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195-575: Most Mexican Americans reside in the Southwest , with more than 60% of Mexican Americans living in the states of California and Texas. They have varying degrees of indigenous and European ancestry, with the latter being of mostly Spanish origins. Those of indigenous ancestry descend from one or more of the over 60 indigenous groups in Mexico (approximately 200,000 people in California alone). It

390-812: A 2009 report by the Mexican Genome Project, which sampled 300 Mestizos from six Mexican states and one Indigenous group, the gene pool of the Mexican mestizo population was calculated to be 55.2% percent Indigenous, 41.8% European, 5% African, and 0.5% Asian. A 2012 study published by the Journal of Human Genetics found the deep paternal ancestry of the Mexican Mestizo population to be predominately European (64.9%) followed by Amerindian (30.8%) and African (5%). An autosomal ancestry study performed in 2007 on residents of Mexico City reported that

585-422: A Californio to be any Spanish-speaking person born in California. Writer Jose Antonio Burciaga considers Californios to be any Hispanic living in California, even if they have lived there temporarily. Burciaga, in a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, points to such examples as Cesar Chavez , Luisa Moreno and Bert Corona . As seen here, sources differ on elements of classification of the term “Californio”. “At

780-617: A Californio to be any settler who migrated to Alta California and their descendants; and also non-Hispanic immigrants who intermarried with Hispanics and integrated into the Californio culture during the Mexican era, and their descendants. Calisphere and author Ferol Egan restrict the meaning of Californio to the Californian elite who acquired land during the Spanish and Mexican periods and their descendants. Leonard Pitt considers

975-569: A Californio, was the governor of California during the conflict. The Pacific Squadron , the United States Naval force stationed in the Pacific was instrumental in the capture of Alta California after war was declared on April 24, 1846. The U.S. Navy with its force of 350–400 U.S. Marines and "bluejacket" sailors on board several U.S. Naval ships near California were essentially the only significant United States military force on

1170-581: A Pew Hispanic Center report in 2006 and the Pew Religious Landscape Survey in 2008, Mexican Americans are significantly less likely than other Latino groups to abandon Catholicism for Protestant churches. In 2008, "Yes We Can" (in Spanish: " Sí, se puede " ) was adopted as the 2008 campaign slogan of Senator Barack Obama . His election in 2008 and reelection in 2012 as the first African American president depended in part on

1365-538: A Spanish colony, the territory of California also had an established population of colonial settlers. Californios is the term for the Spanish-speaking residents of modern-day California; they were the original Mexicans (regardless of race) and local Hispanicized Amerindians in the region ( Alta California ) before the United States acquired it as a territory. In the mid-19th century, more settlers from

1560-555: A United States force of 60 men on an exploratory expedition. Fremont made an agreement with Comandante Castro that he would stay in the San Joaquin Valley only for the winter, then move north to Oregon. However, Fremont remained in the Santa Clara Valley then headed towards Monterey . When Castro demanded that Fremont leave Alta California, Fremont rode to Gavilan Peak , raised a US flag and vowed to fight to

1755-521: A bear and star (the " Bear Flag ") to symbolize their taking control. The words "California Republic" appeared on the flag but were never officially adopted by the insurgents. The present flag of California is based on the original "Bear Flag". Their capture of the small garrison in Sonoma was later called the " Bear Flag Revolt ". The Republic's only commander-in-chief was William B. Ide , whose command lasted 25 days. On June 23, 1846, Frémont arrived from

1950-525: A crew of 600, man-of-war HMS  Collingwood , flagship under Sir George S. Seymour, also arrived at about this time outside Monterey Harbor. Both British ships observed, but did not enter the conflict. Shortly after July 9, when it became clear the US Navy was taking action, the short-lived Bear Flag Republic was converted into a United States military occupation and the Bear Flag was replaced by

2145-430: A degree of social racial segregation by custom, while maintaining Spanish-language newspapers, entertainment, schools, bars, and clubs. Cultural practices were often tied to local churches and mutual aid societies. At some point in the early 20th century, the official recordkeepers (census takers, city records, etc.) began grouping together all Californios, Mexicanos, and Native ( Indio ) peoples with Spanish surnames under

