Apache
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50 free Apache trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Apache are not a single tribe but a family of related nations of the American Southwest and the southern Plains, among them the Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan and Western Apache. Their leaders, Geronimo and Cochise above all, became some of the best-known names in American history, and the word Apache itself has travelled a long way from the desert. These questions gather the fun facts that surprise most readers: what famous names really meant, the family customs and food rules of traditional life, the ceremonies that are still held, the long Apache Wars, and the unexpected places the Apache name has turned up since, from military hardware to pop music. The quiz suits students working on a tribe report, teachers planning a Native American history lesson, and anyone who likes trivia with a story behind each answer. Every question comes with a short explanation, so you learn the fact even when you miss it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Apache leader Geronimo rode on horseback in which US president's 1905 inaugural parade?
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt had the old warrior ride down Pennsylvania Avenue beside five chiefs. Days later he refused Geronimo's plea to let the Chiricahua return to their homeland.
Q 02Which US Army troops adopted the name of Apache leader Geronimo as their battle cry in 1940?
Paratroopers
Paratroopers at Fort Benning are said to have taken up the shout after a private watched a Western about Geronimo the night before a jump. It spread to anyone leaping from a height.
Q 03In 2011, US forces used the name of Apache leader Geronimo as a code word in the raid on whom?
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden was reported dead with the radio call "Geronimo EKIA", meaning enemy killed in action. Officials in the Situation Room later confirmed the code name.
Q 04The US Army's AH-64 Apache, named for the tribe in 1981, is which kind of military aircraft?
Attack helicopter
Attack helicopter names follow a US Army tradition of honoring Native American tribes. The Apache was developed to replace the AH-1 Cobra.
Q 05Apache is an Athabaskan language, closely related to the language of which larger Southwestern tribe?
Navajo
Navajo and the Apache languages form the southern branch of the family. Most other Athabaskan languages are spoken far to the north, in Alaska and western Canada.
Q 06Which dome-shaped brush shelter was the usual home of the Chiricahua Apache and other highland bands?
Wickiup
Wickiup frames stood about eight feet tall, lashed together with yucca fiber and covered in brush. If a family member died, the home was burned.
Q 07By traditional Apache custom, a married man had to avoid speaking to or even seeing which relative?
His mother-in-law
His mother-in-law was off limits even though a husband moved in with his wife's family. Among the Chiricahua he could not be within sight of her.
Q 08Which food, eaten freely by most tribes, was taboo for many Apache across the Southwest?
Fish
Fish was shunned because it was thought to resemble a snake, an evil animal. Bears, turkeys, owls and coyotes were also off the menu for some Apache groups.
Q 09Geronimo's Apache birth name, Goyaałé, is usually translated as which unwarlike phrase?
The one who yawns
The one who yawns grew up to outrun thousands of soldiers. The name Geronimo came later, from the Mexican troops he fought at close quarters.
Q 10After the 1886 surrender, the US Army shipped hundreds of Chiricahua Apache by train to forts in which state?
Florida
Florida's Fort Marion, an old Spanish stronghold, held most of them, a continent away from the desert. The Chiricahua stayed prisoners of war for nearly three decades.
Q 11The Spanish nickname of Apache chief Mangas Coloradas, an ally of Cochise, translates as which phrase?
Red Sleeves
Red Sleeves was a name given to him by Mexicans. His daughter Dos-teh-seh married Cochise, which made the two chiefs family as well as allies.
Q 12Which Apache woman warrior, sister of chief Victorio, was said to sense where enemies were moving?
Lozen
Lozen rode and fought beside her brother, who called her his right hand. Legend says her powers let her learn the enemy's movements in battle.
Q 13Apache chief Cochise was buried in 1874 at a secret spot in which Arizona mountain range?
Dragoon Mountains
Q 21Allan Houser, a Chiricahua Apache whose father was Geronimo's translator, became famous as what?
Sculptor
Sculptor Allan Houser also painted and illustrated children's books, including a biography of Geronimo. He later cast a bronze bust of the old leader too.
Q 22Which US general was known to the Apache he fought as Nantan Lupan, or Chief Grey Wolf?
