National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, object, site, or structure, recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places, only some 2,500 are recognized as National Historic Landmarks. A National Historic Landmark District may include contributing properties that are buildings, sites or objects, it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not be separately listed. Prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of the United States Congress. In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act, which authorized the Interior Secretary authority to formally record and organize historic properties, to designate properties as having "national historical significance", gave the National Park Service authority to administer significant federally owned properties. Over the following decades, surveys such as the Historic American Buildings Survey amassed information about culturally and architecturally significant properties in a program known as the Historic Sites Survey.
Most of the designations made under this legislation became National Historic Sites, although the first designation, made December 20, 1935, was for a National Memorial, the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri; the first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape; when the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9, 1960, 92 properties were announced as designated NHLs by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton; the first of these was a political nomination: the Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa was designated on June 30 of that year, but for various reasons, the public announcement of the first several NHLs was delayed.
NHLs are designated by the United States Secretary of the Interior because they are: Sites where events of national historical significance occurred. More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are the District of Columbia. Three states account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. In fact, New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia; some NHLs are in U. S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, other U. S. territories. S.-associated states such as Micronesia. Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. About half of the National Historic Landmarks are owned; the National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which assists in maintaining the landmarks.
A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve and promote National Historic Landmarks. If not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation. About three percent of Register listings are NHLs. American Water Landmark List of U. S. National Historic Landmarks by state List of churches that are National Historic Landmarks in the United States Listed building, a similar designation in the UK National Historic Sites and Persons, similar designations in Canada National Natural Landmark United States Memorials United States National Register of Historic Places listings Official National Historic Landmarks Program website A History of the NHL Program List of National Historic Landmarks National Historic Landmarks: Archaeological Properties Historical Landmarks - United States Lighthouses
Coolidge, Arizona
Coolidge is a city in Pinal County, United States. According to the 2010 census, the city's population is 11,825. Coolidge is home of the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument; the monument was the first historic site to receive protected status by the United States Government in 1892. Coolidge is home to Central Arizona College. Coolidge was founded in 1925 and incorporated as a city in 1945, it is named for the 30th President of the United States. The town was home to a station for Amtrak. Coolidge is located at 32°58′38″N 111°31′23″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.0 square miles, all of it land. Arizona Highway 87 and Arizona Highway 287 pass through the town. Coolidge is 56 miles southeast of Phoenix, 69 miles northwest of Tucson, it is 21 miles northeast of Casa Grande and 11 miles southwest of Florence. Picacho Reservoir is just 11 miles south of town; as of the census of 2000, there were 7,786 people, 2,585 households, 1,938 families residing in the city.
The population density was 1,549.1 people per square mile. There were 3,212 housing units at an average density of 639.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 57.85% White, 8.30% Black or African American, 5.63% Native American, 0.72% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 23.58% from other races, 3.88% from two or more races. 39.20% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 2,585 households out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 19.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 25.0% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.44. In the city, the population was spread out with 32.9% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years.
For every 100 females, there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $29,049, the median income for a family was $33,536. Males had a median income of $29,159 versus $21,472 for females; the per capita income for the city was $13,663. About 20.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.9% of those under age 18 and 20.5% of those age 65 or over. In 2010 Coolidge had a population of 11,825; the racial and ethnic composition of the population was 43.6% non-Hispanic white, 7.3% non-Hispanic black, 0.5% Hispanic blacks, 3.8% non-Hispanic Native American, 1.9% Hispanic or Latino Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% non-Hispanic from some other race, 5.0% from two or more races and 42.0% Hispanic or Latino. The Coolidge Public Library offers many resources to the community, including public access computers, new materials, an extensive DVD catalog, as well as frequent author signings from bestselling authors.
Duane Eddy, Rock & Roll guitarist and record producer, Coolidge High School graduate Waylon Jennings – singer, Country Music Hall of Fame Sammi Smith, Country music recording artist and songwriter Coolidge Municipal Airport Coolidge Dam Official website Casa Grande Ruins National Monument @ the National Park Service Casa Grande Ruins @ OnlineHighways.com
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, in Coolidge, just northeast of the city of Casa Grande, preserves a group of Ancient Pueblo Peoples Hohokam structures of the Pueblo III and Pueblo IV Eras. The national monument consists of the ruins of multiple structures surrounded by a compound wall constructed by the ancient people of the Hohokam period, who farmed the Gila Valley in the early 13th century. "Archeologists have discovered evidence that the ancient Sonoran Desert people who built the Casa Grande developed wide-scale irrigation farming and extensive trade connections which lasted over a thousand years until about 1450 C. E.""Casa Grande" is Spanish for "big house". The structure is made of caliche, has managed to survive the extreme weather conditions for about seven centuries; the large house consists of outer rooms surrounding an inner structure. The outer rooms are all three stories high; the structures were constructed using traditional adobe processes. The wet adobe adds significant strength.