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2340-760: A difficult time persuading people to emigrate to such an isolated outpost with no agriculture, no towns, no stores or developments of almost any kind. The majority of settlers were recruited from the northwestern parts of Mexico. The only tentative link with Mexico was via ship after the Quechans (Yumas) closed the Colorado River 's Yuma Crossing in 1781. For the next 40 years, an average of only 2.5 ships per year visited California with 13 years showing no recorded ships arriving. In Californio society, casta ( caste ) designations carried more weight than they did in older communities of central Mexico. One similar concept

2535-443: A dispatch from Gillespie notifying him of the situation. Gillespie, on September 30, finally accepted the Californio terms and departed for San Pedro with his forces, weapons, flags and two cannon (the others were spiked and left behind). Gillespie's men were accompanied by the exchanged American prisoners and several non-Californio residents. It would take about four months of intermittent sparring before Gillespie could again raise

2730-413: A diverse population made up primarily of Indigenous and European ancestry, along with African . Also on a smaller scale, some also have backgrounds of East Asian and Middle Eastern descent (mainly Lebanese). The majority of the Mexican population identifies as mestizo . In colonial times, Mestizo was understood to be a person of mixed heritage, particularly European and Native American. The meaning of

2925-600: A home on the plaza at Sonoma, where he entertained all who came with hospitality; few travelers of note came to California without visiting him. At Petaluma he had a great ranch house called La Hacienda. About 1849 on his home farm called Lachryma Montis (Tear of the Mountain), he built a modern frame house where he spent the later years of his life. Vallejo tried to get the California State Capital moved permanently to Benicia, California on land he sold to

3120-544: A large oasis at the western end of the El Paso-Tucson corridor. The region between the two cities is a major transportation trunk with settlements serving both highway and railway needs. There are also large mining operations, ranches, and agricultural oases. Both El Paso and Tucson have large military installations nearby; Fort Bliss and White Sands Missile Range north of El Paso in New Mexico, and, near Tucson,

3315-575: A minimum” means the most restrictive grouping included within every grouping stated above. Thus, this group consists of the Californian elite who were descendants of Spanish settlers and who acquired land during the Spanish and Mexican periods and their descendants. “At a maximum” means the most expansive definition inferred above. This group consists of any settler who migrated to California or any person born in California and their descendants, plus anyone who resides in California. In 1769, Gaspar de Portolá and less than two hundred men, on expedition founded

3510-651: A private. The first job given to the California Battalion and was to assist in the capture of San Diego and Pueblo de Los Angeles . On July 26, 1846, Lieutenant Colonel Frémont's California Battalion of about 160 boarded the sloop USS  Cyane , under the command of Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont , and sailed for San Diego. They landed July 29, 1846, and a detachment of Marines and blue-jackets, followed shortly by Frémont's California Battalion from Cyane , landed and took possession of

3705-498: A racial classification but an ethnic group. The barrier that the language places on people who are immigrating from Mexico is difficult due to the importance that is placed in the United States related to knowing how to speak English. The lack of support from surrounding people places an even more difficult strain given that there is not much remorse or yet very little patience that comes from those who these Mexican immigrants may find themselves seeking aid from. Genetic studies made in

3900-418: A racial one. It is vaguely defined and may include people who do not have Indigenous ancestry, people who do not have European ancestry, as well as people of mixed descent. Such transformation of the word is the result of a concept known as "mestizaje" , which was promoted by the post-revolutionary Mexican government in an effort to create a united Mexican ethno-cultural identity with no racial distinctions. It

4095-612: A series of death threats, Seguín relocated his family in Mexico. He was coerced into military service and fought against the US in 1846–1848 Mexican–American War. Although the events of 1836 led to independence for the people of Texas, the Latino population of the state was very quickly disenfranchised, to the extent that their political representation in the Texas State Legislature disappeared entirely for several decades. As

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4290-532: A settlement in Arizona in 1599, but were turned back by inclement weather. In 1610, Santa Fe was founded, making it the oldest capital in United States. In 1664 Juan Archuleta led an expedition into what is now Colorado, becoming the first European to enter. A second Spanish expedition was led into Colorado by Juan Ulibarrí in 1706, during which he claimed the Colorado territory for Spain. From 1687 to 1691

4485-458: A sub-region of the South , which some consider southwestern in the general framework of the original application, meaning the "Western South." This is an area containing the basic elements of Southern history , culture , politics , religion , and linguistic and settlement patterns, yet blended with traits of the frontier West. While this particular Southwest is notably different in many ways from

