Southwest Chronology

SOUTHWEST CHRONOLOGY    Selected Dates by Fred Allebach   1/97

60 mya- first primates

20 mya- Colorado river begins to develop

5.5 mya- Australopithecus

3 mya- proto-wolf

1.6 mya- Homo erectus

250,000 BP- Archaic Homo sapiens

175,000 BP- anatomically modern Homo sapiens

15,000 BP- Homo sapiens cross Beringia to colonize North America

15,000 BP- domestication dogs appear in archaeological record

13,000 BP- dawn of agriculture in SE Asia, evidence of cultivated rice

11,000 BP- yearly rain est. at 40" per year in Tucson area,  climate becomes progressively drier

9000 BP- Younger/Dryess event: ice dam breaks sending massive amounts of fresh water into Atlantic, made world weather patterns colder for a few hundred years

9000- 7500 BP- evidence of domestic plants in  Meso- America

8000 BP- AZ and SW were humid, valleys had permanent streams and hardwood forests

7500 BP- earliest domesticated beans in S. America

7000 BP- early corn hybrids in Meso-America,  (5000 BC) Anasazi begin to occupy greater part of Colorado Plateau for 1600 years

5000 BP- fully domesticated corn in Meso-America

5000 -3500 BP- Earliest domesticated corn in SW

2000 BP- Hohokam culture comes into SW region from Mexico, first settle in area of Gila and Salt rivers and spread from there, permanent villages, pottery, agriculture: corn, beans, squash, cotton, tobacco, corn introduced to people around Ventana Cave

1100 BP- Hohokam occupy Gila, Salt River drainage systems, in Salt River area alone constructed more than 300 miles of major canals

1628 BC- Minoan civilization ends due to volcanic eruption, climatological effects include a frost event or 36 hour killing freeze recorded in tree rings

43 BC- frost event in Sierra Nevada Mountains (36 hour freeze crushes cells in tree rings)

0- Christian calender begins

500 - 700- Hopi arrive at present location

705- seriously major drought

711- Moslems invade Spain

900- initial construction by Anasazi in Chaco Canyon

1000- Leif Eriksson lands in New World

1066- Sunset crater erupts near Flagstaff, AZ

1100- Chaco system reaches it’s peak

1250 - 1300- Pueblo Indians settle farther east, established trade networks with plains Indians

1257- oldest known Douglas Fir in Pinaleno Mtns starts growing, found by Chris Baisan

1276-1299- sever drought combined with drying trend, may be reason for disappearance of Hohokam and Anasazi, other factors: deforestation, energy source depletion, warfare, soil depletion and salinization, Athabaskan invasion

1300- Athabascan speakers, Navajo and Apache  arrive in SW, beginnings of differentiation into contemporary tribes

1400- Settlements of houses common in SE Arizona

1450- Hohokam villages and ceremonial centers abandoned

1492- Columbus arrives in New World

1519- Ferdinand Magellan begins first circumnavigation of the world

1521- Hernan Cortes conquers Aztecs

1533- Yaqui defeat Spanish conquistadores

1535-1821- start  a succession of 61 Spanish viceroys in New Spain

1536- Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Dornates and Estevanico become first foreigners in SW, pass through SE Arizona, on ten year odyssey after being shipwrecked in Florida

1539- Marcos de Niza makes first reconnaissance of AZ after Cabeza de Vaca

1539- Gulf of California, “Mar Vermejo” first navigated by Francisco Ulloa

1540- Hernando de Alarcon sails up Gulf of California into Colorado River to Gila R. confluence

1540- Francisco Coronado leads expedition to “Seven Cities of Cibola” (actually Zuni Pueblos) looking for mythical gold, members of expedition reach Hopi villages(oldest continuously occupied villages in USA)

1541- Coronado travels to interior, (Kansas) looking for city of Quivira, again searching for gold

