Arizona's Indian Tribes

First of all the Indians of Arizona are not one cultural or ethnic group, but are divided into 14 distinct divisions, or tribes, each with its peculiar social, economic, or cultural background. The fourteen tribes are divided into four linguistic groups, also distinct from each other and even tribes of one linguistic group have difficulty in understanding each other because of dialectic variations. The following list shows Arizona Indians by name, linguistic groupings, and estimated numbers as of 1939.

This anticipated Indian population of about 50,000 represents the second largest in any of the United States, and the very largest in any state if only Indians of unmixed blood are considered. While the total population of Arizona is only about one-two hundred and sixtieth part (1/260) of the whole nation, she has within her border about one-seventh (1/7) of the total Indians in the United States.

The population of Arizona is increasing from year to year and in general this is considered desirable. According to medical opinion the Indian population is increasing at about twice the rate of the white American. This is by some considered not so desirable. The reason, of course, is the same that brings about aggression and war in some parts of the world-too many mouths to feed from a given area of productivity.

In years past the Indians settled this problem by moving to new territory or by warfare, none of which are solutions to present day minority groups in need of "lebensraum." And, although Indian reservations in Arizona make up a large portion of the state, living room is becoming smaller by each Indian birth. In the past most Arizona Indians were hunters and food gatherers; that is, they lived from what nature provided. Some Indians were farmers, but even these were dependent on more land than they actually farmed. With the coming of American civilization, however, both hunting preserves and watershed areas were lost to the Indians, and they were gradually forced into a new mode of life within the restrictions of reservation areas.

For farming people, like the Hopi and Pima, this was comparatively easy, although the loss of water for irrigation caused untold hardships to the latter for a number of years. For the Apache, Yavapai and others who followed food in season things were not so easy. They either had to conform to new conditions or disinteGrate. From the Indian viewpoint the story of this early acculturation was a pitiful one and some tribes settled down to a life of inertia with government ration day the most important part of their existence. To fully appreciate the fact that problems do exist and that many of them are of mutual importance, it may be well to consider our Arizona Indians of today with their ecological background.

Now as of old these Indians are primarily engaged in securing food from a land that by nature was not intended to support very many. They never reached the state of social and economic evolution that leads to our modern conception of civilization; each day of living was sufficient unto life. They had no individual landownership, no class rule, and no royalty. Indian land allotments, like Indian princesses and other tokens of social distinction, are of the white man's making. Each group looked to the welfare of its own members, much like some people today think of an ideal communis-tic state, but even in those "good old days" when no European invader cast the shadow of cross or sword over the land the Indians had their troubles.

the white man's making. Each group looked to the welfare of its own members, much like some people today think of an ideal communistic state, but even in those "good old days" when no European invader cast the shadow of cross or sword over the land the Indians had their troubles.

The hunter roams the land until he finds the seed of a cereal which allows him to become sedentary. Hunting becomes less important as farming develops and eventually the hunter's children become peaceful of habits. Some day another hunter comes on the scene and two things may happen. He may become a farmer also, by choice or absorption, or he may remain a hunter and without distinction of what is nature's gift and what is man's produce he will by acts of depredation become the farmer's enemy.

Thus, long before the white man came to Arizona, the Hopi, the Pima, and to a certain extent the Papago Indians had established themselves as tillers of the soil. Then, one day, not so very long before the white invasion, another group of Indians found their way into the southwest. They were of the Athabascan stock, and believed to be comparatively late comers to the American continent. Valiant hunters and warriors by habit they soon became a scourge to the farming Indians, whose crops and lives they considered legitimate spoils of the hunt and war.

The Zuni Indians called them "apachu", or "enemy," a word later taken up by the Spanish and American settlers. To distinguish between two groups, one of which roamed the mountain country of Arizona and the other living near the fields of the Tewa Indians in New Mexico, they were called, respectively, Apachu de los Sierras, and Apachu de Nevahua, the latter name meaning "cultivated fields." Today they are known as Apache and Navajo, although they call themselves "Dine," or "the people." So fierce was the struggle against these hunting groups that the farming Indians were threatened with extinction when the whites arrived and even then it took army forces to subjugate both Apache and Navajo.

are known as Apache and Navajo, although they call themselves "Dine," or "the people." So fierce was the struggle against these hunting groups that the farming Indians were threatened with extinction when the whites arrived and even then it took army forces to subjugate both Apache and Navajo.

Over an area which comprised about onethird of Arizona roamed in early times another group, or several groups, of another linguistic stock, the Yuman. Their main stronghold originally was the Colorado river, from where they wandered south to the Gila and Salt rivers and east to the Verde river, following food in season from desert to mountains. Internal strife caused the Mohave, Hualpai, Maricopa, Havasupai, and Yavapai to form separate bands and locate apart from each other.