4680-552: A third of Colorado, and small portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. Texas current borders were set in the Compromise of 1850 , where Texas ceded land to the federal government in exchange for $ 10 million, which would go to paying off the debt Texas had accumulated in its war with Mexico. Following the Mexican Cession, the lands of what had been the Mexican territory of Alta California were in flux: portions of what

4875-604: A wealthy educated woman of influence and town matriarch, asked to speak with him. She advised him that a generous peace would be to his political advantage. Fremont later wrote of this 2-hour meeting, "I found that her object was to use her influence to put an end to the war, and to do so upon such just and friendly terms of compromise as would make the peace acceptable and enduring". The next day, Bernarda accompanied Fremont south. On January 11, 1847, General Jose Maria Flores turned over his command to Andrés Pico and fled. On January 12, Bernarda went alone to Pico's camp and told him of

5070-796: Is based on the figures of the last racial census in the country, made in 1921. According to an opinion poll conducted by the Latinobarómetro organization in 2011, 52% of Mexican respondents said they were mestizos, 19% Indigenous, 6% white, 2% mulattos, and 3% "other race". As the United States' borders expanded, the United States Census Bureau changed its racial classification methods for Mexican Americans under United States jurisdiction. The Bureau's classification system has evolved significantly from its inception: For certain purposes, respondents who wrote in "Chicano" or "Mexican" (or indeed, almost all Latino origin groups) in

5265-467: Is because of this that sometimes the Mestizo population in Mexico is estimated to be as high as 93% of the Mexican population. Per the 2010 US Census , the majority (52.8%) of Mexican Americans identified as being white . The remainder identified themselves as being of "some other race" (39.5%), "two or more races" (5.0%), Native American (0.4%), black (2%) and Asian / Pacific Islander (0.1%). It

5460-838: Is bordered to the south by the Mogollon Rim and the Sonoran Desert, to the west by the Mojave Desert, and to the east by the Rocky Mountains , the Rio Grande Rift valley, and the Llano Estacado . The Plateau is characterized by a series of plateaus and mesas, interspersed with canyons. The most dramatic example is the Grand Canyon . But that is one of many dramatic vistas included within

5655-581: Is buried there. Monterey was originally the only port of entry for all taxable goods in California. All ships were supposed to clear through Monterey and pay the roughly 42% tariff (customs duties on imported goods before trading anywhere else in Alta California). The oldest governmental building in the state is the Monterey Custom House and California's Historic Landmark Number One. The Californian , California's oldest newspaper,

5850-618: Is estimated that approximately 10% of the current Mexican-American population are descended from residents of the Spanish Empire and later Mexico, which preceded the acquisition of their territories by the United States ; such groups include New Mexican Hispanos , Tejanos of Texas, and Californios . They became US citizens in 1848 through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which ended the Mexican–American War . Mexicans living in

6045-498: Is no simple explanation, it is possibly some combination of assortative mating , changes in migration patterns over time (with more recent immigrants coming from areas of more concentrated Indigenous communities), population growth and other unexamined factors. For instance, a 2006 study conducted by Mexico's National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) , which genotyped 104 samples, reported that Mestizo Mexicans are 58.96% European, 35.05% Amerindian, and 5.03% African. According to

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6240-407: Is notable that only 5% of Mexican Americans reported being of two or more races despite the presumption of mestizaje among the Mexican population in Mexico. This identification as "some other race" reflects activism among Mexican Americans as claiming a cultural status and working for their rights in the United States, as well as the separation due to different language and culture. Hispanics are not

6435-542: Is now New Mexico were claimed, but never controlled, by Texas. With the Compromise of 1850, the states of Texas and California were created (Texas as a slave state, and California as a free state), as well as the Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory . The New Mexico Territory consisted of most of Arizona and New Mexico (excluding a strip along their southern borders), a small section of southern Colorado, and

6630-704: Is the saguaro cactus , which is unique to the desert. It is bounded on the northwest by the Mojave Desert, to the north by the Colorado Plateau and to the east by the Arizona Mountains forests and the Chihuahuan Desert. Aside from the trademark saguaro, the desert has the most diverse plant life of any desert in the world, and includes many other species of cacti, including the organ-pipe, senita, prickly pear, barrel, fishhook, hedgehog, cholla, silver dollar, and jojoba. The portion of

6825-405: Is the smallest, driest and hottest desert within the United States. The Mojave gets less than 6 in (150 mm) of rain annually, and its elevation ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 feet (900 to 1,800 meters) above sea level. The most prolific vegetation is the tall Joshua tree , which grow as tall as 40 ft (12 m), and are thought to live almost 1000 years. Other major vegetation includes