1580's- great drought, worse than 1666 drought, tree rings only evidence

1598- Juan de Onate makes first colonizing expedition to upper Rio Grande

1600-1700- Western Apache acquire agriculture from Pueblo and Navajo Indians

1607- first Jesuit priest in Tarahumara territory

1609- Navajo raid Spanish settlements for sheep

1617- Yaqui allow Jesuits to settle on their land

1620- landing of the Pilgrims

1629- Spanish mission founded at Hopi village of Awatovi

1630- Fray Alonso de Benvides provides first historical look at Navajo and Apache

1631- major silver strike at Santa Barbara (Batopilas?), Tarahumara territory

1660s-1680- Navajo raids on Pueblos and Spanish settlements increase in response to Spanish slave raids, Indian slave trade common in SW

1666-1673- major drought, Spaniards in NM were eating hides, crop failure

1679- first Jesuit missions established near Seri territory

1680- Pueblo Indian revolt, unite to expel Spaniards and Catholicism, most documents in province of New Mexico destroyed, increased silver mining in Tarahumara lands

1685- J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel born

1686- Navajo defeat Havasupai and move into Little Colorado region of AZ

1687- Father Eusebio Kino arrives in Pimeria Alta

1692- Kino establishes visita at Bac near Tucson, brings wheat, cattle and epidemic diseases

1693- DeVargas reconquest of Pueblo Indians, forced direct cultural change, missions, chapels

1700- Comanche bands enter SW, become first horse mounted, fire-armed plains warriors, drive Apache off plains into basin and range, Hopis destroy Christian village of Awatovi

1727- Mexico begins to realize overgrazing of sheep and cattle is a problem in Rio Grande valley

1732- Jesuit mission established at Bac, San Xavier del Bac

1748- fires burning everywhere, smoke on every mountain, “too dry to travel”

1749- Spanish establish military garrison (presidio) at San Miguel de Horcasitas (Hermosillo) in between Seri missions

1750- military invasion of Tiburon Island stronghold against Seri by Ortiz Parilla, O’Odham revolt against Spanish

1762- last group of Sobaipuri Indians in San Pedro valley disperse to Tucson and Bac, tribe effectively extinct, merged with others

1767- Jesuits expelled from Spanish empire, Franciscans take over church functions in New Spain

1775- Quechuan allow Spanish priests to settle near Yuma crossing on Colorado River, Tucson presidio established by Spanish military, on top of Tohono (Desert) O’Odham village

1776- USA independence from Great Britain, Juan Bautista de Anza founds San Francisco, Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante explores western Colorado, southern Utah and returns to Santa Fe

1800 - 1825- first Anglo traders and explorers enter SW

1800-1850- extensive slave raiding disrupts southern Paiute populations

1803- Louisiana Purchase, Napoleon sold “Louisiana” to USA, essentially the great plains states west of the Mississippi

1804-1806- Lewis and Clark complete trip from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean (mouth of the Columbia River) and back

1810- Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla issues the “grito de Dolores” (shout of pain) which precipitates Mexican revolt against Spain

1821- Mexican independence from Spain

1821- formal establishment of Santa Fe trail from Missouri

1825- Sylvester Pattie and a party of @12 trapped a section of the Gila River, first recorded Anglo in AZ, operating out of Taos and Santa Fe

1826-1827- Jedediah Smith traveled via the Great Salt Lake to San Gabriel (Los Angeles), becoming first American to reach California overland

1845- USA annexes Texas, starts Mexican-American War

1846- Navajos integrated horse, sheep and goats into culture, becoming largest pastoral culture in aboriginal America

1847- Mormons arrive in Utah, settle on Paiute lands

1848- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ends Mexican-American War, USA takes control of what is now New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California and parts of Wyoming, Oklahoma and Kansas

1849- California gold rush, Forty Niners, Camp Calhoun established by USA army at Yuma crossing, control of crossing and local food resources a point of contention between whites and Yuman speaking Indians

1850s-1860s- Akimel (River) O’Odham farmers produced enough surplus to feed all Anglo soldiers and settlers arriving in Gadsden Purchase area, fed 1000s of gold seekers along “Gila Trail” during the gold rush

