History of Arizona
Encyclopedia
The last Native Americans
arrived in Arizona
between 16,000 BC and 10,000 BC
, while the history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began when Marcos de Niza
, a Franciscan
, explored the area in 1539. Coronado
's expedition entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola
. Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino
developed a chain of missions and taught the Indians Christianity
in Pimería Alta
(now southern Arizona and northern Sonora
) in the 1690s and early 18th century. Spain founded fortified towns (presidios) at Tubac
in 1752 and Tucson
in 1775.
All of present-day Arizona became part of the Mexican State of Vieja California upon the Mexican assertion of independence from Spain in 1822. The United States took possession of most of Arizona at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. In 1853, the land below the Gila River
was acquired from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase
. Arizona was administered as part of the Territory of New Mexico until it was organized into a separate territory on February 24, 1863.
Arizona was admitted into the Union—officially becoming a U.S. state
—on February 14, 1912.
, mammoth
-hunting families moved into northwestern North America sometime between 16,000 BC and 10,000 BC. In central Alaska, they found their passage blocked by a huge sheet of ice until a temporary recession in the last ice age
that opened up an ice-free corridor through northwestern Canada, allowing bands to fan out throughout the rest of the continent. The earliest undisputed evidence of humans in the southwestern United States
is a set of fluted spear
points from the Paleolithic. Some scientists have proposed that small bands of women, men and children wandered across the deserts of southwestern Arizona en refuge in present-day Mexico.
Temperatures rose, and the seasonal distribution of precipitation
began to change, causing major changes in the vegetation
as well. The Clovis people were stalking mammoths and other ice-age species in southeastern Arizona at a time when many streams were drying up, forcing animals to concentrate around streams and seeps. The growing aridity of the region therefore coincided with the arrival of hunters who specialized in the pursuit of large mammal
s. It is possible that climate and humans acted together to bring an end to these species.
Arizona grew even more arid after the last ice age
came to an end. Summers grew wetter, but warmer, so rainfall evaporated quicker. Winters became considerably drier, making less moisture available to plants. In southern Arizona, woodlands gave way to desert grasslands, and desert grasslands gave way to desert scrub. Important Sonoran Desert
species like saguaro and brittlebush began to recolonize the region from the south, while ponderosa forests and piñon-juniper-oak woodlands climbed back onto the Colorado Plateau. By 2000 BC, the modern plant communities of Arizona had been established and a modern climate prevailed.
The early Archaic peoples of Arizona survived these changes by adapting to the cycles of plants rather than trying to change them. In the woodlands, they gathered acorn
s in July and August, and piñon nuts and juniper berries in November. In the desert, they picked the leaves of annual plants like chenopodium
(goosefoot) and amaranth
(pigweed). They also roasted agave
in rock-lined pits each spring, and collected cactus
fruit and harvested mesquite
pods in the summer. Because of their dependence on scattered and seasonal resources, Archaic groups did not occupy permanent settlements. Instead, they wandered from camp to camp in search of water and wild foods.
Their tools reflected their economy: ground stone
s (manos and metates) were used for grinding seeds into flour, scrapers for working hide and wood, and projectile
points, smaller and cruder than the earlier Clovis and Folsom point
s, for hunting large and small game. The varying proportions of such tools at different sites suggest that people moved back and forth between different environmental zones to exploit their particular resources. Archaic peoples fashioned artifacts
that demonstrated their capacity for wonder and their quest for supernatural power. Intaglio
s (sand drawings) 10 to 100 feet (30.5 m) in length appeared on both sides of the Colorado River
in southeastern California
and southwestern Arizona. Many of them were of stylized rattlesnake
s, thunderbirds
, phalli
, and human forms.
in any fundamental way. Many archaeologists assumed that the Archaic cultures of Arizona were dead ends. They believed groups outside the region, particularly Mesoamerica
, introduced major innovations like agriculture
into the Southwest. According to this model, maize
first put down Southwestern roots in the highlands of western New Mexico
and eastern Arizona, the pre-Hispanic cultural area known as the Mogollon. Archaic populations there began growing a small and primitive variety of maize at places like Bat Cave as early as 3500 BC. From there, maize spread slowly to more arid and lowland areas, such as the Sonoran Desert.
During the 1980s, these early maize dates were challenged by a refinement in radiocarbon dating
using the accelerator mass spectrometer
(AMS) technique. Accelerator dates reveal that the first corn from Bat Cave and other highland sites appeared around 1000 BC, 2,500 years later than previously thought. A number of sites excavated in southern Arizona demonstrate that Archaic farmers were cultivating maize in the Tucson Basin at around the same time as well. At the Milagro site along Tanque Verde Creek, for example, a Late Archaic population built pit houses, dug bell-shaped storage pits, and planted maize around 850 BC. Archaic groups, then, were already beginning to make the transition from food gatherers to food producers around 3,000 years ago. They also possessed many of the cultural features that accompany semisedentary agricultural life: storage facilities, more permanent dwellings, larger settlements, and even cemeteries
.