7020-713: The Ancestral Pueblo people , the Hohokam , and the Mogollon , all of which existed among other surrounding cultures including the Patayan . Maize began to be cultivated in the region sometime during the early first millennium BC, but it took several hundred years for the native cultures to be dependent on it as a food source. As their dependence on maize grew, Pre-Columbian Indians began developing irrigation systems around 600 CE . According to archeological finds,

7215-624: The Arizona Organic Act , which officially created the U.S. Territory of Arizona , splitting the New Mexico Territory at the 107th meridian. Utah, as shown above, evolved out of the Utah Territory, as pieces of the original territory created in 1850 were carved out: parts were ceded to Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado in 1861; another section to Nevada in 1862; and the final section to Nevada in 1866. In 1890,

7410-667: The Catholic Church (estimated then at about one-third of all settled property), which was continually granted property by many landowners when they died and controlled property supposedly held in trust for the Native Americans. This land, as it gradually accumulated, was seldom sold, as it cost nothing to keep, but could be rented out to gain additional income for the Catholic Church to pay its priests , friars , bishops, and other expenses. The Catholic Church

7605-557: The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base . About 70 miles (110 km) to the southeast are the research facilities at Fort Huachuca . These military installations form a kind of hinterland around the El Paso-Tucson region, and are served by scientific and residential communities such as Sierra Vista , Las Cruces , and Alamogordo . El Paso's influence extends north into the Mesilla Valley , and southeast along

7800-592: The Gadsden Purchase in 1853. In 1851, San Luis became the first European settlement in what is now Colorado. Of the states of which at least a portion make up the Southwest, Texas was the first to achieve statehood. On December 29, 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed, bypassing the status of becoming a territory, and immediately became a state. Initially, its borders included parts of what would become several other states: almost half of New Mexico,

7995-650: The Great Depression in the 1930s, many Mexicans and Mexican Americans were repatriated to Mexico. Many deportations were overseen by state and local authorities who acted on the encouragement of Secretary of Labor William N. Doak and the Department of Labor. The government deported at least 82,000 people. Between 355,000 and 1,000,000 were repatriated or deported to Mexico in total; approximately forty to sixty percent of those repatriated were birthright citizens – overwhelmingly children. Voluntary repatriation

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8190-622: The Narváez expedition (1528–36) who had crossed eastern Texas on their way to Mexico City, led an expedition to discover the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. The 1582–3 expedition of Antonio de Espejo explored New Mexico and eastern Arizona; and this led to Juan de Oñate 's establishment of the Spanish province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1598, with a capital founded near Ohkay Oweenge Pueblo , which he called San Juan de los Caballeros. Oñate's party also attempted to establish

8385-532: The Phoenix metropolitan area . The city of Phoenix is the largest urban center, and located in the approximate center of the area that includes Tempe , Mesa , and many others. Meinig calls the third subregion "El Paso, Tucson, and the Southern Borderlands." While El Paso and Tucson are distinctly different cities, they serve as anchor points to the hinterland between them. Tucson occupies

8580-553: The Presidio of San Diego (military post). On July 16, Franciscan friars Junípero Serra , Juan Viscaino and Fernando Parron raised and 'blessed a cross', establishing the first mission in upper Las Californias , Mission San Diego de Alcalá . Colonists began arriving in 1774. Monterey, California was established in 1770 by Father Junípero Serra and Gaspar de Portolà (first governor of Las Californias province (1767–1770), explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey). Monterey

8775-529: The Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando ranch which makes up large part of what is present day Los Angeles. He went on to become a California State Assemblyman and later a California State Senator. His brother former governor of Alta California (under Mexican rule) Pío Pico also became a U.S. citizen and a prominent ranch owner/businessman in California after the war. Many others were not so fortunate as droughts decimated their herds in

8970-492: The Rancho system . In the 1820s–40s, American and European settlers increasingly migrated to Mexican California. Many married Californio women and became Mexican citizens, learning Spanish and often converting to Catholicism , the state religion. They are often also considered Californios, for their adherence to Californio language and culture. In 2004 studies estimated that between 300,000 and 500,000 have ancestry descended from

