Humans lived in the Arizona area 20,000 years ago. Traces of early agricultural civilizations are found throughout the state. High, almost inaccessible cliff dwellings still stand in silent evidence of another prehistoric race. Even the vast irrigation system surrounding Arizona capital city, Phoenix, follows a ancient patterns of canals used to irrigate the Hohokam farmlands with water from the Gila and Salt Rivers.
From tree rings studied, we know that from 1276 to 1299 A.D. there was a great drought which ended the prehistoric civilization. When Columbus discovered America, Arizona was inhabited by ancestors of present day Indians. The written history of Arizona began when the Spaniards sent exploration parties northward from Mexico. The first was a Franciscan priest named Marcos de Niza, who entered the territory in 1539.
Other Spanish missionaries followed and established missions to bring Christianity to the Indians. Tumacacori Mission, north of Nogales, was founded by Padre Kino at the center of an Indian settlement. This mission is now a National Monument. Padre Kino also laid the foundations for San Xavier del Bac Mission on the outskirts of today's Tucson, still used for regular services by the Tohono O'Odham Indians who live nearby.
After Kino's death, Spanish development of this area came to a halt. In 1821 Mexico declared its independence from Spain and eventually went to war with the United States. This war ended in 1848, and the land north of the Gila River became United States territory. In 1853 the rest of the area was acquired by the Gadsen Purchase. Then the great westward movement of our early pioneers began, and Arizona entered the phase of its history which has provided so much story material for books and movies.
Men came West to seek their fortunes - adventurers, prospectors, farmers, businessmen, builders. To protect them against the Indians who fought fiercely to keep back this change in their land, the army also came and built its forts. Only the most brave and hardy pioneers came until the last of the Indian uprisings were finished and final peace won in 1886. Development of the state then surged forward.
Back in the ages of its creation, there had been formed in Arizona land great deposits of gold, silver, copper and other minerals which were now uncovered by the prospectors. Lusty new towns sprang up near the mines.
Great fortunes were made and lost, sometimes in a single 24 hours. While prospectors were "striking it rich," other pioneers saw their fortunes of the future in another aspect of Arizona land aspect of Arizona land. Farmers cultivated crops along rivers and streams as had the Indians before them. Others brought in cattle to roam the range land. Still others saw Arizonans an ideal place to raise sheep.
Law and order were slow to catch up with the sudden growth of the frontier. Bitter gun battles broke out between the cattlemen and sheepmen, each wanting the grazing land and water rights.
With the leadership of the pioneers themselves, United States Marshals finally made a peaceful territory of Arizona, where crops, cattle and sheep, as well as mining, all became important in building the future of the state.
In 1912, its lawless, boisterous frontier days behind it, Arizona became the 48th state to join the Union and its modern advance began.
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