Pima people

Pima

O'odham portraits
Total population
12,600 (1990)[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States ( Arizona)
Languages
O'odham, English, Spanish
Religion
Roman Catholicism, traditional tribal religion[2]
Related ethnic groups
Ak-Chin O'odham, Hia C-ed O'odham, Tohono O'odham

The Pima (or Akimel O'odham) are a group of American Indians living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona. The long name, "Akimel O'odham", means "river people". They are closely related to the Tohono O'odham (meaning "desert people", formerly known as Papagos) of Eastern Papagueria and the Hia C-ed O'odham ("Sand Dune People", formerly known as Sand Papagos or Sand Pimas) of the Western Papagueria. They are also closely related to another river people, the Sobaipuri, whose descendants still reside on the San Xavier Indian Reservation or Wa:k (together with the Tohono O'odham) and in the Gila River communities^{[citation needed]}. The short name, "Pima" is believed to have come from the phrase pi 'añi mac or pi mac, meaning "I don't know," used repeatedly in their initial meeting with Europeans.^[1]

^[3]

Pima Stories of the Beginning of the World Summary

The creation story of the Pima’s, or Akimel Oodham, starts out with one person, the Doctor of Earth. He was known as Juh-wert-a-Mah-kai and before him, there was no earth, no water, no sun, no light, no life, or anything. He created the world from perspiration on his chest called, moah-haht-tack. It took four times until the world actually formed. He first created a greasewood bush, which were abundant in Pima homelands, then ants, which enlarged the earth as they worked, and also created another Person out of his eye. This person could help him create other aspects of the earth, human beings and mountains. The person he created was named Noo-ee. After making Nooee he made the sun. It took him four tries again to create the sun by first, placing a hardened ball in the North, then the West, then the South but none of these worked. Finally he put it in the East and it worked. Juhwerta Mahkai gained more perspiration from his chest and created a man and woman. They produced more people but these people did not act the way Juhwerta Mahkai wanted them to, so he killed them by letting the sky fall. This happened four times, and on the last try he created the earth as it is now. The sun and the moon gave birth to Toehahvs, the coyote and from the North came another person named Seeurhuh. Seeurhuh made a young man who he set out to find a woman for marriage. He found a young woman and they did get married but were then forgotten. Juhwerta Mahkai, Nooee, and Toehahvs shared that there was a flood coming so word traveled. Juhwerta Mahkai made a hole in the earth to survive and people that did not join him drowned. The mountains were not high enough to escape the water. A doctor who was part of the people trying to find a highly elevated surface, tried to save everyone by using his powers but instead turned everyone to stone. After the flood, Seeurhuh, Toehahvs, and Juhwerta Mahkai all made dolls from the leftover clay. The different deformities of the dolls lead to the creation of different animals and beings. Seeurhuh makes fun of Juhwerta Mahkai’s dolls and due to his anger, he sinks into the ground leaving his waste. His body parts were used for creation.

Analysis of Symbolism and Comparison in Pima Creation Story

The number four is used many times in The Pima Stories of the Beginning of the World. It is the pattern number of the Pimas and corresponds to the importance of three and seven as pattern numbers in the Western culture. The number four can represent the four seasons and four directions. Light is also an important factor in the Pima creation story and the story of Genesis in the Bible. In both stories, light was a major priority and one of the first things to be created. Due to the fact that light is an essential symbol in these stories of creation, they easily can represent rebirth or establishment and cleansing of a new world about to be made. The Pima creation myth has many differentiating factors from the Bible story of creation, Genesis. Regarding importance of numbers, Genesis has the pattern of number seven and this is important because God created the world in seven days. Christianity, in general today, also has other signs of the number seven such as the seven sacraments and seven deadly sins. This shows that the creation stories of certain religions and cultures lead the people to follow and believe the stories of how their world came about because they use them as guidance. The role of women is also contrasting in The Bible versus the Pima Stories from the Beginning of the World. This is because in the Bible, Eve, is looked upon as being curious rather than afraid of what will happen to her unlike the young woman afraid of marriage in the Pima creation story.

History prior to 1688

The Pima Indians first called themselves Otama until the first account of interaction with non-Native Americans was recorded. Americans later corrupted the miscommunication into Pimos, which was adapted to Pima river people. During the early part of the nineteenth century, there were eight Pima villages on the Gila River whose names were bestowed by the Spanish missionaries such as Kina, Equituni, Uturituc, and Sacaton.

