Photo taken at Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona.

The Chiricahua Apache Indians used to live in the area where I took this photo, and today it stands as a national monument.

Around 1690, they broke off from another group of Apache Indians and settled here. The Spanish frontier was expanding at this time, and the missionaries who arrived at the small villages in the area heard stories from the townsfolk of a fearsome people who lived in the mountains; fearing for their safety, the missionaries never ventured up into this deadly territory. The raids they made on the nearby towns had given them a reputation: they were nothing to play with!

The Chiricahua were a people constantly on the move, and their diet consisted of mostly roots and berries, living off the land you now see before you. They wore clothing made of animal skins and lived in homes made of brush materials; the land around them provided everything they needed.

While many others native residents had been displaced, the Chiricahua still had control of their land up until the 19th century. They were a people not easily conquered-even by a foe that was much larger and possessed more advanced technology.

The constant warfare with the United States, however, eventually wore them down, and they were forced onto reservations mostly in the New Mexico and Wyoming areas. Now, the area is almost eerily quiet-empty, except for the mountains and the trees.

After walking around and taking as many photos as I could, I drove back towards the highway on the small, winding one-lane roads. 40 minutes later, I arrived at a small town. It was forsaken looking and abandoned. There were remnants of small businesses, decaying buildings, and other signs of decay. Its people had also found themselves somehow displaced. #photography #photographer #nature #nativeamerican #american #history #travel #travelphotography #writer #arizona