Noticeable horizontal cracks define the breaks between courses on the thick outer walls. The process consisted of using damp adobe to form the walls and waiting for it to dry, building it up with more adobe. Casa Grande contained a ball court much like. Father Eusebio Kino was the first European to view the Hohokam complex in November 1694 and named it Casa Grande. Graffiti from 19th-century passers-by is scratched into its walls. Casa Grande now has a distinctive modern roof covering built in 1932. In 1891, the monument underwent repairs supervised by Cosmos Mindeleff of the Bureau of American Ethnology, until funds ran out. Proclaimed Casa Grande Reservation by Executive Order 28-A of President Benjamin Harrison on June 22, 1892, Casa Grande Ruins became the first prehistoric and cultural reserve in the US, it was re-designated a national monument by President Woodrow Wilson on August 3, 1918. As with all historical areas administered by the National Park Service, Casa Grande was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
Between 1937 and 1940 the Civilian Conservation Corps built several adobe buildings to serve as housing and administrative offices for the national monument. The adobe buildings, constructed using traditional methods, continue in use today and are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places; because of careful conservation, the physical appearance of Casa Grande Ruins has hardly changed since the 1940s. In 1932, a ramada to shelter the ruins from weathering was built by Boston architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. In the early 21st century, a pair of great horned owls took up residence in the rafters of the Olmsted shelter; the current protective structure covering the "Great House" replaced a wooden similar structure built to protect it in 1903. Due to the fragile nature of the "Great House," visitors to the site are not permitted inside. To protect its integrity, observation by visitors is only permitted outside the structure. Hohokam Pima National Monument Mesa Grande Oasisamerica cultures Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites Noble, David Grant.
Ancient Ruins of the Southwest'. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Publishing. ISBN 0-87358-530-5. "The National Parks: Index 2009–2011". National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2011-06-29. National Park Service: official Casa Grande Ruins National Monument website Historic American Buildings Survey No. AZ-14, "Casa Grande, Pinal County, AZ", 2 photos, 4 data pages Casa Grande Ruin, by Cosmos Mindeleff at Project Gutenberg The Repair Of Casa Grande Ruin, Arizona, in 1891, by Cosmos Mindeleff at Project Gutenberg "Casa Grande Ruins National Monument". Discover Our Shared Heritage: American Southwest. National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-06-29
Arizona State Museum
The Arizona State Museum, founded in 1893, was a repository for the collection and protection of archaeological resources. Today, however, ASM stores artifacts, exhibits them and provides education and research opportunities, it was formed by authority of the Arizona Territorial Legislature. The museum is operated by the University of Arizona, is located on the university campus in Tucson. Native peoples have existed in the North American continent for more than ten millennia. ASM investigates habitations, lifeways and communication in which these peoples in the Southwest engaged. Museum staff investigate archaeological sites of past occupiers of North America to discover how people lived, what they ate, what they wore and how they created their art; these people lived day-to-day, created homesites and villages that, in many cases, have crumbled or been destroyed by natural forces. An early and significant director of the museum, Emil W. Haury, conducted numerous archaeological excavations in the Southwest and taught students and others about his methods and discoveries.
ASM holds artifacts created by cultures from the past as well as those presently active. The types of artifacts include pottery, baskets and clothing. Archaeological objects were unearthed during excavations by museum staff and others. Ethnological items have been donated by Native American tribes, acquired from individuals, as well as purchased by ASM. Furthermore, the Arizona State Museum possesses a vast photographic collection, containing more than 350,000 prints and transparencies illustrating the prehistory and ethnology of the American Southwest and northern Mexico.. This number of photographic materials does not include the growing digital collection that the museum continues to develop. Noteworthy photographers in this collection includes Forman Hanna, Emil Haury, Helga Teiwes, Greenville Goodwin. ASM continuously exhibits some of the objects; these may be, for example, an exhibit of pottery made and in the past, masks made by Mexican artisans, textiles woven by Native American masters, many more.
ASM offers a full calendar such as the Southwest Indian Art Fair, held annually. Other events include family-oriented activities, lectures on subjects related to ASM’s activities, many more categories. Students of archaeology, art and other areas of investigation work with ASM personnel to become better acquainted with materials and objects from ASM’s collections; some students participate in archaeological excavations conducted by the museum. The Office of Ethnohistorical Research conducts research on the peoples of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, offering access to Spanish and Mexican documents and scholarly publications, it provides a number of resources for those wishing to conduct research on the area. The OER Library holds over 8,000 sources of information, including secondary works, reference materials, indexes to major archival collections, maps and guides to paleography and translation. Additionally, OER maintains the Documentary Relations of the Southwest, an online index of over 17,000 documents generated during the Spanish colonial period.