The Akimel O'Odham (anthropologically known as the Pima) are a subgroup of the Upper O'odham or Upper Pima (also known as Pima Alto) who's land were known as Pimería Alta. These groups are culturally related. They are thought to be culturally descended from the group archaeologically known as the Hohokam^[4]. The term Hohokam is a derivative of the O'odham word "Huhugam" (pronounced hoo-hoo-gahm) which is literally translated as "those who have gone before" but meaning "the ancestors".

The Pima Alto or Upper Pima groups were subdivided on the basis of cultural, economic and linguistic differences into two main groupings:

known commonly as Pimas or River Pimas:

• Akimel O'odham (Akimel Au-Authm - “River People”, oft simply called Pima, lived north of and along the Gila River, the Salt River and the Santa Cruz River in Arizona)
  • On'k Akimel O'odham (On'k Akimel Au-Authm - “Salt River People”, lived and farmed along the Salt River)
  • Keli Akimel O'odham (Keli Akimel Au-Authm, oft simply Akimel O'odham - - “Gila River People”, lived and farmed along the Gila River)
• Ak-Chin O'Odham (Ak-Chin Au-Authm)^[5]
• Sobaipuri (also simply called Sobas, called by the neighboring Akimel O'odham as Rsársavinâ - "spotted", lived in the valleys of the San Pedro River and Santa Cruz River, were broken up by Arivaipa and Pinaleño Apache and sought refuge among the Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham, with whom they became merged)

known commonly as Papagos or Desert Pimas:

• Tohono O'odham (“Desert People”, the neighboring Akimel O'odham called them Pahpah Au-Authm or Ba:bawĭkoʼa - "eating tepary beans", which was pronounced Papago by the Spanish, lived in the semi-arid deserts and mountains south of Tucson, Tubac and south of the Gila River)^[6]
  • Kuitatk (kúí tátk)
  • Sikorhimat (sikol himadk)
  • Wahw Kihk (wáw kéˑkk)
  • San Pedro (wiwpul)
  • Tciaur (jiawul dáhăk)
  • Anegam (ʔáˑngam - “desert willow”)
  • Imkah (ʔiˑmiga)
  • Tecolote (kolóˑdi, also cú´kud kúhūk)
• Hia C-eḍ O'odham (“Sand Dune People”, also known by neighboring O'odham as Hia Tadk Ku:mdam - “Sand Root Crushers”,^[7] commonly known as Sand Papagos or Sand Pimas, lived west and southwest of the Tohono O'odham in the Gran Desierto de Altar of the Sonoran Desert between the Ajo Range, the Gila River, the Colorado River and the Gulf of California south into northwestern Sonora, Mexico, were known to the Tohono O'odham as U'uva:k or U'uv Oopad, named after the Tinajas Altas Mountains)
  • Areneños Pinacateños or Pinacateños^[8] (lived in the Sierra Pinacate , called by the Hia C-eḍ O'Odham Cuk Doʼag und den Cabeza Prieta Mountains in Arizon and Sonora)
  • Areneños (lived in the Gran Desierto around the mountains, which were home to the Areneños Pinacateños)

The Akimel O'odham lived along the Gila River, Salt River, Yaqui River, and Sonora River in ranchería-style villages. The villages were set up as a loose group of houses with familial groups sharing a central ramada and kitchen area with brush round houses surrounding. The O'odham are matrilocal, and familial groups tended to consist of extended families. The Akimel O'odham also lived in temporary field houses seasonally, to tend their crops.

The O'odham language variously called Oʼodham ha-ñeʼokĭ, Oʼodham ñiʼokĭ or Oʼodham ñiok is spoken by all O'odham groups. There are certain dialectal differences, but despite these all O'odham groups can understand one another. There are also some lexicographical differences, especially in reference to newer technologies and innovations.

The economy of the Akimel O'odham was primarily dependent on subsistence, and consisted of farming, hunting and gathering, although there was extensive trading as well. Farming was dependent on an extensive irrigation system that was constructed in prehistoric times^[4] and remains in use today. Over time canal systems were built and rebuilt according to the needs of the communities. The Akimel O'odham were experts in the area of textiles and produced intricate baskets as well as woven cloth. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, their primary military rival were the Apache and Yavapai, who raided their villages at times due to competition for resources, although they also established friendly relations with the Apache. Although the Akimel O'odham did have conflicts with other groups they are thought to have been primarily a peaceable people, because they never attacked Euroamerican settlers and they were most well known for their aid to immigrants. They did, however, participate in a war cult and had a well-developed battle strategy.

History after 1694

Pima home in 1900.

Kaviu, a Pima elder, photographed around 1907 by Edward S. Curtis.