1853-1854- smallpox epidemic and drought kill 600 Oraibi residents at Hopi

1854- Gadsden Purchase, USA buys extreme southern portion of New Mexico and Arizona south of the Gila River, including Tucson, for railroad rights, USA almost negotiated for port on Gulf of California but Mexico would not sell

1855-1867- Pascual Encinas estimated his cowboys killed half of the Seris during “Encinas war”, because Seri ate some of his cattle

1857- Beale’s wagon road opened and prospectors move into western AZ

1859-1917- Indian reservations totaling 19,624,500 acres created, approx. 27% of AZ land surface

1859- Akimel O’Odham farm 15,000 acres along Gila River, enough surface water in Rillito River outside Tucson (at future Fort Lowell area) to support irrigation farming

1860- Charles Cooper and Isaiah Bell families among first Blacks in Tucson

1861-65- USA Civil War, abolition of slavery, state’s rights

1862- gold discovered at La Paz near Blythe, AZ, prospectors come back to AZ

1863- USA Congress organizes Arizona Territory

1864-68- defeated by the USA military under Kit Carson, 2400 Navajos commence “Long Walk” of 400 miles in freezing weather to Fort Sumner

1865- Colorado River Indian reservation established

1866- Cavalry units created at Ft. Huachuca, (all Black military units called Buffalo Soldiers)

1867-1868- Hualapai wars, USA army kills 1/4 of Hualapai people

1868- Navajos return to homeland

1869- John Wesley Powell navigates Grand Canyon in wooden boats

1870- population of AZ is 9,658 with 26 Blacks, Akimel O’Odham sold or traded an astounding 3,000,000 lbs. of wheat

1871- Camp Grant massacre at Aravaipa Creek, peaceful Apaches murdered by vigilante Tucsonans

1872- Owen’s Valley earthquake, eastern side of Sierra Nevada Mtns., land lurched up 13' and slid laterally 16', the surface was ruptured by a fault 100 miles long, 76 Yavapai killed in Skeleton Cave massacre

1873- Fort Lowell established on outskirts of Tucson

1874- Cochise dies in peace, treaty made for Chiricahua Apaches to remain in Chiricahua Mtns., eighteen mos. later treaty is broken

1875- Long Walk of 1400 Yavapai to San Carlos reservation, 100 die

1877- copper discovered in Bisbee

1878-83- Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads built across AZ

1880s- fire suppression in SW disrupts natural fire regime

1882- Havasupai reservation reduced to 513 acres

1885- open pit mine begun in Bisbee, the Lavender Pit, first big producer was Copper Queen mine

1886- end of Apache wars, Geronimo and his band of 700 Apaches taken to Florida from Bowie, AZ train station, were supposed to stay 2 years, stayed 28 years, four thousand Yaqui troops defeated at battle of Buatachive

1887- Anglo farmers divert Gila water from Akimel O’Odham farms into Florence canal

1889- overgrazing of cattle, SW like one big ranch, many Hualapai & Havasupai adopt Ghost Dance to bring ancestors back to life, destroy whites and restore old ways of life

1890-1915- most wolves in SW killed, bounties widespread

1890-1930- Yaqui diaspora to Tucson, Zuni, Yuma, LA, forced labor in Vera Cruz and Merida, Mexico

1891- Fort Lowell abandoned

1893- livestock industry collapses due to drought, Ft. Yuma reservation lands auctioned by USA

1895- USA gov’t had to issue rations to Akimel O’Odham, in one generation went from prosperous farmers to wards of the state.

1899- Gila River reservation farmlands shrink to 3,600 acres

1900- Tohono O’Odham harvest an estimated 600,000 lbs. of saguaro fruit per year

1904- Spanish/Mexican land grants of 116,400 acres had titles confirmed after stipulations in the Gadsden Purchase treaty, last formal military campaign against Seri

1910- more than _ Yaqui people left homeland

1910-17- revolution in Mexico results in current Mexican constitution and hegemony of the PRI, Institutional Revolutionary Party

1912- Arizona becomes state in USA, Santa Cruz River in Tucson ceases to flow year round, deep channel cut near San Xavier, heavy erosion from ditching, dams and over-grazing

