Native American Tribes of Arizona

By Kristy McCaffrey

Few other states in the U.S. can match the indigenous history of Arizona. There are 22 tribes contained within its borders, including two of the largest tribal lands in America: the Navajo Nation, located in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico; and the Tohono O’odham Nation, along the U.S.-Mexico border southwest of Tucson. Nearly 28 percent of Arizona is tribal land.

Navajo Indian Boy

During pre-Columbian times, the indigenous people of the Southwest occupied every corner of what would later become Arizona. When European colonizers arrived beginning in the 17^th century, the result was massacres, epidemics, forced marches and brutal wars. Three centuries later, the Native Americans in Arizona have been able to remain in their homelands, although on much smaller ranges.

Hopi Indian Girl

The Hopis, Zunis, Havasupais, Hualapais and Southern Paiutes are on the Colorado Plateau in the north. The Yavapais and Apaches occupy Central Arizona. In the Sonoran Desert basins are the Tohono O’odhams, Pimas, Maricopas, Cocopahs, Quechans and Mojaves. While the Navajo Nation and the Kaibab-Paiute Tribe are in very remote areas of the state, others are located near the sprawling metropolises of Phoenix and Tucson, such as the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

Today, many Native Americans live outside their tribal lands due mostly to the lack of economic opportunities, although revenue from casinos has made a difference in many communities. Still, the median life expectancy of Native Americans in Arizona is 59 years old, with alcohol abuse and diabetes being the leading causes of early mortality.

Old and deep wounds still exist from the traumas of colonization and violence, as well as the brutal practice of shipping Indian children off to boarding schools in the early 1900s. But progress is being made. The Native Nations Institute, founded in 2001, is a partnership between the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Udall Foundation, a federal agency that fund Native American scholarships and research, to help tribes learn self-governance as well as aiding in their community development. The Yaqui Pride Project, founded in 2011, showcases traditional Yaqui culture, traditions and history via social media for tribal members along with the rest of the world. The project is also seeking to preserve the Yaqui language. Today, many of Arizona’s indigenous people and tribes are embracing new strategies to reshape their future.