Native Peoples of the Southwest

Native Peoples of the Southwest — page 1 — ARCTI C SS U B AA R C T I C N O R T H W E S T C O A S T C A L I F O R N I A P L A TTTT EE AA U G RRRRR EE AA T PP LL A I NN S T SS A E HHHHH S TTTTT T A N O RRRRRRRR SS OOOOOOO U TT EE H B AA SIN ST E W H T U O S SOUTHWEST REGION OF NORTH AMERICA CULTURAL REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA Plateau Northwest Coast California Plains Southeast Southwest Great Basin Northeast Subarctic Arctic Other Cultural area border International border State province border

Native Peoples of the Southwest — page 2 — INTRODUCTION T wo of Sky Father’s sons went down to the Fourth World where the people lived The Fourth World was dark and crowded The brothers wanted to lead them to the sunny Fifth World up above So the brothers built a ladder The people climbed up through the Third Second and First Worlds At last they reached the Fifth World where they have lived ever since Zuni ZOO-nee people use this story to explain how they came to live in the American Southwest It is just one of many ancient stories told by American Indians of this region These stories have probably been told since people started living in the region at least twenty thousand years ago Many Southwest Indians believe their ancestors always lived in North America Some scientists believe that people originally came from Asia at least twenty thousand years ago During the Ice Age nomadic hunters walked across a land bridge and gradually spread out across North America Many different groups settled in the Southwest region of what eventually became the United States These peoples made their homes in the mountains deserts plateaus and canyons of the region They developed ways of life based on the climate and landscape 5

Native Peoples of the Southwest — page 3 — PEOPLES OF THE SOUTHWEST The Southwest region is the original home of many American Indian nations This map shows the areas where some of them lived before Europeans arrived in the region Hopi Hopi Hualapai Hualapai Mojave Mojave Yavapai Yavapai H H a a v v a a s s u u p p a a Anasazi Anasazi Apache Apache Pueblo Pueblo Yuma Yuma Maricopa Maricopa i i Zuni Zuni Cocopah Cocopah Apache Apache T T o o h h Hohokam Hohokam Apache Apache o o n n o o O O o o d d h h a a Apache Apache Pima Pima Apache Apache CULTURAL AREAS Mogollon Mogollon m m Yaqui Yaqui California Plains Southeast Southwest Great Basin Other Cultural area border International border State province border Many Peoples The earliest people to settle the Southwest were the Anasazi ah-nuh-SAH-zee They lived in Chaco Canyon in present-day Mexico There they built cliff dwellings with enough rooms for four thousand people The settlement was the center of trade for ancient Southwest Indians until about 1000 CE About 400 miles 644 kilometers of dirt roads connected it to other villages in the region By 1300 the Anasazi moved from Chaco Canyon to other 6

Native Peoples of the Southwest — page 4 — parts of present-day New Mexico Other peoples settled farther west The Hohokam ho-ho-KUM lived in the southern part of present-day Arizona by the Gila and Salt Rivers The Mogollon moh-go-YONE lived farther south in the desert mountains of modern-day Arizona New Mexico and Mexico These ancient groups eventually vanished But their descendants spread throughout the Southwest Many Pueblo PWEB-lo peoples settled along the Rio Grande a river that runs through parts of present-day Texas New Mexico and Colorado The Zuni lived farther west in present-day New Mexico The Hopi HO-pee lived near the Grand Canyon in modern-day Arizona The Pima PEE-muh and Tohono O’odham toh-HO-no oh-OH-dum lived far south near present-day Mexico The This Anasazi construction in Chaco Canyon is named Kin Kletso or yellow house It has sixty-five rooms Archaeologists have dated it to around 1125 CE 7

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