1914- Yavapai reservation created at Ft. McDowell on Verde River

1920- states in Colorado River basin work on Colorado River Compact for water rights, Colorado R. Drains 12% of USA land mass, Seri return to mainland from Tiburon Island

1925- cocaine taken out of Coca-Cola

1928- Sante Fe railroad attempts to claim major part of Hualapai reservation

1930- San Carlos irrigation project completed, Coolidge Dam/San Carlos Lake above Winkelman, AZ

1931-36- Hoover Dam built on Colorado by Bureau of Reclamation creating Lake Mead

1933- over 1.1 million Navajo sheep and goats overwhelm carrying capacity of land, BIA begins unpopular stock reduction program

1937- Mexican gov’t recognizes Yaqui 1/3 ownership of previous territory

1938- Parker Dam on Colorado R. By Bureau of Reclamation creating Lake Havasu

1941- Seri population sinks to 160 people

1946- 35' well in Fort Lowell neighborhood runs dry

1947- 5846 “major” predators destroyed in AZ: bears, lions, wolves(3), coyotes, bobcats

1950- population of AZ is 749,567

1956-64- Glen Canyon Dam built on Colorado R. By Bureau of Reclamation creating Lake Powell

1957- Fred Allebach born, last grizzly shot in Mexico

1960- last wolf bountied in AZ near Willcox

1961- Barranca del Cobre railroad completed through Tarahumara land and Copper Canyon

1965- Tiburon Island declared game refuge, Seri forbidden to hunt interior

1968- USA Congress authorizes Central Arizona Project (CAP), to deliver Colorado River water from Lake Havasu to Phoenix and Tucson

1970s-1990s- resorts and developments sprout up in all foothill areas of Tucson

1975- Havasupai reservation expanded by 160,000 acres, against the wishes of the Park Service and the Sierra Club

1978- 25,000 acres restored to Ft. Yuma reservation, Pascua Yaqui in Tucson given official tribal status by USA gov’t

1979- USA meets 22% of worlds demand for copper, within 100 miles of Tucson, over half the country’s copper mining and smelting takes place

1980- Seri regain access to Tiburon Island

1981- defeat of Orme Dam prevents relocation of Yavapai from Ft. McDowell

1982- Tohono O’Odham water claims settled, will receive CAP water, lowering of water table in Tucson deprived tribe of water

1990- population of AZ is 3.7 million, Phoenix is 8th largest city in USA with metro area of 2.18 million, Tucson metro area is 660,000

1992- CAP water is delivered to Tucson, AZ owes billions to federal government for project, amendment to Mexican constitution abolishes ejido system

1993- State makes gambling compact with AZ Indians, legalizing casino gambling on reservations

1994- CAP water is shut off in Tucson by city council, mineralized water erodes existing water pipes resulting in too many customer complaints, burst pipes, colored water etc.

1995- University of Arizona builds 2 telescopes on Emerald Peak in the Pinaleno Mountains, gets congressional approval to bypass endangered species act

1996- In Tucson, voters vote to recharge CAP water into area aquifers, Governor declares bankruptcy after campaigning he would run the state like a business, wells in Fort Lowell area  hit water at 250' below the surface

1997- AZ governor Fife Symington indicted for felony, steps down from office

1998- AZ governor Fife Symington convicted of felonies

2000- Bill Clinton pardons Fife Symington, turns out Symington saved Clinton’s life many years ago at Oxford, when Clinton was being swept out to sea on a rip tide, Symington picked him up in his boat

11/11/2002- Fred meets Kim in the desert, it all led up to this!

The Pueblo Indian Revolt o 1896    978.902P962

Ref. Encyclopedia of the Am. Indian   970. 1R259

Indian Slave Trade In the SW, Bailey    380. 144097B153i

Prehistoric Commerce, Bailey   301. 29701B1536

Arizona Water, Baldwin 551. 49Ar47

Indian Heritage of the SW   J979. 00497In2

The Great Indian Chiefs of the SW JKIT970 4916798

A Short History of Mexico   J. Patrick McHenry

U of A Anthropology Museum exhibits