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Pima Indian History
Pima. Signifying "no" in the
Nevome dialect and incorrectly applied through misunderstanding by the
early missionaries. Also called:
Â'-â'tam,
own name, signifying "people," or, to distinguish them from the
Papago, Â'-â'tam
â'kimûlt,
"river people."
Nashteíse, Apache name,
signifying "live in mud houses."
Paǐnyá,
probably name given by Havasupai.
Saikiné, Apache name, signifying
"living in sand (adobe) houses," also applied to Papago and
Maricopa.
Teχ-păs,
Maricopa name.
Tihokahana, Yavapai name.
Widshi ǐti'kapa, Tonto-Yuma
name. |
Connections. The Pima
gave their name to the Piman linguistic stock of Powell, which is now
recognized to be a subdivision of the great Uto-Aztecan stock, also
including the Nahuatlan and Shoshonean families. The tribes connected most
intimately with the Pima were the Papago (see above) and the Quahatika (q.
v.), and after them the so-called Pima Bajo or Nevome of Mexico.
Location. In the valleys
of the Gila and Salt Rivers.
Subdivisions. Formerly
the name Pima was applied to two tribes called respectively the Pima Bajo
and Pima Alto, but the former, living chiefly in Sonora, Mexico, are now
known as Nevome, the term Pima being restricted to the Pima Alto.
Villages
Agua Escondida, probably Pima or Papago, southwest of Tubac,
southwestern
Arizona.
Agua Fria, probably Pima, on Gila River Reservation.
Aquitun, 5 miles west of Picacho, on the border of the sink of the
Santa Cruz
River.
Aranca, two villages, location unknown.
Arenal, probably Pima, on the Pima and Maricopa Reservation, Gila
River.
Arivaca, west of Tubao.
Arroyo Grande, southern Arizona.
Bacuancos, 7 leagues south of the mission of Guevavi, northwestern
Sonora, Mexico.
Bisani, 8 leagues southwest of Caborica, Sonora, Mexico. Blackwater.
Bonostac, on the upper Santa Cruz River, below Tucson.
Busanic, southwest of Guevavi, near the Arizona-Sonora boundary,
latitude 31°10' N. longitude 111°10' W.
Cachanila, probably Pima, on the Pima and Maricopa Reservation,
Ariz. Casa Blanca, on the Gila.
Cerrito, probably Pima, on the Pima and Maricopa Reservation, Ariz.
Cerro Chiquito, probably Pima, on the Pima and Maricopa Reservation,
Ariz. Chemisez, on the Gila.
Chupatak, in southern Arizona.
Chutikwuchik.
Chuwutukawutuk, in southern Arizona.
Cocospera, on the headwaters of the Rfo San Ignacio, latitude 31°
N., Sonora, Mexico.
Comae, on the Gila River, 3 leagues (miles?) below the mouth of Salt
River, Ariz. Estancia, 4 leagues south of the mission of Saric,
which was just south of the Arizona boundary.
Gaibanipitea, probably Pima, on a hill on the west bank of the San
Pedro River, probably identical with the ruins known as Santa Cruz,
west of Tombstone, Ariz. Gutubur, locality unknown.
Harsanykuk, at Sacaton Flats, southern Arizona.
Hermho, on the north side of Salt River, 3 miles from Mesa, Maricopa
County, Ariz.
Hiatam, north of Maricopa Station on the Southern Pacific R. R.,
southern Arizona.
Hormiguero, probably Pima, on the Pima and Maricopa Reservation,
Ariz. Huchiltchik, below Santa Ana, on the north bank of the Gila.
Hueso Parado, with Maricopa, on the Pima and Maricopa Reservation,
Ariz. Imuris, near the eastern bank of Rfo San Ignacio, or
Magdalena, latitude 30°50' N. longitude 110°50' W., in the present
Sonora, Mexico.
Judac, on the Gila.
Kamatukwucha, at the Gila crossing.
Kamit, in southern Arizona.
Kawoltukwucha, west of the Maricopa and Phoenix R. R., in Maricopa
County, Ariz.
Kikimi, on the Gila River Reservation.
Kookupvansik, in southern Arizona.
Mange, on the Gila.
Merced, northeast of San Rafael, in what is now southern Arizona.
Nacameri, on the east bank of Rio Horcasitas, Sonora, Mexico.
Napeut, on the north bank of the Gila.
Ocuca, in Sonora, Mexico, near the Rio San Ignacio, northwest of
Santa Ana. Oquitoa, on the Rio del Altar, northwestern Sonora,
Mexico.
Ormejea, in southern Arizona.
Oskakumukchochikam, in southern Arizona.
Oskuk, on the Gila.
Peepchiltk, northeast of Casa Blanca, southern Arizona.
Pescadero, in northern Sonora, Mexico.
Petaikuk, in southern Arizona.
Pitao, on the Gila.
Baserac, and the frontier in Sonora, Mexico, but this was Opata
territory.
Remedios, a mission on the San Ignacio branch of the Rio Asunción,
in Sonora,
Mexico.
Rsanuk, about 1 mile east of Sacaton Station, on the Maricopa and
Phoenix R. R.,
southern Arizona.
