TECH NEWSS

The Land

The Grand Canyon State or Copper State, Arizona takes its name from the Indian word Arizonac, meaning "little spring" or "young spring"

Located in the Southwest, Arizona is bordered by Utah (north), Colorado (northeast), New Mexico (east), California & Nevada (west, across the Colorado River)




At 114,007 square miles, Arizona is the 6th biggest state. The highest elevation is Humphreys Peak in Coconino County at 12,633 feet. The lowest elevation is the Colorado River in Yuma County at 70 feet.

Arizona’s clean, clear, dry air and warm weather attracts older people looking for a retirement home as well as people with respiratory health problems. The state’s population has tripled in the last thirty years. Today, one out of three Arizonans live in booming Phoenix and Tucson.

The highest temperature recorded was 128° while the Lowest was -40°

National Parks & Monuments include Canyon de Chelly, Casa Grande Ruins, Chiricahua, Hohokam Pima, Montezuma Castle, Navajo, Organ Pipe, Petrified Forest, Pipe Spring, Rainbow, Saguaro/Sunset Crater, Tonto, Tuzigoot, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest.

The History

Arizona was the scene of some of the last and fiercest fighting of the Indian wars. Born near the headwaters of Arizona’s Gila River in the mid 1820s, Goyathlay ('One Who Yawns') was a peaceful man who was transformed into a warrior when his family was massacred by Mexicans. During a charge against his enemies, frightened Mexicans began to scream 'Geronimo!' the name of their patron saint (Jerome, in English). Goyathlay’s men began calling him Geronimo.

Cochise also developed a hatred of Americans after they killed members of his family. Cochise, Geronimo, and Mangas Coloradas became three of the most famous Indian warriors.

While the Civil War was beginning far away to the east, they were attacking travelers and soldiers and raiding stagecoaches, ranches, and small settlements in the Southwest and Mexico. After an unsuccessful attack on an army column (the Battle of Apache Pass, July 15, 1862), they relied on small raiding parties and guerilla warfare.

Pursued by thousands of U.S. and Mexican soldiers, Cochise finally surrendered in 1872, Geronimo in 1886. The great Indian wars had finally ended.

Today, Arizona is home to one of the largest Indian populations in the U.S., with twenty reservations hosting more than fourteen tribes, including Navaho, Mohave, Apache, Hopi, Paiute, Papago, Pima, Maricopa, Yavapa, Hualapai, and Havasupai.

1st Europeans: Cabeza de Vaca was probably the first Spanish explorer to enter Arizona, about 1536. A Spanish Franciscan friar named Marcos de Niza entered the region in 1539. He was followed by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540, whose search for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold took him as far as the Grand Canyon.

The region was ruled by Spain until Mexico won its independence in 1821. Mexico then ruled it until 1848 (see below).

Acquired by U.S.: The territory north of the Gila River (including much of present New Mexico) was ceded to the U.S. in 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War. It became part of the Territory of New Mexico in 1850. Later, the U.S. wanted to build a railroad through the area south of the Gila River and purchased the area between the river and the southern boundary of Arizona from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. Arizona was made a separate territory in 1863, and more lands were acquired through the Gadsden Purchase in 1853.

Arizona was organized as a territory on February 4, 1864. This region was sometimes called Arizona before 1863, although it was still in the Territory of New Mexico.

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.

The People

The Hohokam were pit dwellers who constructed extensive irrigation systems A.D. 500-1450. Canyon de Chelly is among the most famous of ancient Southwest cliff dwellings. Many of these elaborate structures were built by the Pubelo, who flourished in Arizona between the 11th and 14th centuries. The Apache and Navaho arrived from Canada about 1300.

When the first Europeans arrived, the major tribes were the Apache (southeast Arizona), Papago (southwest Arizona), Mojave and Jualapai (Colorado River River in northern Arizona and California), and Navajo (mesa country of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado).

Spanish and Native American names are prominent.

The 2000 census put Arizona's population at 5,130,632. The State Capital is Phoenix, other major cities or towns include Tucson, Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler, Peoria, Gilbert, Yuma.