The documents cover a broad range of civil, religious and ecological issues that examine the relationships between Native Americans, Spanish colonists, Catholic missionaries, the Spanish colonial administration. AZSite maintains and updates a database of cultural sites and surveys that may be accessed by those involved in related activities; this allows investigators to locate information without having to physically visit separated and little-known sites. There are hundreds of these sites in Arizona; the Arizona State Museum’s Library is a reference library containing 70,000 volumes. Those interested in reading and/or studying the monographs, reports of excavations and dissertations may visit it; the library has an extensive collection of periodic journals and magazines dealing with archaeology and museums. Each type of artifact held by ASM must be contained in an area, protected from the damaging effects of humidity and insects. ASM is home to the world’s largest collection of Southwest Indian pottery housed in a state-of-the-art vault so as to protect its 20,000 vessels from the damage suffered in the past.
Arizona State Museum administers the Arizona Antiquities Act and state laws concerning the discovery of human remains. In fulfillment of these responsibilities, ASM issues permits for archaeological work on state lands, negotiates the disposition of archaeological human remains, maintains an archaeological site file, provides repository services for the curation of archaeological collections,The museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. ASM has ongoing communications with tribal members across the Southwest; this involves staff visits to tribal communities, visits to ASM by tribal members to evaluate objects, cooperation with ASM staff during excavations. ASM administers federal law dealing with return of human remains, sacred objects, funerary objects and objects of cultural patrimony. Revitalization of downtown Tucson has resulted in an extensive plan to recreate certain of the structures which were, at one time, a prominent part of the life of peoples living around the area.
In addition, ASM and several major institutions will be part of the newly constructed area known as "Rio Nuevo". The museum has had seven directors since its founding: Byron Cummings Emil W. Haury Raymond H. Thompson George J. Gumerman (
Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, considered one of the Wonders of the World; the park, which covers 1,217,262 acres of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than six million recreational visitors in 2017, the second highest count of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. "Grand Canyon" was designated a national park on February 26, 1919, though the landmark had been well known to Americans for over thirty years prior. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site and said: "The Grand Canyon fills me with awe, it is beyond comparison—beyond description. Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur and loveliness. You cannot improve on it, but what you can do is to keep it for your children, your children's children, all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see."Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not designated as a national park.
The first bill to establish Grand Canyon National Park was introduced in 1882 by then-Senator Benjamin Harrison, which would have established Grand Canyon as the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Mackinac. Harrison unsuccessfully reintroduced his bill in 1883 and 1886. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation on 28 November 1906, the Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908. Further Senate bills to establish the site as a national park were introduced and defeated in 1910 and 1911, before the Grand Canyon National Park Act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919; the National Park Service, established in 1916, assumed administration of the park. The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement, its national park status may have helped thwart proposals to dam the Colorado River within its boundaries. In 1975, the former Marble Canyon National Monument, which followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lee's Ferry, was made part of Grand Canyon National Park.
In 1979, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site. The 1987 the National Parks Overflights Act found that "Noise associated with aircraft overflights at the Grand Canyon National Park is causing a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park and current aircraft operations at the Grand Canyon National Park have raised serious concerns regarding public safety, including concerns regarding the safety of park users." In 2010, Grand Canyon National Park was honored with its own coin under the America the Beautiful Quarters program. The Grand Canyon, including its extensive system of tributary canyons, is valued for its combination of size and exposed layers of colorful rocks dating back to Precambrian times; the canyon itself was created by the incision of the Colorado River and its tributaries after the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, causing the Colorado River system to develop along its present path. The primary public areas of the park are the South and North Rims, adjacent areas of the canyon itself.
The rest of the park is rugged and remote, although many places are accessible by pack trail and backcountry roads. The South Rim is more accessible than the North Rim, accounts for 90% of park visitation; the park headquarters are at Grand Canyon Village, not far from the south entrance to the park, near one of the most popular viewpoints. Most visitors to the park come to the South Rim, arriving on Arizona State Route 64; the highway enters the park through the South Entrance, near Tusayan and heads eastward, leaving the park through the East Entrance. Interstate 40 provides access to the area from the south. From the north, U. S. Route 89 connects Utah and the North Rim to the South Rim. Overall, some 30 miles of the South Rim are accessible by road; the North Rim area of the park located on the Kaibab Plateau and Walhalla Plateau, directly across the Grand Canyon from the principal visitor areas on the South Rim. The North Rim's principal visitor areas are centered around Bright Angel Point.
