The Apache tribe may have settled the American southwest close in time with the arrival of the Spanish to the Americas.

The Apache tribe of indigenous people in the American Southwest speaks a language that is part of the Athabaskan, or Na-Dene family of languages.  These language groups center primarily around Canada's Pacific Northwest including present day British Columbia.  It's believed that the forefathers of the Apaches migrated from the Pacific Northwest to the area around present day Arizona and New Mexico via the Great Plains.  This migration is thought to have occurred anywhere between 1200 ce and 1500 ce.  Christopher Columbus opened the door for Spanish exploration of the new world in 1492.  The first confirmed contact between the Spanish and the Apache was recorded by Juan de Onate, the Spanish governor of Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1598.   However, there is some evidence that a 1540 expedition by the explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado may have encountered Apaches as well.