Geronimo was born on 16 June 1829 into the Bedonkohe Apache tribe in New Mexico (then under Mexican rule) and died on 17 February 1909 at Fort Sill (Oklahoma, United States).

In 1858, following the murder of his mother, his wife and his three children by the Mexican army, he began carrying out retaliatory raids on Mexican territory. He was one of the leading figures in the Apache Wars, the last to continue fighting against Mexico and the United States for the rights of Native Americans, before his surrender in 1886.