Despite the early advent of farming, late Archaic groups still exercised little control over their natural environment. Furthermore, wild food resources remained important components of their diet even after the invention of pottery and the development of irrigation
. The introduction of agriculture never resulted in the complete abandonment of hunting and foraging, even in the largest of Archaic societies. During the 1st millennium
AD, at least three major cultures flourished in the Southwest: the Anasazi, the Hohokam
, and the Mogollon. These three cultures are well known for their architecture
and pottery. In the early 2nd millennium
AD the Sinagua
and Salado culture
rapidly rose to prominence, yet after several hundred years they just as quickly disappeared.
Although the first European visitors to Arizona may have come in 1528, the most influential expeditions in early Spanish Arizona were those of Marcos de Niza
and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
. The accounts of the early Spanish explorers of large mythical cities like Cíbola
and large mineral deposits of copper
and silver would attract settlers and miners to the region in later years. These explorations led to the Columbian Exchange
in Arizona, and widespread epidemics of smallpox
among the Native Americans. Native-American history of early European Arizonan exploration is hard to find, but the O'odham calendar
stick is a traditional way of recording notable events, including droughts, invasions, floods that could be used as a source.
Early Franciscan
s and Jesuits
in Arizona also set up numerous missions around the area to convert the Native Americans, such as San Xavier del Bac. The missionary Eusebio Kino
developed a chain of missions around the Pimería Alta, exchanging gifts and catechizing the natives, who were then used as scouts for keeping track of events on the frontier. In 1680, the Pueblo Revolt
drove Spaniards temporarily from northern New Mexico
, but the area was reconquered in 1694.
Although the Spanish did not yet have town
s for themselves, in the late 17th century, colonists began steadily entering the region
, attracted by the recent discovery of deposits of silver (see Silver mining in Arizona
) around the Arizonac mining camp. Most of the colonists left after Juan Bautista de Anza
announced it had merely been buried treasure
; however, several stayed and became subsistence farmers. During the mid-18th century, the pioneer
s of Arizona tried to expand their territory
northward, but were prevented from doing so by the Tohono O'odham
and Apache
Native Americans, who had begun raiding their village
s for livestock
.
In 1765, the Bourbon Reforms
began, with Charles III of Spain
doing a major rearranging of the presidio
s (military fortresses) on the northern frontier
. The Jesuits were expelled from the area, and the Franciscans took their place at their missions. In the 1780s and 1790s, the Spanish began a plan of setting up Apache peace camps and providing the Apache with rations so that they would not attack, allowing the Spanish to expand northward.
For the most part, Spanish Arizona had a subsistence economy
, with occasional small gold and silver mining operations.
In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain after a decade of war. The revolution
had destroyed the colonial silver
mining industry and had bankrupted the national treasury
. Along the northern frontier, funds that had supported missions, presidios and Apache
peace camps nearly disappeared. As a result, Apaches once again began raiding, running off horse herds, and killing anyone caught outside presidial walls. As missions began to wither, Mexico began auctioning off more land, causing the Pimería Alta and the Apachería to shrink as territory expanded. In the meantime, American mountain men began to enter the region, looking to trap beavers for their pelts.
In 1836, Texas
declared independence from Mexico and claimed much of the territory in the northern lands of Mexico. When the United States annexed Texas in 1846 over the strong objections of the Mexican government, U.S. troops moved into disputed territory. Despite offers to buy the disputed lands from Mexico, hostilities erupted in what is known as the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). The U.S. occupied Mexico City and forced the newly founded Mexican Republic to give up its northern half, including the later Arizona.
In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
(1848), Mexico ceded to the U.S., together with many more territories, approximately the northern 70% of what is today Arizona, while this treaty also specified that the U.S. pay Mexico the sum of US$15 million in compensation. In 1849, the California Gold Rush
led as many as 50,000 miners through the region, leading to major booms in Arizona's population. In 1850, the aforementioned 70% of Arizona, together with most of present day New Mexico, was organized as the New Mexico Territory
. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce
sent James Gadsden
to Mexico City to negotiate with Santa Anna
, and the United States bought the remaining area of Arizona and New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase
.
Starting in 1853, the entirety of present-day Arizona was part of the New Mexico Territory
. During the Civil War
, on March 16, 1861, southern New Mexico Territory around Mesilla (now in New Mexico) and Tucson declared itself independent from the United States to join the Confederacy
. Confederate Territory of Arizona (CSA) was regarded as a valuable route for possible access to the Pacific Ocean, with the specific intention of joining southern California to the Confederacy. [In 1860, Southern California had cleared all legal hurdles for secession from the rest of California and was waiting reorganization as a new U.S. territory, which never materialized. At that time, sparsely populated Southern California was a hotbed of Southern sympathizers.]