Initially, the Akimel O’Odham experienced little intensive colonial contact, and early exchanges instead were limited to parties traveling through the territory or community members visiting settlements to the south. The Hispanic era (A.D.1694–1853) of the Historic period began with the first visit by Father Kino in 1694. Contact also was infrequent with the Mexicans during their rule of southern Arizona between 1821 and 1848. Nevertheless, the Akimel O’Odham were affected by introduced European elements such as new cultigens (e.g., wheat), livestock, metal, and especially disease.

The American era (A.D. 1853–1950), began in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase, when southern Arizona became part of the United States. Euroamerican contacts with the Akimel O’Odham in the middle Gila Valley increased after 1846 as a result of the Mexican-American War. New markets were developed to supply grain to the military as well as to immigrants heading for California, and the Akimel O’Odham experienced a period of prosperity. Thereafter, interaction between Native American groups and Euroamerican settlers became increasingly tense, and the U.S. Government adopted a policy of pacification and reservation confinement of Native Americans. The GRIC was established in 1859.

The following years saw the arrival of large numbers of Euroamerican migrants to upstream locations along the Gila as well as along the lower Salt River. Uncertainty and variable crop yields led to major settlement reorganizations. The establishment of agency headquarters, churches and schools, and trading posts at Casa Blanca and Sacaton during the 1870s and 1880s led to the growth of these towns as administrative and commercial centers at the expense of others. By 1898 agriculture had nearly ceased within the GRIC, and although some Akimel O’Odham drew rations, the principal livelihood was woodcutting. The first allotments within Gila River were established in 1914. Each individual was assigned a 10-acre (40,000 m²) parcel of irrigable land located within districts irrigated by the Santan, Agency, Blackwater and Casa Blanca projects on the eastern half of the reservation. In 1917, the allotment size was doubled to include a primary lot of irrigable land and a secondary, usually non-contiguous 10-acre (40,000 m²) tract of grazing land.

The most ambitious effort to rectify the economic plight of the Akimel O’Odham was the San Carlos Project Act of 1924, which authorized the construction of a water storage dam on the Gila River and provided for the irrigation of 50,000 acres (200 km²) of Indian and 50,000 acres (200 km²) of non-Indian land. For a variety of reasons, the San Carlos Project failed to revitalize the O’Odham farming economy.

Over the years, the U.S. Government placed severe acculturative pressures on the Akimel O’Odham that have affected changes in nearly every aspect of their lives. Since World War II, however, the Akimel O’Odham have experienced a resurgence of interest in tribal sovereignty and economic development, as the community has become a self-governing entity, developed several profitable enterprises in fields such as agriculture and telecommunications, built several casinos, and begun the process of revitalizing their farming economy by constructing a water delivery system across the reservation.

Akimel O'Odham and the Salt River

Fine Pima baskets, photographed around 1907 by Edward S. Curtis.

The Akimel O'Odham (“River People”) have lived on the banks of the Gila River and Salt River since long before European contact.

Their way of life (himdagĭ, sometimes rendered in English as Him-dag) was and is centered around the river, which is considered holy. The term Him-dag should be clarified, as it does not have a direct translation into the English language, and is not limited to reverence of the river. It encompasses a great deal because O'odham him-dag intertwines religion, morals, values, philosophy, and general world view which are all interconnected. Their world view/religious beliefs are centered around the natural world, and this is pervasive throughout their culture.

The Gila and Salt Rivers are currently dry, due to upstream dams that block the flow and the diversion of water by non-native farmers. This has been a cause of great upset among all of the O'odham. The upstream diversion in combination with periods of drought, led to lengthy periods of famine that were a devastating change from the documented prosperity the people had experienced until non-native settlers engaged in more aggressive farming in areas that were traditionally used by the Akimel O'odham and Apache in Eastern Arizona. This abuse of water rights was the impetus for a nearly century long legal battle between the Gila River Indian Community and the United States Government, which was settled in favor of the Akimel O'Odham and signed into law by George W. Bush in December 2005. As a side note, at times during the monsoon season the Salt river runs, albeit at low levels. In the weeks after December 29, 2004, when an unexpected winter rainstorm flooded areas much further upstream (in Northern Arizona), water was released through dams on the river at rates higher than at any time since the filling of Tempe Town Lake in 1998, and was a cause for minor celebration in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) was established on June 14, 1879 and is made of two very distinct Native American tribes: The Pima and the Maricopa. The diversion of the water and the introduction of non-native diet had devastating effects on the health of the people as well.

Modern life

General Douglas MacArthur meeting Navajo, Pima, Pawnee and other Native American troops.