9165-553: The San Luis Valley of southern Colorado to south of Socorro and including the Sandia-Manzano Mountains , with an east–west breadth in the north stretching from the upper Canadian River to the upper San Juan River . The area around Albuquerque is sometimes called Central New Mexico . "Central Arizona" is a vast metropolitan area spread across one contiguous sprawling oasis, essentially equivalent to

9360-511: The Southwest : California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, during World War I many moved to industrial communities such as St. Louis , Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland , Pittsburgh , and other steel-producing regions, where they gained industrial jobs. Like European immigrants, they were attracted to work that did not require proficiency in English. Industrial restructuring in the second half of

9555-643: The Tejanos who colonized Texas in the Spanish Colonial Period established a government in Texas that desired independence from Spanish-ruled Mexico. In those days, there was no concept of identity as Mexican. Many Mexicans were more loyal to their states/provinces than to their country as a whole, which was a colony of Spain. This was particularly true in frontier regions such as Zacatecas , Texas , Yucatán , Oaxaca , New Mexico , etc. As shown by

9750-502: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , wherein it guaranteed full protection of all property rights for Mexican citizens—with an unspecified time limit. Many ranch owners with their thousands of acres and large herds of cattle, sheep and horses went on to live prosperous lives under U.S. rule. Former commander of the California Lancers Andrés Pico became a U.S. citizen after his return to California and acquired

9945-481: The U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers . Rumors that the Californio government in California was planning to arrest and deport many of the new residents as they had in 1844 led to a degree of uncertainty. On June 14, 1846, thirty-three settlers in Sonoma Valley took preemptive action and captured the small Californio garrison of Sonoma, California without firing a shot and raised a homemade flag with

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10140-661: The U.S. Navy ships in the harbor to the U.S. flag now flying over Monterey. Two days later on July 9, USS  Portsmouth , under Captain John S. Montgomery, landed 70 Marines and bluejacket sailors at Clark's Point in San Francisco Bay and captured Yerba Buena (now named San Francisco ) without firing a shot. On July 11, the Royal Navy sloop HMS  Juno entered San Francisco Bay, causing Montgomery to man his defenses. The large British ship, 2,600 tons with

10335-490: The U.S. flag . Commodore Robert F. Stockton took over as the senior U.S. military commander in California in late July 1846 and asked Frémont's force of California militia and his 60 men to form the California Battalion with U.S. Army pay and ranks with Fremont in command. The California "Republic" disbanded and William Ide enlisted in the California Battalion , when it was established in late July 1846, as

10530-652: The United States , which has inhabited the American Southwest and the West Coast since the 16th century. Some may also identify as Chicanos , a term that came about in the 1960s. The term Californio (historical, regional Spanish for 'Californian') was originally applied by and to the Spanish-speaking residents of Las Californias during the periods of Spanish California and Mexican California , between 1683 and 1848. The first Californios were

10725-640: The civil rights movement ; demands ranged from the restoration of land grants to farm workers' rights, to enhanced education, to voting and political rights, as well as emerging awareness of collective history. The Chicano walkouts of antiwar students is traditionally seen as the start of the more radical phase of the Chicano movement. Mexican Americans were found to place more importance on social and economic issues than they do on immigration. Those who are not citizens care considerably more about social issues. Both citizens and noncitizens identify ethnic issues as

10920-650: The core Southwestern U.S. includes only the states of Arizona and New Mexico; others focus on the land within the old Spanish and Mexican borders of the Nuevo México Province or the later American New Mexico Territory . Distinct elements of the Western lifestyle thrive in the region, such as Western wear and Southwestern cuisines , including Native American , New Mexican , and Tex-Mex , or various genres of Western music like Indigenous , New Mexico , and Tejano music styles. Likewise with

11115-466: The missions for several generations in some cases. When the missions were secularized or dismantled and the Indians did not have to live under continued friar and military control, they were left essentially to survive on their own. Many of the Native Americans reverted to their former tribal existence and left the missions, while others found they could get room and board and some clothing by working for

11310-439: The "Some other race" category were automatically re-classified into the "White race" group. In some cases, legal classification of White racial status has made it difficult for Mexican-American rights activists to prove minority discrimination. In the case Hernandez v. Texas (1954), civil rights lawyers for the appellant, named Pedro Hernandez, were confronted with a paradox: because Mexican Americans were classified as White by

11505-428: The 1830s, as the westward spread of United States settlements and of slavery brought significant numbers of new settlers into the region known as Tejas (modern-day Texas), then part of Mexico. The Mexican–American War , followed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, extended US control over a wide range of territory once held by Mexico, including the present-day borders of Texas and

