Tohono O'odham

Member of an American Indian people living in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. They share Uto-Aztecan language origins, a language family of Central America and western North America, with the Pima, and claim descent from the prehistoric Hohokam. Skilled farmers, they used the flooding caused by summer thunderstorms to irrigate their crops. They are renowned for their delicate basketry, with black-and-white designs. In 1986 they changed their name from Papago (Spanish papabotas ‘bean eaters’) to their own traditional name. The Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation in southern Arizona is the second largest in the USA, but many now live in surrounding cities, and some remain in Sonora. Their US population numbers 17,500 (2000).

The Tohono O'odham originally had a two-village lifestyle, living in ‘field’ villages during the summer and moving to mountain ‘well’ villages in the winter, where spring water was available. Their homes were domed roundhouses, covered in rush mats. Summer crops included maize (corn), beans, squash, and cotton. They also hunted small game and gathered wild plant foods such as mesquite beans and the saguaro cactus. The Spanish introduced wheat, pigs, cattle, and horses in the 17th century. Rain ceremonies were the main focus of their religious rituals, and included the ritual drinking and regurgitation of saguaro wine, known as ‘throwing up the clouds’. Village life was organized by a council of elders and headman, whose decisions had to be unanimous.

Since 1937 the Tohono O'odham have been governed under a constitution and elected chairman. Although most are now Catholic, much of their culture has survived, and many speak their traditional language. However, few farm in the old manner because groundwater pumps and urbanization have upset the natural irrigation of the region, and ranching is now the main activity.

Although the Spanish met them in the early 17th century, the Tohono O'odham were generally left alone until 1687 when the Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino was sent to convert them. During the Spanish colonial period they received title to their lands and were protected by the Spanish crown, but after Mexican independence in 1810 they suffered increasing attack by the Apache, their traditional enemy, who were being displaced by white settlement.

In 1853 the territory of the Tohono O'odham was split between Mexico and the USA by the Gadsden Purchase, through which the USA acquired land for the Southern Pacific Railroad. At first the Tohono O'odham's land rights were reconfirmed, and they fought with US forces to defeat the Apache. However, the development of mining in the region placed their territory under new pressure. They were placed on reservations from 1874, and later reductions of their reservations made some uninhabitable. The fight to reclaim their territory became a major unifying force in the 20th century. They now live on the Tohono O'odham, Gila Bend, San Xavier, and Florence Village reservations, which have a combined area of 1,141,950 ha/2,854,880 acres.