The North Rim is higher in elevation than the South Rim, at over 8,000 feet of elevation. Because it is so much higher than the South Rim, it is closed from December 1 through May 15 each year, due to the enhanced snowfall at elevation. Visitor services are closed or limited in scope after October 15. Driving time from the South Rim to the North Rim is about 4.5 hours, over 220 miles. Grand Canyon Village is the primary visitor services area in the park, it is a full-service community, including lodging, food, souvenirs, a hospital and access to trails and guided walks and talks. Several lodging facilities are available along the South Rim. Hotels and other lodging include: El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Kachina Lodge, Thunderbird Lodge, Maswik Lodge, all of which are located in the village area, Phantom Ranch, located on the canyon floor. There is an RV Park named Trailer Village. All of these facilities are managed by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, while the Yavapai Lodge is managed by Delaware North.
On the North Rim there is the historic Grand Canyon Lodge managed by Forever Resorts and a campgroun
Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites
Pueblo Grande Ruin and Irrigation Sites are pre-Columbian archaeological sites and ruins, located in Phoenix, Arizona. They include irrigation canals; the City of Phoenix manages these resources as the Pueblo Grande Museum Archaeological Park. Long before Euroamericans moved into the area, now Phoenix, it was home to a thriving civilization called Huhugam by the culturally affiliated O’odham and the Hohokam by archaeologists; these Ancestral Native Americans created the archaeological structures preserved at Pueblo Grande. Pueblo Grande features a large platform mound with retaining walls; this massive structure contains over 20,000 cubic meters of fill. There were many dwellings, at least three ball courts; the Hohokam archaeological culture developed some of the largest and most advanced canal systems in all of pre-Columbian North America. They were the first people to practice irrigated agriculture in the region; the remnants of their irrigation canals are part of the archaeological site at Pueblo Grande.
Pueblo Grande was occupied from A. D. 450 to 1450, at which time it was abandoned like many other villages throughout the Phoenix basin. The reasons why these ancestral Native Americans left their villages and irrigation systems are debated among archaeologists. There are many competing hypotheses that include floods, droughts and disease. Canals were built and abandoned by the Hohokam for a thousand years; the site of Pueblo Grande is situated at the headgates of multiple large canals on the north side of the Salt River. A combination of a bend in the river and a bedrock outcropping served to push river water to the surface and made this an ideal place to divert water into the canals where it was carried for long distances; the longest Hohokam canal originated near Pueblo Grande and carried water for over 16 miles into the area of modern-day Glendale. This gave Pueblo Grande a prominent role among the many Hohokam villages on the north side of the Salt River; the remains of these canals are preserved at Pueblo Grande in an area called the Park of Four Waters.
Other platform mound villages like Pueblo Grande were built at strategic locations along the Salt River, may have been involved in controlling the flow of water to outlying villages. Complex cultural organization would have been needed to maintain all the canal systems; the site of Pueblo Grande may have had as many as 2 ball courts. These were publicly accessible sites used for ceremonial purposes ritual ball games, periodic markets. Ball games may have drawn large crowds to participate in market activities, facilitating regional trade. There may be cultural links between Hohokam archaeological culture ballcourts and Mesoamerican ballcourts, there are significant architectural between their design; some time after AD 1100, the Hohokam archaeological tradition discontinued use of their ballcourts. Many of the ballcourts were filled in with trash and platform mounds, such as the one at Pueblo Grande became more prominent at Hohokam sites; the platform mound at Pueblo Grande began as two low circular mounds around A.
D. 800. These were expanded over time with stone-walled cells that were filled with trash and capped with caliche plaster to create a platform upon which structures were built; the platform mound was surrounded by a 6 to 7-foot high compound wall, which would have limited access to the mound. Some archaeologists have suggested; the platform mound at Pueblo Grande is one of the largest mound structures built by the Hohokam. A possible astronomical observatory was built on top of the Pueblo Grande platform mound. One room had doors that may have, at the winter and summer solstice, aligned with Hole-in-the-rock, a natural feature in the Papago Buttes to the northeast. Archival records indicate that there was once a “big house” at Pueblo Grande, similar to the one at Casa Grande National Monument; the platform mound and 5 acres of surrounding land were donated to the City of Phoenix in 1924 by Thomas Armstrong. Soon after, Phoenix purchased an additional 10 acres south of the platform mound, named “Park of Four Waters,”.