In March 1862, Union troops re-captured the Confederate Territory of Arizona and returned it to the New Mexico Territory.
The Battle of Picacho Pass
, April 15, 1862, was a battle of the Civil War fought in the CSA
and one of many battles to occur in Arizona during the war. Between three sides, Apache
s, Confederates and Union
forces. In 1863, the U.S. split up their New Mexico Territory along a north-south border to create the U.S. Arizona Territory
, which was later to become the state of Arizona.
During the war, U.S. presidio
s were moved to New Mexico, leaving Arizona vulnerable to Native American attack. Hostilities between the Native Americans and American settlers began in 1861, lasted until 1886, and led to most Indian tribes' being moved to reservations
.
Mining, cattle and railroads became the central parts of the Arizona economy, leading to boomtown
s being formed as prospectors found gold, and the boomtowns' becoming ghost town
s as the miners left. Hispanics, the majority of the population, constituted most of the mining labor force.
The Desert Land Act
of 1877, which gave settlers 640 acres (1 sq. mi., 2.6 km²) of land, caused people to flood into the region.
. The plan, while accepted by most in New Mexico, was rejected by most Arizonans. Progressives
in Arizona favored inclusion in the state constitution of initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of senators, woman suffrage, and other reforms. Most of these proposals were included in the constitution that was submitted to Congress in 1912. President William Howard Taft
insisted on removing the recall
provision (because it would allow recall of judges) before he would approve it. It was removed, Taft signed the statehood bill on February 14, 1912, and state residents promptly put the provision back in.
In 1912 women gained suffrage (the vote) in the state, eight years before the country as a whole.
, thus beginning a boom in the economy of Arizona. After the Great Depression, World War II
revitalized the Arizona economy.
During this time frame, industries such as cotton
, copper, farming, and mining began to flourish in the state. The military began using Phoenix
and Tucson
for military base
s and academies
, with the army becoming the community's largest source of revenue. For a time, the Charter Government Committee
swept the elections. Barry Goldwater
and Sandra Day O'Connor
would later have successful judicial and political careers.
During the war, people also began to move to Arizona from other regions of the country because of its inland position and protection from aerial attacks. In 1946, Arizona began to enforce right-to-work law
s, which allowed workers to decide whether or not to join or financially support a union. The dual-wage system, in which Mexicans made $1.15 less per shift, was abandoned. In 1948, the high tech
industry began in Arizona, with Motorola
building one of the first plants in Phoenix. 1948 also saw American Indians gaining the right to vote, after having been disqualified for twenty years for being "wards of the state".
In recent times, Arizona has become a major warm-weather tourist
and retirement destination, much like Florida
. A major part of the tourism industry is based on the presence of the Grand Canyon
.
In 1963, the Supreme Court
ruled in favor of Arizona over California in a dispute over Arizona's share of the Colorado River
. Five years after the decision, authorization was given for the construction of the Central Arizona Project, which was not completed until 1991.
Republican
Senator
Barry Goldwater
, a native of Arizona, ran for the presidency
in 1964, with William Edward Miller as his running mate. Due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
, Goldwater found himself in the difficult position of running against the successor to a slain president, and was soundly defeated by Lyndon B. Johnson
. Goldwater received only 38.4% of the popular vote and the electoral votes of just five states, including five from Arizona.
In 1988, Evan Mecham
, the Governor of Arizona, was impeached. Mecham faced allegations of money laundering
, including trying to conceal a $350,000 campaign loan, borrowing $60,000 of state money to prop up his struggling auto dealership, as well as allegations of attempting to block the investigation of a death threat
made by a state official. Rose Mofford succeeded him as the Governor of Arizona, becoming the first woman ever to hold the office.
Mecham had already been unpopular for his cancellation of a paid Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday for state employees. The holiday had been first proposed in 1972 by former state senators Cloves Campbell. For the first of several times, the legislation had failed to pass the legislature, causing Arizona to lose its chance to host the Super Bowl
, as well as costing the state tourism and other benefits that naturally come from these events. Governor Bruce Babbitt
gave state employees the day off by executive order, but Mecham later voided the order just a week before the holiday was to be celebrated, based on a legal opinion by the state's Attorney General
that the holiday had been created illegally.
When the legislation passed in 1989, Rose Mofford signed into law a paid state holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
, making it possible for the state to host a Super Bowl
. The chair of the Americans for Traditional American Values filed a petition
against it, accusing Dr. King of being a socialist
and philanderer. The two 1990 ballot initiatives were, respectively, for celebrating both Martin Luther King Day and Columbus Day
holidays, and for swapping the Columbus holiday for the King one. Both failed. In 1992, in the face of a tourist boycott
and losing the chance to host Super Bowl XXVII
, 61% of Arizonan voters publicly approved the payment of state workers on a Martin Luther King Day/Civil Rights Day holiday. It was the 49th state in the United States to approve the holiday, and the first state to have voter approval of allowing state workers to have paid absence on Martin Luther King Day. Super Bowl XXX
was later played in Tempe
in 1996 and Super Bowl XLII
was held in Glendale
in 2008.
