Arizona State Facts & Information
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Although early Spanish explorers came into what is present day Arizona in the middle 1500s, it was considerably later before settlement began. Under the Spanish crown, an area extending south from the Gila River ( like that portion which became an area of the Gadsden Purchase) was part of the Primeria Alta (land of the Upper Pima), which included the northern part of Sonora in Mexico.
In their look for the fabled urban centers of gold, Spanish expeditions encountered the Hopi and Zuni, sandstone villages of centuries-old,cliff-dwelling civilizations, and the off late arrived nomadic Apache and Navajo. Governor Diego Ortiz Parilla established a fort at Tubac in 1753, and Tucson was founded in 1775. Marauding Apaches later forced the Spanish out of the region, although Tucson remained under a Mexican flag until the 1840s. Garrisons occupied the presidios at Tucson, Tubac, and Santa Cruz beginning in 1826, with their surrounding settlements precarious since the Apache hadn't conceded the frontier to Mexico.
Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, and the Mexican War (1846-48), provided the opportunity for the United States to get hold of the region north of the Gila River. The Gadsden Purchase in 1853 added the area south of the river. Both were an area of the New Mexico Territory until the Arizona Territory was separated from it in 1863.
Following the Mexican War in 1848, the boundary between the United States and Mexico stood at the Gila River. In 1854 America and Mexico concluded the Gadsden Purchase, and the boundaries of the state of Arizona and Mexico became permanent. In the recent past, much attention has been directed toward preserving, making accessible, and microfilming early Spanish and Mexican records. Manuscript collections of much of the material can be found at the state library and/or state archives at Phoenix, and the Arizona Historical Society holdings at Tucson.
Treks to the west for California's gold, primarily along Cooke's Wagon Route in the south, brought some settlement to the territory, principally along the Gila and Santa Cruz rivers. The Civil War produced only minor skirmishes, while the amount of conflict between the Apache and the freshly building mining, cattle ranching, and trading establishments heated up in the two decades adopting the war. Railroad lines between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and San Bernardino, California, included a stop at Flagstaff in the northern an area of the territory. As an area of the network of transportation from east to west, more and more people entered the territory.
The history of Arizona's frontier days has been oftenchronicled on television and in the movies, not always accurately. Tombstone, Cochise and Geronimo, the O.K. Corral, and the Earp brothers, among others, have left their indelible marks on many, providing a striking contrast to life today in Arizona's suburban developments.
In the late 1800s, by the time U.S. authorities got around to authenticating private land claims, fraud cases were relatively frequent. In 1960 these private land registers were transferred to the National Archives-Southwest Region. The Pima County Recorder's Office at Tucson should be researched for Gadsden Purchase land records, which also include mission claims. All modern-era land holdings are in the respective county recorder's offices.
A more populous settlement, and statehood, had to hang about until the twentieth century. Arizona became a state in 1912, after a long struggle for that status. The ethnic composition of its population reflects its history. Mexican, Native American (Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, Yuma, Cocopah, Mohave, Apache, Pima, and Maricopa among them), and those with frontier heritage all comprise a striking part of the political and economic life of the state, alongside the off late arrived health-seekers and retirees from other places of the United States.
In the recent years, attention has been directed toward preserving, making accessible, and microfilming early Spanish and Mexican records, along with those developed during the highly territorial and statehood periods.
Arizona has undergone great changes since the 19th century, when it was a rough-and-tumble mining and cattle territory. Although it still retains much of the character of the old West for tourists, it is a modern urban and industrial state, with large cities, highly mechanized farms, and rapidly expanding industries. Phoenix is the center of Arizona’s largest urban area and the state’s capital.
Imperial Spain and, later, independent Mexico once controlled this land, and there the Native American, Spanish, and Anglo-American cultures met and fused. Although most of the Native Americans now live on reservations and Mexico and Spain long ago relinquished control of the area, traces of Arizona’s past still remain. The Native American culture has been preserved on the reservations, and Mexican and Spanish influences may be seen in architectural styles and place-names.
For more information, see these references:
- The History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530–1888. San Francisco: History Publishing Co., 1889. By Bancroft, Hubert Howe.
- Spanish and Mexican Records of the American Southwest: A Bibliographical Guide to Archives and Manuscript Sources. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1975. By Beers, Henry Putney.
- Newspapers & Periodicals - The Newspapers & Periodicals Collection lets you discover a wealth of information about your ancestors from many historical newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals. These types of sources can often supplement public records and provide information that is not recorded anywhere else. Here, you can learn more about your ancestor's possible daily activities by placing them in the context of their time.
- Directories & Member Lists - Directories and member lists are typically compilations of information about people who belonged to various associations and groups or lived within city boundaries. They can be thought of as the predecessors to the modern-day phone book and usually list names, addresses, and sometimes the occupations of your ancestors.
- Stories, Memories & Histories - Stories and histories compiled by others researching a person or area can be an amazing source of information about your ancestors. Not only do they generally contain dates and places of vital events like birth, marriage, and death, but they often relate stories and memories that help you really get to know the character of your ancestors.
- Family Trees - Ancestry has thousands of family trees shared by other members. They can help you identify how ancestors are related and give you clues about birth, marriage, and death information. Family trees are an excellent resource for filling in gaps in your research or even to simply know where to begin.
- Pictures - One of the more exciting discoveries in doing family history research is finding a photograph of your ancestors or their residence. Finding historic postcard photos and drawings of towns and important events throughout history can also give you a visual look into your ancestors lives.
- Reference Materials & Finding Aids - Reference materials, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other how-to books, can be tremendously helpful in finding and interpreting historical documents. Many of these books can help you learn where to look for more information and how to use what you've already found to uncover more clues.
Native American - Arizona is home to a huge population of Native U.S citizens. These comprise of the Apache, Chemehuevis, Cocopah, Havasupai, Hualapai, Hopi, Kaibab-Paiute, Maricopa, Mojave, Navajo, Pascua Yaqui, Pima, Quechan, Southern Paiute, Tohono O'odham (Papago), and Yavapai. Many tribes belong to the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona: 2214 N. Central Ave., Ste. 100, Phoenix, AZ 85004 . The internet site has links to the varying tribes, historical sketches, current status, and contact info. They are not, still, a search facility.
Scores of records were generated through governmental agencies that had jurisdiction over these tribes. Still, records about Arizona Native American citizens can be found in agencies outside of the state. As an example, the Navajo are a over large tribe and the Navajo Country covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. As a consequence, Navajo-related records may well be found in agencies based in these three states. Continuing with the Navajo example, records are deposited at the National Archives regional branches in Denver, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.. The Navajo records are likewise scattered between the Western Navajo, Eastern Navajo, and Northern Navajo. Sometimes records will be found in more than one of these offices for the same family; thus, it is significant to consider them all. As there is so much crossover between the Arizona and New Mexico Navajos, some New Mexico records are likewise being listed like those for Shiprock, New Mexico. Other Navajo records will be located in the records of the Santa Fe Agency (1890-1935) and the Leupp Training School (1915-35), both at the NARA Denver; the Albuquerque School (1890-1960) at the NARA in Denver and Fort Worth; and the Pueblo Bonito (1909-26) at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
In addition to records under the auspices of the NARA, a huge collection of the National Archives Indian agency records is on microfilm at the FHL.
Arizona’s landscape is one of great diversity. Sun-swept mountains and valleys, lofty plateaus, narrow canyons, and awesome stretches of desert make it one of the most beautiful states in the nation. This scenic beauty, coupled with an ideal climate, has made Arizona very popular with tourists.
Arizona History by County