Rsotuk, northwest of Casa Blanca, southern Arizona.
Sacaton, on the Gila, about 22 miles east of Maricopa Station and 16
miles north of Casa Grande Station on the Southern Pacific R. R:,
Ariz.
San Andres Coats, near the junction of the Gila and Salado Rivers,
Ariz. San Fernando, 9 leagues east of the ruins of Casa Grande, near
the Gila. San Francisco Ati, west of the Santa Cruz River, Ariz.,
San Francisco de Pima, 10 or 12 leagues above the Rio Asunci6n from
Pitic, about latitude 31° N., Sonora, Mexico.
San Serafin, northwest of San Xavier del Bac, southern Arizona.
Santan, on the north bank of the Gila, opposite the Pima Agency.
Santos Angeles, in Sonora, Mexico.
Saopuk, at The Cottonwoods, on the Gila River.
Sepori, south of the Gila River, Ariz.
Shakaik, on the north side of the Gila, northwest of Casa Blanca.
Statannvik, on the south bank of the Gila, between Vaaki (Casa
Blanca) and
Huchiltchik.
Stukamasoosatick, on the Gila River Reservation.
Sudacson, on the Gila River, Pinal County, Ariz., between Casa
Grande and a
point 10 leagues below.
Tatsituk, about Cruz's store in southern Arizona.
Taumaturgo.
Tubuscabors, on or near the Gila River, southern Arizona.
Tucson, probably with Papago and Sobaipuri, on the site of modern
Tucson. Tucubavia, on the headwaters of Rio Altar, northern Sonora,
Mexico.
Tutuetac, about 16 miles northwest of Tucson and west of the Santa
Cruz River,
in southern Arizona.
Uturituc, on the Gila and probably on the site of the present
Sacaton.
Wechurt, at North Blackwater, southern Arizona. |
History. According to
native tradition, the Pima originated in the Salt River Valley and spread
later to the Gila River. They attribute the large adobe ruins in their
country, including the Casa Grande, to their ancestors, and tell stories
of their occupancy of them, but the connection is still in doubt. The
Nevome and Opata of the Altar, Magdalena, and Sonora Rivers are said to
have sprung from Pima colonies. They claim that their old manner of life
was ended by three bands of foreigners from the east, who destroyed their
pueblos, devastated their fields, and killed or enslaved many of their
people. The rest fled to the mountains, and when they returned they did
not rebuild the substantial adobe structures which they had formerly
occupied, but lived in dome-shaped lodges of pliable poles covered with
thatch and mud. Russell (1908) considers it unlikely that Coronado
encountered the Pima, but in 1694 Father Eusebio Francisco Kino reached
the Casa Grande and undoubtedly met them. Under his inspiration, an
expedition was sent to the Gila in 1697 to ascertain the disposition of
the tribe. In 1698 he again visited them and between that date and 1702
entered their country four times more. In 1731 Fathers Felipe Segresser
and Juan Bautista Grashoffer took charge of the missions of San Xavier del
Bac and San Miguel de Guevavi and became the first permanent Spanish
residents of Arizona. Padre Ignacio Javier Keller visited the Pima
villages in 1736–37 and in 1743, and Sedelmayr reached the Gila in 1750.
The first military force to be stationed among the Pima was a garrison of
50 men at Tubac on the Santa Cruz. The presidio was moved to Tucson about
1776 and in 1780 it was in-creased to hold 75 men. Between 1768 and 1776
Father Francisco Garc4s made five trips from Xavier del Bac to the Pimas
and beyond. In 1851 parties of the Boundary Survey Commission passed down
the Gila River, and J. R. Bartlett, the American Commissioner, has left an
excellent description of the Pima Indians (Bartlett, 1854). After the
California gold rush began, the Pima frequently assisted parties of
explorers and travelers who were making the southern route, and they often
protected them from the Apache. In 1853 the Gadsden Purchase transferred
the Pima to the jurisdiction of the United States. Surveys for a railroad
through Pima territory were made in 1854 and 1855, but it was not
constructed until 1879. In the meantime the Pima were subjected to contact
with White outlaws and border ruffians of the worst description, and White
settlers threatened to absorb their supplies of water. In 1857 the first
United States Indian Agent for the territory acquired by the Gadsden
Purchase was appointed. In 1871 the first school among them was opened.
Population. Mooney (1928)
estimates that there were 4,000 Pima in 1680. In 1775 Garces placed the
number of those on the Gila River at 2,500. In 1906 there were 3,936 in
all; in 1910, according to the United States Census, 4,236; and in 1923,
according to the Report of the United States Indian Office, 5,592. The
1930 census returned 4,382. The Indian Office reported 5,170 in 1937.
Connections in which they
have become noted. Pima County, Ariz., and a post town in Graham
County, Ariz., preserve the name of the Pima, which has also been made
familiar to ethnographers and geographers by the use to which it has been
put in the Powell classification to cover a supposed linguistic stock.
There is little doubt, however, that this supposed stock is merely a part
of a much larger stock, the
Uto-Aztecan.
Indian Genealogy
Additional Arizona Indian Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, John R. Swanton, 1953
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect
some errors in the textual output.
This site includes some historical materials that may imply negative
stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place.
These items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be
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