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad’s sojourn among the Apaches near the White Mountain Reservation in Arizona and his epic journey to locate the “lost” group of their brethren in the Sierra Madres in the 1930s.Ingstad traveled to Canada, where he lived as a trapper for four years with the Chipewyan Indians. The Chipewyans told him tales about people from their tribe who traveled south, never to return. He decided to go south to find the descendants of his Chipewyan friends and determine if they had similar stories. In 1936 Ingstad arrived in the White Mountains and worked as a cowboy with the Apaches. His hunch about the Apaches’ northern origins was confirmed by their stories, but the elders also told him about another group of Apaches who had fled from the reservation and were living in the Sierra Madres in Mexico. Ingstad launched an expedition on horseback to find these “lost” people, hoping to record more tales of their possible northern origin but also to document traditions and knowledge that might have been lost among the Apaches living on the reservation.Through Ingstad’s keen and observant eyes, we catch unforgettable glimpses of the landscape and inhabitants of the southwestern borderlands as he and his Apache companions, including one of Geronimo’s warriors, embark on a dangerous quest to find the elusive Sierra Madre Apaches. The Apache Indians is a powerful echo of a past that has now become a myth.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, History

188 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Øystein Eiken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boken forteller den fascinerende historien om Apache stammen i USA og hvordan de har det i nåtiden. Helge Ingstad sitt språk er kanskje ikke helt PC i dag, men det er tydelig at han respekterer menneskene som likeverdige til seg selv.

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good blend of adventure and deep cultural immersion. Written by the discoverer of L'Anse aux Meadows, the only known Norse settlement in North America, Ingstad in this book ventures into a pretty fascinating realm of exploration: the world of the Apache Indians.

Basically a narrative of his explorations in the 30s, Ingstad dives into the history of the Apache people, who fiercely resisted both Mexican and American appropriations. He depicts their struggle for freedom and survival, documenting how these people evaded capture and fought to preserve their way of life.

Unsurprisingly, in order to draw parallels and live between the Apache and the indigenous peoples of Northern Canada, you need someone as observant, adventurous and resilient as Ingstad. Despite the vast geographical distances separating them and the extreme weather, he joined the tribes right away, with no excuses, and lived among them almost as a native himself. Be it Northern Canada, the Southwestern US or the dry Mexican north.

The Apache, as well as many other First Nations/Native American/Indigenous peoples, constitute an enormous and fascinating part of our North American world and history that is constantly overlooked by most. It's more than saddening to see in real life how their legacies and lifestyles fade away slowly thanks to the negligence and disregard of our governments.

Extra: now I know why most Norwegians who have read this book think Mexicans are lazy and uncivilised.

[Steven Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not exactly a thrilling page turner, I found this to be a very interesting and enjoyable book nonetheless. The author spent four years during the 1920's as a trapper living among the Chipewyan Indians in the Northwest Territories of Canada. These people have been linguistically linked to the Apache and Navajo Indians of the American Southwest. In order to learn more about the links between the northern and southern groups, the author spent time with the White River and San Carlos Apaches during the 1930's. While there, the author hears reports of "wild" Apaches living in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northern Mexico 50 years after the surrender of Geronimo.

A majority of this book is devoted to the author's expedition to Mexico to attempt to establish contact with remnants of the Chiricahua Apaches and this is the part I found most fascinating. While, the small expedition never actually came face to face with the wild Apaches, there was considerable evidence of their existence well into the late 1930's.

I enjoyed the author's descriptions of Mexico's landscapes and history. There was one point where the author describes the pine forests of the Sierra Madre and tells of an encounter with a large woodpecker with black and white plumage that sounded "like a machine gun." I assume this was an Imperial Woodpecker - now gone forever along with (in all likelihood) the wild Apaches.

[Solveig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessant, men også krevende til tider. Man kommer ikke unna at reisen ble gjennomført på trettitallet og boka skrevet på syttetallet. Verden har utviklet seg siden og vi vet at det er ikke vi vite som er de siviliserte. 🙄

[Caroline Dronet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had this read this before other Apache books that get bogged down in dates, battles and all the different Indian agents. This one is so interesting and full of little tidbits that get left out of the other historical accounts. Definitely worth a read!

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Apache Indians: In Search of the Missing Tribe is the English version of Helge Ingstad's original book published in Norway in 1937. This edition features a preface by Benedicte Ingstad, Helge Ingstad daughter, and an introduction by Thomas J. Nevins, a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Virginia.

Helge Ingstad was lawyer turned adventurer and self-taught ethnographer and historian. While spending four years in the Great Slave Lake area with the Chipewyan, Instad chanced upon a native tale about a group of Chipewyan members that had left the group proper and never returned. It was suggested in these stories that this band of individuals had travelled south through modern Canada and the Plains of the United States to modern Arizona and had become the ancestors of the Apache.

Ingstad was so intrigued with this theory that when he got the opportunity to work alongside a group of White Mountain Apaches as a cowboy in 1936, he jumped at the chance. During his time with the Apache, Ingstad saw linguistic and cultural similarities indicated a strong interconnection between the Chipewyan and Apache. The presence of myths stating that the Apache had travelled from the north to their present location further substantiated Ingstad's hypothesis.

Nonetheless, Ingstad was quite disappointed at the lack of cultural continuity between the Apache and their ancestors. However, through listening to the stories of the White Mountain Apache, Ingstad had learned of the potential presence of another group of Apache that had travelled with the remnants of Geronimo's men into the Sierra Madres of Mexico. It was proposed that the resulting Sierra Madres Apache had strictly adhered to their traditional lifeways. Ingstad immediately made plans to seek out the Sierra Madres Apache.

The Apache Indians: In Search of the Missing Tribe details Ingstad's experiences with the White Mountain Apache and his subsequent attempts to locate the mysterious Sierra Madres Apache group. These experiences read more like an adventure story than an ethnographic document. Nonetheless, Ingstad did a wonderful job of describing and contrasting the life of the White Mountain Apache with their traditional Chipewyan origins. Moreover, Ingstad also illustrated a realistic and more balanced version of the noble savage and the barbaric primitive images so common during his time. That Ingstad actually lived with and worked alongside these individuals, probably account for his in-depth and realistic views of these people.

The entertaining nature of Ingstad's writing makes this book suitable for anyone interested in learning more about America's past. However, the information that Ingstad recorded contains some very important insight of use to researchers. This is especially true of the myths of the Chipewyan and Apache and also in the details Ingstad provides about the changing lifestyles of these individuals during the 1930's.

[Tim Ormsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic and fascinating read. You have to keep remembering that it was written back in the 1930s and that it is written from the point of view of a white European male. Ingstad's account of his search for the lost tribe of Apaches gives an insight into a period of history that hasn't been covered much in the literature. It's a time where people who personally knew and fought with iconic Native Americans such as Geronimo were still alive to recall their stories and their peoples' history. Ingstad also gives an insight into the brutal nature of life in northern Mexico at this time, where constant murders of Apaches and Mexicans occurred not only on a regular basis, but pretty much as a matter of fact, not even worth batting an eyelid at. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable read.