Mofford's successor as governor, Fife Symington, resigned in 1997 after conviction of bank fraud. His conviction was later overturned, and he was subsequently pardoned by President Clinton
.
On August 17, 2005, the governors of both Arizona and New Mexico declared an emergency in the Mexico-bordering counties of their states. Both governors cited violence, illegal immigration
, drug smuggling, and the inaction of both the U.S. and Mexican governments as reasons for the state of emergency. Governor Janet Napolitano
of Arizona freed $1.5 million in disaster funds to help the border counties, and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico freed $1.75 million. Illegal immigration continued to be a prime concern within the state, and in April 2010, Arizona SB1070 was passed and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer
. The measure attracted national attention as the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in decades within the United States.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
arrived in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
between 16,000 BC and 10,000 BC
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of...
, while the history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began when Marcos de Niza
Marcos de Niza
Fray Marcos de Niza was a Franciscan friar. He was born in Nice , which was at that time under the control of the Italian House of Savoy....
, a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
, explored the area in 1539. Coronado
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, who visited New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542...
's expedition entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola
Quivira and Cíbola
Quivira is a place first mentioned by Francisco Vazquez de Coronado in 1541, who visited it during his searches for the mythical "Seven Cities of Gold". The location and identity of the "Quivirans" has been much debated over a wide area, including Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri...
. Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino
Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta...
developed a chain of missions and taught the Indians Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in Pimería Alta
Pimería Alta
The Pimería Alta , an area of the 18th century Sonora y Sinaloa Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, encompassed parts of what are today southern Arizona in the United States and northern Sonora in Mexico....
(now southern Arizona and northern Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
) in the 1690s and early 18th century. Spain founded fortified towns (presidios) at Tubac
Tubac, Arizona
Tubac is a census-designated place in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 949 at the 2000 census. The place name Tubac is an English borrowing from a Hispanicized form of the O'odham name, which translates into English as "rotten". The original O'odham name is written...
in 1752 and Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
in 1775.
All of present-day Arizona became part of the Mexican State of Vieja California upon the Mexican assertion of independence from Spain in 1822. The United States took possession of most of Arizona at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. In 1853, the land below the Gila River
Gila River
The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...
was acquired from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S...
. Arizona was administered as part of the Territory of New Mexico until it was organized into a separate territory on February 24, 1863.
Arizona was admitted into the Union—officially becoming a U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
—on February 14, 1912.
The Paleo-Indians and Archaic peoples
According to the best archaeological and geological evidence available, PaleolithicPaleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
, mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
-hunting families moved into northwestern North America sometime between 16,000 BC and 10,000 BC. In central Alaska, they found their passage blocked by a huge sheet of ice until a temporary recession in the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
that opened up an ice-free corridor through northwestern Canada, allowing bands to fan out throughout the rest of the continent. The earliest undisputed evidence of humans in the southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
is a set of fluted spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
points from the Paleolithic. Some scientists have proposed that small bands of women, men and children wandered across the deserts of southwestern Arizona en refuge in present-day Mexico.
Temperatures rose, and the seasonal distribution of precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
began to change, causing major changes in the vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
as well. The Clovis people were stalking mammoths and other ice-age species in southeastern Arizona at a time when many streams were drying up, forcing animals to concentrate around streams and seeps. The growing aridity of the region therefore coincided with the arrival of hunters who specialized in the pursuit of large mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s. It is possible that climate and humans acted together to bring an end to these species.
Arizona grew even more arid after the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
came to an end. Summers grew wetter, but warmer, so rainfall evaporated quicker. Winters became considerably drier, making less moisture available to plants. In southern Arizona, woodlands gave way to desert grasslands, and desert grasslands gave way to desert scrub. Important Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
species like saguaro and brittlebush began to recolonize the region from the south, while ponderosa forests and piñon-juniper-oak woodlands climbed back onto the Colorado Plateau. By 2000 BC, the modern plant communities of Arizona had been established and a modern climate prevailed.
The early Archaic peoples of Arizona survived these changes by adapting to the cycles of plants rather than trying to change them. In the woodlands, they gathered acorn
Acorn
The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
s in July and August, and piñon nuts and juniper berries in November. In the desert, they picked the leaves of annual plants like chenopodium
Chenopodium
Chenopodium is a genus of about 150 species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifications separate it and its relatives as Chenopodiaceae, but...
(goosefoot) and amaranth
Amaranth
Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...
(pigweed). They also roasted agave
Agave
Agave is a genus of monocots. The plants are perennial, but each rosette flowers once and then dies ; they are commonly known as the century plant....
in rock-lined pits each spring, and collected cactus
Cactus
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
fruit and harvested mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
pods in the summer. Because of their dependence on scattered and seasonal resources, Archaic groups did not occupy permanent settlements. Instead, they wandered from camp to camp in search of water and wild foods.
