Oasisamerica is a cultural region of Indigenous peoples in North America. Their precontact cultures were predominantly agrarian, in contrast with neighboring tribes to the south in Aridoamerica. The region spans parts of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States and can include most of Arizona and New Mexico; southern parts of Utah and Colorado; and northern parts of Sonora and Chihuahua. During some historical periods, it might have included parts of California and Texas as well.
A pebble of turquoise
Ceramic bowl from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico which belonged to the Pueblo III phase
Archaeological site at Chaco Canyon, one of the principal sites of Ancestral Pueblo culture
A Hopi woman dressing the hair of an unmarried girl.
Aridoamerica denotes an ecological region spanning Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States, defined by the presence of the culturally significant staple foodstuff Phaseolus acutifolius, a drought-resistant bean. Its dry, arid climate and geography stand in contrast to the verdant Mesoamerica of present-day central Mexico into Central America to the south and east, and the higher, milder "island" of Oasisamerica to the north. Aridoamerica overlaps with both.
Aridoamerica
The Chihuahuan desert terrain mainly consists of basins broken by numerous small mountain ranges.
Saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert.
Roadrunner