Ath'apas'can Indians, a great family of North American indians who lived in that vast region which extended from Alaska through British North America to the northern boundary of the United States, and, in isolated groups south as far as Mexico. A single tribe living near Lake Athabasca bore this name. The Chinook, Apache and Navajo are Athapascan. The language of these scattered tribes was practically the same. With the exception of the Navajo and Apache, they have not been warlike tribes. Those of the north lived by hunting and fishing, while the tribes of the Pacific coast lived in permanent villages.