Their tools reflected their economy: ground stone
Ground stone
In archaeology, ground stone is a category of stone tool formed by the grinding of a coarse-grained tool stone, either purposely or incidentally. Ground stone tools are usually made of basalt, rhyolite, granite, or other macrocrystalline igneous stones whose coarse structure makes them ideal for...
s (manos and metates) were used for grinding seeds into flour, scrapers for working hide and wood, and projectile
Projectile
A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....
points, smaller and cruder than the earlier Clovis and Folsom point
Folsom point
Folsom points are a distinct form of chipped stone projectile points associated with the Folsom Tradition of North America. The style of toolmaking was named after Folsom, New Mexico where the first sample was found within the bone structure of a bison in 1927....
s, for hunting large and small game. The varying proportions of such tools at different sites suggest that people moved back and forth between different environmental zones to exploit their particular resources. Archaic peoples fashioned artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
that demonstrated their capacity for wonder and their quest for supernatural power. Intaglio
Intaglio (burial mound)
Intaglio is a term from art applied to burial mounds that refers to a design cut into a hard surface. In this case, the burial mounds have designs cut into the ground, though intaglio broadly applies to burial mounds which are raised above the natural surface of the terrain. There are much more...
s (sand drawings) 10 to 100 feet (30.5 m) in length appeared on both sides of the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
in southeastern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and southwestern Arizona. Many of them were of stylized rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...
s, thunderbirds
Thunderbird (mythology)
The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a "supernatural" bird of power and strength...
, phalli
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
, and human forms.
The introduction of agriculture
For most of the Archaic period, people were not able to transform their natural environmentNatural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
in any fundamental way. Many archaeologists assumed that the Archaic cultures of Arizona were dead ends. They believed groups outside the region, particularly Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
, introduced major innovations like agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
into the Southwest. According to this model, maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
first put down Southwestern roots in the highlands of western New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and eastern Arizona, the pre-Hispanic cultural area known as the Mogollon. Archaic populations there began growing a small and primitive variety of maize at places like Bat Cave as early as 3500 BC. From there, maize spread slowly to more arid and lowland areas, such as the Sonoran Desert.
During the 1980s, these early maize dates were challenged by a refinement in radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
using the accelerator mass spectrometer
Mass spectrometry
Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique that measures the mass-to-charge ratio of charged particles.It is used for determining masses of particles, for determining the elemental composition of a sample or molecule, and for elucidating the chemical structures of molecules, such as peptides and...
(AMS) technique. Accelerator dates reveal that the first corn from Bat Cave and other highland sites appeared around 1000 BC, 2,500 years later than previously thought. A number of sites excavated in southern Arizona demonstrate that Archaic farmers were cultivating maize in the Tucson Basin at around the same time as well. At the Milagro site along Tanque Verde Creek, for example, a Late Archaic population built pit houses, dug bell-shaped storage pits, and planted maize around 850 BC. Archaic groups, then, were already beginning to make the transition from food gatherers to food producers around 3,000 years ago. They also possessed many of the cultural features that accompany semisedentary agricultural life: storage facilities, more permanent dwellings, larger settlements, and even cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
.
Despite the early advent of farming, late Archaic groups still exercised little control over their natural environment. Furthermore, wild food resources remained important components of their diet even after the invention of pottery and the development of irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
. The introduction of agriculture never resulted in the complete abandonment of hunting and foraging, even in the largest of Archaic societies. During the 1st millennium
1st millennium
File:1st millennium montage.png|From left, clockwise: Depiction of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity; The Colosseum, a landmark of the once Roman Empire; Gunpowder is invented during the latter part of the millennium, in China; Chess, a new board game, takes on popularity across the globe;...
AD, at least three major cultures flourished in the Southwest: the Anasazi, the Hohokam
Hohokam
Hohokam is one of the four major prehistoric archaeological Oasisamerica traditions of what is now the American Southwest. Many local residents put the accent on the first syllable . Variant spellings in current, official usage include Hobokam, Huhugam and Huhukam...
, and the Mogollon. These three cultures are well known for their architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and pottery. In the early 2nd millennium
2nd millennium
File:2nd millennium montage.png|From left, clockwise: In 1492, Christopher Columbus; The American Revolution; The French Revolution; The Atomic Bomb from World War II; An alternate source of light, the Light Bulb; For the first time, a human being sets foot on the moon in 1969 during the Apollo 11...
AD the Sinagua
Sinagua
The Sinagua were a pre-Columbian cultural group occupying an area in central Arizona between the Little Colorado River and the Salt River including the Verde Valley and significant portions of the Mogollon Rim country between approximately 500 AD and 1425 AD.Early Sinagua sites consist of pit houses...
and Salado culture
Salado culture
Salado culture, or Salado Horizon, was a human culture of the Tonto Basin in southeastern Arizona from approximately 1150 CE through the 15th century....
rapidly rose to prominence, yet after several hundred years they just as quickly disappeared.
