Southwest: A Pictorial History of the Land and Its People (Arizona and the Southwest)

From the Introduction

The earliest inhabitants of the Southwest migrated from Asia via an ancient land bridge across the Bering Strait during the Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age, at least 37,000 years ago. The exposed land allowed grazing animals and early hunters access to the New World in migrations that lasted until the end of the Ice Age, around 11,000 years ago.

These early hunters were true men, walked erect, possessed fire, wore clothing of fur and skin, and used tools made of flint and bone. They were replaced, or assimilated, by Paleo-Indian groups that culminated in three major Southwestern prehistoric Indian cultures: the Hohokam, Mogollon and Anasazi.

The Hohokam were desert farmers who lived in villages in the Sonoran Desert for more than a millennia. They were the first Southwestern farmers to use irrigation, digging canals along the Gila and Salt Rivers. The Mogollon were primarily hunters and gatherers in mountain regions of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. The Anasazi culture appeared around the birth of Christ in the Four Corners region of the Colorado Plateau. The Anasazi are best known for the cliff dwellings they inhabited during later years of their civilization.

In addition to the three major cultures, two minor cultures played a significant role in the prehistory of the Southwest. The Sinagua were farmers who inhabited the area around the San Francisco Peaks beginning about A.D. 500. The Salado culture, named for the Salt River (Rio Salado in Spanish) that was central to their way of life, inhabited the Tonto Basin for a short period between A.D. 1150 and 1450.

Exploration of the Southwest by Spanish explorers began without auspicious results. The first explorers through the region found it of little economic interest and were unsuccessful in fulfilling their goal of adding wealth to the Spanish crown. The Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries were responsible for much of the Spanish colonization of the region, although they met with much resistance from the Native Americans, who had little use for a new God.

The Spaniards failed to gain a significant foothold in the Southwest. Uneasy relations with the Indians kept them contained to small areas, and even then continual raiding by hostile Indians tribes was not conducive to the growth of their settlements.

In the early 1800's, Mexican independence from Spain resulted in a change in control of much of the Southwest to Mexican hands. By 1835, the Texans gained their hard won independence from Mexico, with Mexican rule being replaced by the Americans throughout the territory by 1847.

The Americans entered the Southwest after the Mexican War and were successful in subduing the Native American inhabitants. Superior weaponry and forces were brought against the last raiding bands of Comanches, Apaches, Utes, Navajos and other tribes that had successfully resisted Spanish colonization.

Southwestern Indians of historic times are related in part to the prehistoric Pueblo cultures, Plains Indians, and Athabascan nomadic tribes from Canada. Today, Indians of the Southwest are known worldwide for their quality arts and crafts, and for their colorful traditions.