George Crook
George Crook caught up with Geronimo just over the border in March 1886, only for him to slip away again. Nelson Miles then replaced Crook in command.
Q 23Which weapon drove Cochise's warriors from the heights at the 1862 Battle of Apache Pass?
Howitzers
Howitzers gave the US Army one of its first chances to use artillery against Native fighters in the Southwest. Fort Bowie was then built to hold the pass and its spring.
Dragoon Mountains granite hid his favorite camp, now called Cochise Stronghold. Only his band and his friend Tom Jeffords knew the grave, and they never revealed it.
Q 14Apache leader Geronimo made his final 1886 surrender to General Nelson Miles at which Arizona site?
Skeleton Canyon
Skeleton Canyon sits in Arizona's far southeastern corner. Geronimo's worn-out band came in there after months of pursuit that gave them no time to rest.
Q 15Apache leader Geronimo spent his last years, died in 1909 and was buried at which Oklahoma army post?
Fort Sill
Fort Sill held him as a prisoner of war to the end. He was still allowed out, under Army guard, to appear at fairs and parades.
Q 16The Mescalero Apache take their name from which desert plant they roasted as a staple food?
Agave
Agave hearts, known as mescal, were baked in large underground ovens and dried in the sun. Spanish colonists named the tribe after the plant.
Q 17The name of the Jicarilla Apache comes from a Mexican Spanish word with which meaning?
Little basket
Little basket referred to the small sealed baskets the tribe used as drinking cups. The Jicarilla are renowned for basketry, beadwork and pottery.
Q 18The Apache Sunrise Dance, among the most important ceremonies of the tribe, celebrates which milestone?
A girl's coming of age
A girl's coming of age is marked over four days of dancing, running and prayer that test her endurance. She is painted with clay and pollen during the rites.
Q 19Masked Apache Crown Dancers, also known as Gaan dancers, embody which protective beings?
Mountain spirits
Mountain spirits are called on to protect the community from disease and enemies. Each team has five dancers, and one of them plays a clown.
Q 20Tiswin, the Apache beer whose banning helped drive Geronimo off the reservation in 1885, was brewed from which crop?
Corn
Corn kernels were soaked until they sprouted, then ground into a mash and fermented. South of the border the same drink is known as tesgüino.
Q 24Which Hollywood star played Tom Jeffords, friend of Apache chief Cochise, in the 1950 Western Broken Arrow?
James Stewart
James Stewart led a film adapted from the novel Blood Brother, about the real friendship between the two men. It earned three Academy Award nominations.
Q 25Which signalling device did General Nelson Miles post on mountaintops to hunt Geronimo's Apache band?
Heliograph
Heliograph stations flashed sunlight off mirrors to pass messages from peak to peak. Miles set up more than two dozen of them to coordinate 5,000 soldiers.
Q 26Around 1900, street gangs nicknamed "Les Apaches" after the Apache tribe terrorized which European capital?
Paris
Paris writers used the name to compare the gangs' savagery with the reputation Europeans attached to the tribe. The label later spread to street criminals in other countries.
Q 27The Incredible Bongo Band's 1973 cover of the tune "Apache" became a founding breakbeat of which genre?
Hip-hop
Hip-hop pioneers such as DJ Kool Herc prized the record for its unusually long percussion break. The tune's composer wrote it after watching the 1954 Western film Apache.
Q 28Mount Graham, a peak sacred to the Western Apache, hosts a telescope run by which tiny European state?
Vatican City
Vatican City's observatory operates the telescope with the University of Arizona. Western Apache tribes, who count the peak among their four holiest, protested the building of it.
Q 29Oak Flat, an Arizona site sacred to the San Carlos Apache, sits above a huge deposit of which metal?
Copper
Copper lies 5,000 to 7,000 feet under Oak Flat. Plans to mine it led hundreds of Apache and their supporters to walk 45 miles to the site in protest.
Q 30The San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona is a leading world source of which green gemstone?
Peridot
Peridot occurs as nodules in the volcanic rock of a mesa on the reservation. One of the reservation's communities is even named after the green gem.