European/North American colonization
Marcos de Niza
Fray Marcos de Niza was a Franciscan friar. He was born in Nice , which was at that time under the control of the Italian House of Savoy....
and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado y Luján was a Spanish conquistador, who visited New Mexico and other parts of what are now the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542...
. The accounts of the early Spanish explorers of large mythical cities like Cíbola
Cibola, Arizona
Cibola is a census-designated place in La Paz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 172 at the 2000 census. It is named for the famed city of gold of the same name.-Geography:Cibola is located at ....
and large mineral deposits of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
and silver would attract settlers and miners to the region in later years. These explorations led to the Columbian Exchange
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations , communicable disease, and ideas between the Eastern and Western hemispheres . It was one of the most significant events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in all of human history...
in Arizona, and widespread epidemics of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
among the Native Americans. Native-American history of early European Arizonan exploration is hard to find, but the O'odham calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
stick is a traditional way of recording notable events, including droughts, invasions, floods that could be used as a source.
Early Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
s and Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
in Arizona also set up numerous missions around the area to convert the Native Americans, such as San Xavier del Bac. The missionary Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino S.J. was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who became famous in what is now northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States in the region then known as the Pimaria Alta...
developed a chain of missions around the Pimería Alta, exchanging gifts and catechizing the natives, who were then used as scouts for keeping track of events on the frontier. In 1680, the Pueblo Revolt
Pueblo Revolt
The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or Popé's Rebellion, was an uprising of several pueblos of the Pueblo people against Spanish colonization of the Americas in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.-Background:...
drove Spaniards temporarily from northern New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, but the area was reconquered in 1694.
Spanish Arizona
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
s for themselves, in the late 17th century, colonists began steadily entering the region
Region
Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
, attracted by the recent discovery of deposits of silver (see Silver mining in Arizona
Silver mining in Arizona
Silver mining in Arizona was a powerful stimulus for exploration and prospecting in early Arizona. Cumulative silver production through 1981 totaled 490 million troy ounces . However, only about 10% of Arizona's silver production came from silver mining...
) around the Arizonac mining camp. Most of the colonists left after Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto was a Novo-Spanish explorer and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire.-Early life:...
announced it had merely been buried treasure
Buried treasure
A buried treasure is an important part of the popular beliefs surrounding pirates and Old West outlaws. According to popular conception, criminals and others often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return for them later, often with the use of treasure maps.-Pirate...
; however, several stayed and became subsistence farmers. During the mid-18th century, the pioneer
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s of Arizona tried to expand their territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
northward, but were prevented from doing so by the Tohono O'odham
Tohono O'odham
The Tohono O'odham are a group of Native American people who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the southeastern Arizona and northwest Mexico...
and Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
Native Americans, who had begun raiding their village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s for livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
.
In 1765, the Bourbon Reforms
Bourbon Reforms
The Bourbon Reforms were a set of economic and political legislation introduced by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon throughout the 18th century. The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology in order to modernize Spain...
began, with Charles III of Spain
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
doing a major rearranging of the presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
s (military fortresses) on the northern frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
. The Jesuits were expelled from the area, and the Franciscans took their place at their missions. In the 1780s and 1790s, the Spanish began a plan of setting up Apache peace camps and providing the Apache with rations so that they would not attack, allowing the Spanish to expand northward.
For the most part, Spanish Arizona had a subsistence economy
Subsistence economy
A subsistence economy is an economy which refers simply to the gathering or amassment of objects of value; the increase in wealth; or the creation of wealth. Capital can be generally defined as assets invested with the expectation that their value will increase, usually because there is the...
, with occasional small gold and silver mining operations.
Mexican Arizona
Mexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
had destroyed the colonial silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
mining industry and had bankrupted the national treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
. Along the northern frontier, funds that had supported missions, presidios and Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
peace camps nearly disappeared. As a result, Apaches once again began raiding, running off horse herds, and killing anyone caught outside presidial walls. As missions began to wither, Mexico began auctioning off more land, causing the Pimería Alta and the Apachería to shrink as territory expanded. In the meantime, American mountain men began to enter the region, looking to trap beavers for their pelts.
In 1836, Texas
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
declared independence from Mexico and claimed much of the territory in the northern lands of Mexico. When the United States annexed Texas in 1846 over the strong objections of the Mexican government, U.S. troops moved into disputed territory. Despite offers to buy the disputed lands from Mexico, hostilities erupted in what is known as the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). The U.S. occupied Mexico City and forced the newly founded Mexican Republic to give up its northern half, including the later Arizona.