Douglas Miles (Akimel O'odham-San Carlos Apache), artist, youth advocate, and founder of Apache Skateboard.^[9]

Currently, the majority of the population is based in the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), although in historic times a large number of Akimel O'Odham migrated north to occupy the banks of the Salt River and formed the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC). Both tribes are confederations of two distinct cultures that include the Maricopa. Within the O'odham people there are four tribes in the Southwest who speak the same language called the Gila River Indian Community (Keli Akimel O'Odham - “Gila River People”), the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (Onk Akimel O'Odham - “Salt River People”), the Ak-Chin Indian Community (Ak-Chin O'odham) and the Tohono O'Odham Nation (Tohono O'Odham - “Desert People”). The remaining band, the Hia C-ed O'odham ("Sand Dune People"), are not federally recognized, but reside throughout southwestern Arizona.

Today the GRIC is a sovereign tribe residing on over 550,000 acres (2,200 km²) of land in central Arizona. The community is divided into seven districts (similar to states) with individual subgovernments "council". It is self-governed by an elected Governor (currently William Rhodes), Lieutenant Governor (currently Joseph Manuel) and 18 member tribal council. The council is elected by district with the number of electees determined by district population. There are over 16,000 enrolled members overall.

Today the Gila River Indian Community is involved in various economic development enterprises that include three casinos, golf courses, a luxury resort, a western themed amusement park, various industrial parks, landfills and construction supply. The GRIC is also involved in agriculture and runs its own farms and other agricultural projects. The Gila River Indian Reservation is home of Maricopa (Piipaa, Piipaash or Pee-Posh - “People”) and Keli Akimel O'Odham (also Keli Akimel Au-Authm - “Gila River People”, a division of the Akimel O'Odham - “River People”).

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is smaller in size and is governed by an elected President and tribal council as well. They are also involved in tribal gaming, industrial projects, landfills and construction supply. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) is home of the Onk Akimel O'Odham (also On'k Akimel Au-Authm - “Salt River People”, a division of the Akimel O'Odham - “River People”), the Maricopa of Lehi (call themselves Xalychidom Piipaa or Xalychidom Piipaash - “People who live toward the water”, descendants of the refugee Halchidhoma), the Tohono O'Odham (“Desert People”) and some Keli Akimel O'Odham (also Keli Akimel Au-Authm - “Gila River People”, a other division of the Akimel O'Odham - “River People”).

The Ak-Chin Indian Community is located in the Santa Cruz Valley in Arizona. The community is composed mainly of Ak-Chin O'odham (Ak-Chin Au-Authm, also called Pima, another division of the Akimel O'odham - “River People”) and Tohono O'odham, as well as some Yoeme As of 2000, the population living in the community was 742. Ak-Chin is an O'odham word that means the "mouth of the arroyo" or "place where the wash loses itself in the sand or ground."

As was previously mentioned during the discussion of the diversion of the Gila River, the Keli Akimel O'odham and the Onk Akimel O'odham have various environmentally based health issues that can be traced directly back to that point in time when the traditional economy was devastated. They have the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the world, much more than is observed in other U.S. populations. While they do not have a greater risk than other tribes, the Pima people have been the subject of intensive study of diabetes, in part because they form a homogeneous group.^[10] The general increased diabetes prevalence among Native Americans has been hypothesized as the result of the interaction of genetic predisposition (the thrifty phenotype or thrifty genotype as suggested by anthropologist Robert Ferrell in 1984^[10]) and a sudden shift in diet from traditional agricultural goods towards processed foods in the past century. For comparison, genetically similar O'odham in Mexico have only a slighter higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes than non-O'odham Mexicans^[11]

Customs

From age ten until the time of marriage, neither boys nor girls were allowed to speak their own names. The penalty was bad luck and the name of a deceased person is not used. The word or words in the name however are not dropped from the language. Children were given careful oral instruction in moral, religious and other matters. In addition, set speeches, which recited portions of cosmic myth, were a feature of many ceremonies and were especially important in the preparation for war. These speeches were adapted for each occasion but the general context was the same.

Pimas of note

• Ira Hayes (1923–1955), Marine Paratrooper and Iwo Jima flagraiser

See also

• Pima Indian Revolt
• O'odham language
• Man in the Maze
• List of dwellings of Pueblo peoples

Notes

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2011)

References

• DeJong, David H. Forced to Abandon Our Fields: The 1914 Clay Southworth Gila River Pima Interviews. 2010. ISBN 978-1-60781-095-7.
• Ortiz, Alfonzo, volume editor. "Handbook of North American Indians. v. 10 Southwest." Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1983.
• Pritzker, Barry. A Native American Encyclopedia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-513877-5.
• Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York: Checkmark, 1999. ISBN 0-8160-3964-X

External links

• Gila River Indian Community, official website