Particularly, it is noted, between the Maricopa on one side and the Mohave and Yuma proper on the other, warfare was kept up with regularity till the final battle in 1858, when a peace treaty was signed. The Maricopa had in the meantime established themselves next to the Pima, with whom they always have been friendly and even intermarried, although one tribe does not speak the language of the other. In return for Pima help against Yuma aggression, the Maricopa would join the Pima against the Apache, and both tribes always have been fighting on the side of the Americans and never against them.

The Papago, linguistically and culturally kindred to the Pima, also have been a peaceful tribe, except in their relations with the Apache, against whom they went on the war-path often and willingly, singly or with any ally asking their help. They often joined the Americans in campaigns against the Apache and more than once United States' soldiers had to restrain the Papago from killing every last one of the conquered enemy.

To speculate on what would eventually have happened to the various Indian tribes in Arizona without the advent of Caucasian culture is almost as futile as to wonder about what the Garden of Eden would have produced without the apple. Archaeology tells us that intermittent migrations and settlements by groups of people we call Indians have occurred in this region since the times when pleistocene animals roamed the land some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. Lack of evidence so far prevents the reconstruction of historical sequences before the beginning of the Christian era, when agriculture and sedentary life seems to have begun in the plateau region and in the Gila basin.

happened to the various Indian tribes in Arizona without the advent of Caucasian culture is almost as futile as to wonder about what the Garden of Eden would have produced without the apple. Archaeology tells us that intermittent migrations and settlements by groups of people we call Indians have occurred in this region since the times when pleistocene animals roamed the land some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. Lack of evidence so far prevents the reconstruction of historical sequences before the beginning of the Christian era, when agriculture and sedentary life seems to have begun in the plateau region and in the Gila basin.

Since then, and certainly before, groups of different cultures, languages, and physical appearances met, dispersed each other or became amalgamated into new or modified forms. One thing they had in common; they all belonged to one racial group, the so-called Yellow-Brown race, which also includes the Mongolians, Polynesians, and other Asiatic and Pacific groups. The Indians' racial psychology combined with the hostile nature of Arizona's soil were not conducive to the development of a high material culture or civilization. On the other hand, both nature and Indian atavism produced and retained a spiritual philosophy which in many respects contains ideals which thinkers and moral leaders of today are advocating to a civilized world.

The Indian has ever shown a deep respect, love and understanding of nature. Never manifesting any desire to control nature at his own will, he has sought such control through supplications to nature's guardians in a supernatural world. Where he has modified the nature of Mother Earth to produce more food, he also seems to have had thought for the protection of his resources. In the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix, as well as in the Graham Mountains and other places, are still to be seen prehistoric soil conservation projects.

Or late, and one may say almost too late, recognition is also being given to the American value of the Indians' more esthetic gifts to our culture. Navajo weaving, though of recent origin, is universally known and appreciated, as is the silver work of this and other Arizona tribes. Hopi pottery and basketry is equally well known and accepted in modern home decoration. Hopi cotton weaving has been reduced to their own ceremonial use and to the production of a few trade pieces for other tribes. Their ceremonial life not only lives on in spite of Christian missionary influences but is an integral part of secular life in their eleven mesa villages. Apache and Pima baskets are still made to a very limited extent, and the finest examples of these are rarely equalled by any other Indian tribes. Some baskets are also made by the Yuman groups, notably the Hualpai, Havasupai, and Yavapai, while only one group, the Maricopa, produce pottery of high artistic standard. Unlike Hopi pottery, which is coiled and scraped into finished forms, the Maricopa beat the clay of their vessels into shape with a wooden paddle against a pottery or stone anvil. Maricopa pottery also is distinct from all other ware by its highly polished red surface upon which designs are applied in black. To people who are used to think of Indian pottery as a crude handmade product this remarkably lustrous surface finish often is taken for a sign of artificiality. It is, rather, perfection. At the present time all Indians are United States' citizens, but Arizona Indians are not given a state franchise to vote. When they eventually pass from the last vestige of federal guardianship, the vote can no longer be denied them, and they must be prepared for this event. Whether they are now ready is a matter of opinion. One thing is certain they are still going through the process of acculturation, some with remarkable success. Most of them retain their native language, though all children are taught English as well.

Before the white man came to Arizona, an estimated 30,000 Indians struggled for a mere living with more than 100,000 square miles of land being theirs. Today some 50,000 Indians must secure an improved living on an estimated area of 30,000 square miles. Tomorrowwhat will the conditions be?