In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
(1848), Mexico ceded to the U.S., together with many more territories, approximately the northern 70% of what is today Arizona, while this treaty also specified that the U.S. pay Mexico the sum of US$15 million in compensation. In 1849, the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
led as many as 50,000 miners through the region, leading to major booms in Arizona's population. In 1850, the aforementioned 70% of Arizona, together with most of present day New Mexico, was organized as the New Mexico Territory
New Mexico Territory
thumb|right|240px|Proposed boundaries for State of New Mexico, 1850The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of...
. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...
sent James Gadsden
James Gadsden
James Gadsden was an American diplomat, soldier and businessman and namesake of the Gadsden Purchase, in which the United States purchased from Mexico the land that became the southern portion of Arizona and New Mexico. James Gadsden served as Adjutant General of the U. S...
to Mexico City to negotiate with Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
, and the United States bought the remaining area of Arizona and New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S...
.
American Arizona
New Mexico Territory
thumb|right|240px|Proposed boundaries for State of New Mexico, 1850The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of...
. During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, on March 16, 1861, southern New Mexico Territory around Mesilla (now in New Mexico) and Tucson declared itself independent from the United States to join the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. Confederate Territory of Arizona (CSA) was regarded as a valuable route for possible access to the Pacific Ocean, with the specific intention of joining southern California to the Confederacy. [In 1860, Southern California had cleared all legal hurdles for secession from the rest of California and was waiting reorganization as a new U.S. territory, which never materialized. At that time, sparsely populated Southern California was a hotbed of Southern sympathizers.]
In March 1862, Union troops re-captured the Confederate Territory of Arizona and returned it to the New Mexico Territory.
The Battle of Picacho Pass
Battle of Picacho Pass
The Battle of Picacho Pass or the Battle of Picacho Peak was an engagement of the American Civil War on April 15, 1862. The action occurred all around Picacho Peak, northwest of Tucson, Arizona...
, April 15, 1862, was a battle of the Civil War fought in the CSA
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
and one of many battles to occur in Arizona during the war. Between three sides, Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
s, Confederates and Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
forces. In 1863, the U.S. split up their New Mexico Territory along a north-south border to create the U.S. Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, which was later to become the state of Arizona.
During the war, U.S. presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
s were moved to New Mexico, leaving Arizona vulnerable to Native American attack. Hostilities between the Native Americans and American settlers began in 1861, lasted until 1886, and led to most Indian tribes' being moved to reservations
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
.
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
s being formed as prospectors found gold, and the boomtowns' becoming ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
s as the miners left. Hispanics, the majority of the population, constituted most of the mining labor force.
The Desert Land Act
Desert Land Act
The Desert Land Act was passed by the United States Congress on March 3, 1877 to encourage and promote the economic development of the arid and semiarid public lands of the Western states...
of 1877, which gave settlers 640 acres (1 sq. mi., 2.6 km²) of land, caused people to flood into the region.
Statehood
In the 20th century, Arizona almost entered the Union as part of New Mexico in a Republican plan to keep control of the U.S. SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. The plan, while accepted by most in New Mexico, was rejected by most Arizonans. Progressives
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
in Arizona favored inclusion in the state constitution of initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of senators, woman suffrage, and other reforms. Most of these proposals were included in the constitution that was submitted to Congress in 1912. President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
insisted on removing the recall
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
provision (because it would allow recall of judges) before he would approve it. It was removed, Taft signed the statehood bill on February 14, 1912, and state residents promptly put the provision back in.
In 1912 women gained suffrage (the vote) in the state, eight years before the country as a whole.
The Great Depression and the World Wars
In 1917, the United States entered World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, thus beginning a boom in the economy of Arizona. After the Great Depression, World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
revitalized the Arizona economy.
During this time frame, industries such as cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, copper, farming, and mining began to flourish in the state. The military began using Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
and Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
for military base
Military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...
s and academies
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
, with the army becoming the community's largest source of revenue. For a time, the Charter Government Committee
Municipal charter
A city charter or town charter is a legal document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the middle ages....
swept the elections. Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
and Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
would later have successful judicial and political careers.
During the war, people also began to move to Arizona from other regions of the country because of its inland position and protection from aerial attacks. In 1946, Arizona began to enforce right-to-work law
Right-to-work law
Right-to-work laws are statutes enforced in twenty-two U.S. states, mostly in the southern or western U.S., allowed under provisions of the federal Taft–Hartley Act, which prohibit agreements between labor unions and employers that make membership, payment of union dues, or fees a condition of...
s, which allowed workers to decide whether or not to join or financially support a union. The dual-wage system, in which Mexicans made $1.15 less per shift, was abandoned. In 1948, the high tech
High tech
High tech is technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology currently available. It is often used in reference to micro-electronics, rather than other technologies. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech or high-technology...
industry began in Arizona, with Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
building one of the first plants in Phoenix. 1948 also saw American Indians gaining the right to vote, after having been disqualified for twenty years for being "wards of the state".
