Ancient Arizona Culture

Arizona

The earliest indigenous cultures of Arizona most likely lived in the region as early as 25,000 B.C. A later culture, the Hohokam who lived around 500–1450 A.D. were pit dwellers and built irrigation systems. The Pueblo culture built many of the cliff dwellings that still stand. Later, the Apache and the Navajo came to the area from Canada around 1300 A.D.

The Hohokam was a very intelligent ancient Indian culture. They were usually divided into four periods, Pioneer, Colonial, Sedentary (which means calm or “lazy’), and Classic. During the Pioneer Period the Hohokam’s lived in villages built of of wood, brush, and clay, and all of them were built over a pit. During the next period, the Colonial Period, architecture didn’t change very

much. Villages still had pit houses, but they became somewhat better reinforced and a few villages were even surrounded by walls for protection. The Classic Period of Hohokam came from the upper parts of the Salt River, but then disappeared. They built huge multiple story houses with walls of adobe, but they also built the same old pit houses. The Hohokam people abandoned most of their villages during the period between 1350 and 1450. The term Hohokam is Pima for “those who have vanished”.

The Pimas are the native people of Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. Pima women did the cooking, they took care of the children, and they weaved baskets. Men did the farming and hunting, and sometimes went to war. Both men and women told stories, did music and made art, and practiced medicine. Most Pima Indians lived in small round or cone-shaped houses made of a wooden frame covered with brush and dirt, they only really slept in there, because they did most of the other things outside. For food the Pimas grew corn, beans, and squash. The men hunted deer, rabbits, small animals, and they went fishing. Pima women collected nuts, fruits, and herbs.

The Apache and the Navajo are quite similar in language and culture. They both Came from Canada, and both have languages roots from Athabaskan. When their ancestors came down from Canada, they brought culture and the language. Even though they both came from about the same place at the same time, they both had enough differences to call them different. The Navajos planted their food and adopted a more settled lifestyle that eventually included sheepherding. The people who became the Apaches moved farther south and east, continuing their hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

The Hopi Indians lived in Northeastern Arizona and New Mexico. The ancestors of the Hopi Indians migrated from different locations but ended up near the Grand Canyon. The Hopi were the only Pueblo Indians that spoke the language of the Uto-Aztecan language family called Shoshone. The word "Hopi" means good, peaceful, or wise. They come from a group of Southwestern people called Pueblo, but their language is different. They live in northeast Arizona, mostly on the mesa tops in villages called pueblos. Their homes are usually many stories high.

After the decade long drought that ended the prehistoric civilization 20,000 years ago, Arizona was again populated with the Apache and Navajo tribes, they are the ancestors of Native Americans today.

Written history began when the Spaniards sent explorers from Mexico in 1539.

The Tumacacori Mission, north of Nogales was visited by Padre Kino in 1691. He was so impressed by the tribe Pima nation and their land, he decided to expand the missionary effort there. After the death of Padre Kino in March, 1711, Spanish development stopped. In 1821 Mexico its declared independence from Spain went to war with the United States. The war ended 1848 with north Gila River becoming U.S. territory. Southern part of the territory was added by the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. Near after this early pioneers began moving to the west.

Arizona's minerals attracted most of the early explorers, and mining continued periodically. In 1849 a small numbers of prospectors crossed Arizona to join the California gold rush. The miners found silver, copper and gold. Copper was discovered in 1854, and mining for copper was Arizona’s primary industry until the

1950s.
In 1863, Arizona was set as a separate territory, with its first temporary capital at Fort Whipple, which is near a modern town called Lake Havasu City.

Prescott became the capital in 1865. Then the capital was moved to Tucson in 1867, then back to Prescott in 1877, and finally to Phoenix in 1889.

Men went west seeking fortune. Prospectors, farmers, builders etc… Indians, angered by the strange men entering their home, fought back so army came built forts protecting the men. The Indian uprising stopped and peace was won 1886. Development to establish towns started and it was moving fast. Gun battles broke out between cattlemen and sheep men because they both wanted the land and water for themselves.

When the civil war ended, many people moved westward. This movement brought new people to the west, including a new type of military commanders. General George Crook took this type as his own, and encouraged President Grant to let him deal with the Apaches that started massacres onto the white settlements. This had started in 1871. They would get to the settlements and kill everybody there. In retaliation, Crook would go to the Apache camps, murdering the women and children, sparing the men. After two years of fighting, the Apache surrendered to

Crook.
The Pleasant Valley War first began around 1882 between the Grahams and the Tewksburys. The reason the whole war started was because the two families herded different animals. The Grahams herded cows, which was what most people herded, with a few people herding sheep, and among those people were the Tewksburys. Cattlemen didn’t like the idea of sheep because the sheep would clamber all over the cattlemen’s properties. The sheep “killed the grass by nibbling it too close and trampling the roots with their sharp hoofs. They pointed out that the odor which sheep left on the grass and in watering places was distasteful to horses and cattle.” The cattlemen told the sheep men to leave, or they would just kill them and their sheep.
In the 1870 mining thrived. In 1877 silver was uncovered at a place called Tombstone, which led prospectors to Arizona but it didn’t last more than 10 years. By 1880 both the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads extended into Arizona letting more people get to Arizona faster. Ranching became more popular, including cattle, horses and sheep. After 1897 the United States Forestry Bureau made a law in which you must have a grazing permit for your sheep from ruining the land.
There have been many industries that are important to Arizona, some including manufacturing and agriculture. Many manufactured products include electrical products and communications which is a connection between people or places. Arizona produces approximately 64% of copper for the U.S. Agriculture became very important again in 1860 when a place near Vulture mine needed food and supplies without having to bring it all. Top agricultural materials include lettuce hay, and cotton. There has also been animal agriculture which include milk cows, hens, hogs and sheep.
More than 14 Indian tribes including Hopi, Apache and Navajo, were all on 20 or more reservations. These Indians were still a little annoyed at the white men, but finally the U.S. marshals made a peaceful territory of Arizona and became the 48th state to join the union.
Republicans of Arizona have controlled politics since the 1960s. In the late 1980s and 90s political scandals made it hard for Arizona’s governors to gain respect. There have been many governors from 1911 to 2015. Gov. George Wylie Hunt was a democrat and he was the first governor in 1911. Gov. Doug Ducey is a Republican and is the governor of today.
The flag of Arizona is often describe somewhat like this “The top half consists of thirteen alternating yellow and red rays which represent America's thirteen original colonies. Because Arizona is a western state, the rays show a setting sun. The colors of the rays refer to yellow and red in the Spanish flags carried by Coronado when he came to Arizona in the sixteenth century. The bottom half of the flag is a solid blue field, the same color as the blue in the United States of America flag. A large copper colored star is superimposed in the center of the flag. This identifies Arizona as the largest producer of copper in the United States.” The flag was adopted on February 17, 1917, and was designed by Charles W. Harris.
There have been many things influencing the growth of Arizona in many different ways. These ways can be political, economic, or its unique history. Arizona has and always will be remembered for its Native American roots, its interesting mining history and its agriculture.