In 1929 Odd S. Halseth was hired as both the director of Pueblo Grande and as Phoenix's City Archaeologist – the first City Archaeologist in the United States. Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park continued to expand and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964, it consists of two parts, that were on adjacent properties, both associated with the same history. They were listed separately in the National Register of Historic Places as Pueblo Grande Ruin and Hohokam-Pima Irrigation Sites on the October 15, 1966 date when all National Historic Landmark sites were administratively listed. In addition to containing exhibit galleries, the museum now functions as a repository for archaeological collections from the City of Phoenix. Hohokam — other sites: Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Hohokam Pima National Monument Mesa Grande Snaketown Indian Mesa List of historic properties in Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix Historic Property Register Andrews, John P. and Todd W. Bostwick. 2000. Desert Farmers at the River’s Edge: The Hohokam and Pueblo Grande.
Pueblo Grande Museum, City of Phoenix. Fish, Suzanne K. and Paul R. Fish, eds. 2008. The Hohokam Millennium. School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe. New Mexico. George J. Gumerman, ed.1991. Exploring the Hohokam, Prehistoric Desert Peoples of the American Southwest. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Haury, Emil W. 1976. The Hohokam: Desert Farmers and Craftsmen – Excavations at Snaketown, 1964-65. University of Arizona Press. Abbott, David ed
Arizona
Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is part of the Western and the Mountain states, it is the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona shares the Four Corners region with Utah and New Mexico. Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912, coinciding with Valentine's Day. Part of the territory of Alta California in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848; the southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase. Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with hot summers and mild winters. Northern Arizona features forests of pine, Douglas fir, spruce trees. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff and Tucson. In addition to the Grand Canyon National Park, there are several national forests, national parks, national monuments.
About one-quarter of the state is made up of Indian reservations that serve as the home of 27 federally recognized Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the largest in the state and the United States, with more than 300,000 citizens. Although federal law gave all Native Americans the right to vote in 1924, Arizona excluded those living on reservations in the state from voting until the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of Native American plaintiffs in Trujillo v. Garley; the state's name appears to originate from an earlier Spanish name, derived from the O'odham name alĭ ṣonak, meaning "small spring", which applied only to an area near the silver mining camp of Planchas de Plata, Sonora. To the European settlers, their pronunciation sounded like "Arissona"; the area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the O'odham language. Another possible origin is the Basque phrase haritz ona, as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area. A native Mexican of Basque heritage established the ranchería of Arizona between 1734 and 1736 in the current Mexican state of Sonora, which became notable after a significant discovery of silver there, c.
1737. There is a misconception. For thousands of years before the modern era, Arizona was home to numerous Native American tribes. Hohokam and Ancestral Puebloan cultures were among the many that flourished throughout the state. Many of their pueblos, cliffside dwellings, rock paintings and other prehistoric treasures have survived, attracting thousands of tourists each year; the first European contact by native peoples was with Marcos de Niza, a Spanish Franciscan, in 1539. He explored parts of the present state and made contact with native inhabitants the Sobaipuri; the expedition of Spanish explorer Coronado entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola. Few Spanish settlers migrated to Arizona. One of the first settlers in Arizona was José Romo de Vivar. Father Kino was the next European in the region. A member of the Society of Jesus, he led the development of a chain of missions in the region, he converted many of the Indians to Christianity in the Pimería Alta in the 1690s and early 18th century.
Spain founded presidios at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775. When Mexico achieved its independence from the Kingdom of Spain and its Spanish Empire in 1821, what is now Arizona became part of its Territory of Nueva California known as Alta California. Descendants of ethnic Spanish and mestizo settlers from the colonial years still lived in the area at the time of the arrival of European-American migrants from the United States. During the Mexican–American War, the U. S. Army occupied the national capital of Mexico City and pursued its claim to much of northern Mexico, including what became Arizona Territory in 1863 and the State of Arizona in 1912; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo specified that, in addition to language and cultural rights of the existing inhabitants of former Mexican citizens being considered as inviolable, the sum of US$15 million dollars in compensation be paid to the Republic of Mexico. In 1853, the U. S. acquired the land south below the Gila River from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase along the southern border area as encompassing the best future southern route for a transcontinental railway.
What is now known as the state of Arizona was administered by the United States government as part of the Territory of New Mexico until the southern part of that region seceded from the Union to form the Territory of Arizona. This newly established territory was formally organized by the Confederate States government on Saturday, January 18, 1862, when President Jefferson Davis approved and signed An Act to Organize the Territory of Arizona, marking the first official use of the name "Territory of Arizona"; the Southern territory supplied the Confederate government with men and equipment. Formed in 1862, Arizona scout companies served with the Confederate States Army duri