Recent events
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and retirement destination, much like Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. A major part of the tourism industry is based on the presence of the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
.
In 1963, the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
ruled in favor of Arizona over California in a dispute over Arizona's share of the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
. Five years after the decision, authorization was given for the construction of the Central Arizona Project, which was not completed until 1991.
Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, a native of Arizona, ran for the presidency
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in 1964, with William Edward Miller as his running mate. Due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, Goldwater found himself in the difficult position of running against the successor to a slain president, and was soundly defeated by Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. Goldwater received only 38.4% of the popular vote and the electoral votes of just five states, including five from Arizona.
In 1988, Evan Mecham
Evan Mecham
Evan Mecham was the 17th Governor of Arizona. A decorated veteran of World War II, Mecham earned his living as an automotive dealership owner and occasional newspaper publisher...
, the Governor of Arizona, was impeached. Mecham faced allegations of money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, including trying to conceal a $350,000 campaign loan, borrowing $60,000 of state money to prop up his struggling auto dealership, as well as allegations of attempting to block the investigation of a death threat
Death threat
A death threat is a threat of death, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or groups of people. These threats are usually designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior, thus a death threat is a form of coercion...
made by a state official. Rose Mofford succeeded him as the Governor of Arizona, becoming the first woman ever to hold the office.
Mecham had already been unpopular for his cancellation of a paid Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday for state employees. The holiday had been first proposed in 1972 by former state senators Cloves Campbell. For the first of several times, the legislation had failed to pass the legislature, causing Arizona to lose its chance to host the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, as well as costing the state tourism and other benefits that naturally come from these events. Governor Bruce Babbitt
Bruce Babbitt
Bruce Edward Babbitt , a Democrat, served as United States Secretary of the Interior and as the 16th governor of Arizona, from 1978 to 1987.-Biography:...
gave state employees the day off by executive order, but Mecham later voided the order just a week before the holiday was to be celebrated, based on a legal opinion by the state's Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
that the holiday had been created illegally.
When the legislation passed in 1989, Rose Mofford signed into law a paid state holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, making it possible for the state to host a Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. The chair of the Americans for Traditional American Values filed a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
against it, accusing Dr. King of being a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and philanderer. The two 1990 ballot initiatives were, respectively, for celebrating both Martin Luther King Day and Columbus Day
Columbus Day
Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...
holidays, and for swapping the Columbus holiday for the King one. Both failed. In 1992, in the face of a tourist boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
and losing the chance to host Super Bowl XXVII
Super Bowl XXVII
Super Bowl XXVII was a football game played on January 31, 1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1992 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Dallas Cowboys defeated the American Football Conference champion...
, 61% of Arizonan voters publicly approved the payment of state workers on a Martin Luther King Day/Civil Rights Day holiday. It was the 49th state in the United States to approve the holiday, and the first state to have voter approval of allowing state workers to have paid absence on Martin Luther King Day. Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX was an American football game played on January 28, 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona to decide the National Football League champion following the 1995 regular season...
was later played in Tempe
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
in 1996 and Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
was held in Glendale
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....
in 2008.
Mofford's successor as governor, Fife Symington, resigned in 1997 after conviction of bank fraud. His conviction was later overturned, and he was subsequently pardoned by President Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
On August 17, 2005, the governors of both Arizona and New Mexico declared an emergency in the Mexico-bordering counties of their states. Both governors cited violence, illegal immigration
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
, drug smuggling, and the inaction of both the U.S. and Mexican governments as reasons for the state of emergency. Governor Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
of Arizona freed $1.5 million in disaster funds to help the border counties, and Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico freed $1.75 million. Illegal immigration continued to be a prime concern within the state, and in April 2010, Arizona SB1070 was passed and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer
Jan Brewer
Janice Kay "Jan" Brewer is the 22nd and current Governor of the U.S. state of Arizona and a member of the Republican Party. She is the fourth woman, and third consecutive woman, to hold the office...
. The measure attracted national attention as the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in decades within the United States.
See also
- EstevanicoEstevanicoEstevanico , "Black Stephen", "Esteban", "Esteban the Moor", "Estevan", "Estebanico", "Stephen the Black", "Stephen the Moor", "Stephen Dorantes" after his owner Andres Dorantes, and "Little Stephen") was the first known person born in Africa to have arrived in the present-day continental United...
- Fort Date CreekFort Date CreekFort Date Creek, also known as Camp McPherson or Camp Date Creek, was a United States Army post established in 1867 sixty miles south of Prescott, Arizona. It was built to safeguard American settlers in Yavapai County.-History:...
- Republic of SonoraRepublic of SonoraThe Republic of Sonora was a federal republic composed of two states: Baja California and Sonora....
- Territorial evolution of Arizona
- James ReavisJames ReavisJames Addison Reavis , later using the name James Addison Peralta-Reavis, the so-called Baron of Arizona, was an American forger and fraudster...
, The 'Baron of Arizona'