The Apache were from the Texas panhandle area. In the 1700s, the Comanches drove the Apache out, forcing them south and west. The Comanche were simply more bad-ass than the Apache, and that takes some doing!
“Newly rich in horses and knowledge of the Spanish borderlands, in 1720 the Comanches headed east onto the Great Plains of the Southwest, where immense horse herds could be sustained on the seemingly infinite grasslands...
In their effort to monopolize the horse and bison trade and eliminate trade competition – especially for the food sources they relied on – the Comanches went to war against their main competitor on the southern plains: the Apache.
The Apache had thrived on the plains as farmers, but once they were at war those farms became a military liability. Whereas the nomadic Comanche had no farms or villages to attack, the Apache had to defend the places where they were rooted and which they counted on for food and shelter. By sweeping into Apache villages in the dark of night, destroying their food storages, killing their livestock, burning their homes, and quickly disappearing into the night, the Comanche wore down their competitors on the plains.
They combined this type of swift, guerilla style attack with massive frontal assaults that focused on killing as many Apache men and enslaving as many women and children as possible. Following a practice that was widespread amongst indigenous peoples in the region, some of these slaves were sold on the thriving New Mexican slave markets, while others were adopted or married into families and eventually became Comanches themselves.
By 1740, the Apache had been forced out of the plains regions of modern day New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. Some fled further south onto the plains of Spanish Texas, while others moved to the Rio Grande area and the contemporary U.S.-Mexico border region.”
https://crossculturalsolidarity.com/the-comanche-empire-and-the-destruction-of-northern-mexico/
The Apache also stole land from the Chumash and others.
“Newly rich in horses and knowledge of the Spanish borderlands, in 1720 the Comanches headed east onto the Great Plains of the Southwest, where immense horse herds could be sustained on the seemingly infinite grasslands...
In their effort to monopolize the horse and bison trade and eliminate trade competition – especially for the food sources they relied on – the Comanches went to war against their main competitor on the southern plains: the Apache.”
This is a good thread and I have not read all posts but the Comanches did adopt a “horse culture” along with the Sioux and other Plains Indians.
An Apache would just as soon have eaten the horse as ride it to a Comanche the horse was a sign of wealth and a chance for a great bride/woman.
The Comanche pushed the Apache into the badlands of far Southwest Texas, South New Mexico and South Arizona.
They ruled (fair to say) much of the Southwest until the end of the US Civil War and repeating weapons came on the scene.
The Apache were tough but could not compete with the horse culture.
I could spend all night on this topic but will stop and have supper.