Lesson 1. The History of the Hohokam

The first people to live in the United States were the Native Americans. The Native Americans that lived in the Sonoran Desert were called the Hohokam. They lived where Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona are today. They lived in this area long before the Anglo settlers came to farm and start their businesses. After the Hohokam left, the Pima Indians stayed. They lived east of Tempe. This is what the Pima stories tell us.

The Pima and their ancestors, the Hohokam

Life was very different in the Valley of the Sun a 150 years ago. There were no electric lights, air conditioning, running water, grocery or furniture stores. There were no schools, cars, airplanes, telephones, computers or TVs. But people had lived here for a very long time.

In 1850, the Pima Indians lived in Arizona by the Salt and Gila Rivers. (In their language they are called the Akimel O'odham, the River People.) They lived in the desert. The mountains were not far away and the Salt River and the Gila River were always full of water. The desert valley, the mountains and the rivers, were their landforms. The climate, the weather, was hot and dry.

Cottonwood, mesquite and palo verde trees grew on the desert. Saguaro, yucca and prickly pear cactus grew there, too.

Small animals such as rabbits, snakes, coyotes and bobcats lived there. There were many birds such as quail, owls and vultures. The Pimas were very good at using these natural resources, the plants and animals. These natural resources made life possible in the desert.

They remembered how their ancestors, the Hohokam lived. The Pimas inherited much of their culture, their way of life, from the Hohokam.