11700-498: The 1910s to the 1920s, referred to as the Great Migration. During this time period the Mexican Revolution was taking place, creating turmoil within and against the Mexican government causing civilians to seek out economic and political stability in the United States. Over 1.3 million Mexicans relocated to the United States from 1910 well into the 1930s, with significant increases each decade. Many of these immigrants found agricultural work, being contracted under private laborers. During

11895-407: The 1930s and 1940s, many definitions of the Southwest included all or part of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, and Utah. As time has gone on, the definition of the Southwest has become more solidified and more compact. For example, in 1948 the National Geographic Society defined the American Southwest as all of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, and

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12090-413: The 20th century. These settlements grew into modern California cities, including Santa Ana , San Diego , San Fernando , San Jose , Monterey , Los Alamitos , San Juan Capistrano , San Bernardino , Santa Barbara , Arvin , Mariposa , Hemet and Indio . From the 1850s until the 1960s, the Hispanics (of Spanish, Mexican and regional Native American origins) lived in relative autonomy. They practiced

12285-451: The 84,000-acre (340 km ) Rancho Suscol and other properties by Governor José Figueroa in 1834 and later. Vallejo's younger brother, Jose Manuel Salvador Vallejo (1813–1876), was granted the 22,718-acre (91.94 km ) Rancho Napa and other additional grants known as Salvador's Ranch. Over the hills of Mariano Vallejo's estate of Petaluma roamed ten thousand cattle, four to six thousand horses, and many thousands of sheep. He occupied

12480-477: The American Southwest as parts of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah. From this perspective, almost all of the region's physiographical traits, geological formations, and weather are contained within a box between 26° and 38° northern latitude, and 98° 30' and 124° western longitude. When looking at the fauna of the region, there is a broader definition of the American Southwest. The Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research defines

12675-522: The Americans in their quarters at the Government House. Gillespie and his men withdrew from their headquarters in town to Fort Hill which, unfortunately, had no water. Gillespie was caught in a trap, badly outnumbered by the besiegers. John Brown, an American, called by the Californios Juan Flaco , meaning "Lean John", succeeded in breaking through the Californio lines and riding by horseback to San Francisco Bay (a distance of almost 400 miles (640 km)) in an amazing 52 hours where he delivered to Stockton

12870-479: The Americans reinforced their forces in what is now southern California. Tens of thousands of miners and associated people arrived during the California Gold Rush , and their activities in some areas meant the end of the Californios' ranching lifestyle. Many of the English-speaking 49ers turned from mining to farming and moved, often illegally, onto land granted to Californios by the former Mexican government. The United States had first come into conflict with Mexico in

13065-404: The Ancestral Pueblo people, also known as the "Anasazi" (although that term is viewed by modern Pueblo people as derogatory and is becoming more and more disused), began settling in the area in approximately 1500 BC. Eventually, they would spread throughout the entire northern section of the Southwest. This culture would go through several different eras lasting from approximately 1500 BC through

13260-441: The Ancestral Puebloans, while the Akimel O'odham and Tohono O'odham claim descent from Hohokam. The area previously occupied by the Mogollon was taken over by an unrelated tribe, the Apache . While it is unclear whether any of the modern Indian tribes are descended from the Mogollon, some archeologists and historians believe that they mixed with Ancestral Puebloans and became part of the modern Hopi and Zuni tribes. Prior to

13455-545: The Canyonlands section just to its north; the Navajo section is bordered to the south by the Grand Canyon section, which of course is dominated by the Grand Canyon; and the southeasternmost portion of the Plateau is the Datil section, consisting of valleys, mesas, and volcanic formations. Albuquerque is the most populous city often considered at the edge of this portion contained in the Southwest region, but Santa Fe, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona, are also significant population centers. Phoenix , Tucson, and Las Vegas dominate

13650-541: The City of Tucson was founded when the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson was created, relocating the presidio from Tubac. In 1776, two Franciscan priests, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, led an expedition from Santa Fe heading to California. After passing through Colorado, they became the first Europeans to travel into what is now Utah. Their journey was halted by bad weather in October, and they turned back, heading south into Arizona before turning east back to Santa Fe. In 1804 Spain divided

13845-597: The European ancestry of Mexicans was 52%, with the rest being Amerindian and some African contribution. Maternal ancestry was analyzed, with 47% being of European origin. Unlike previous studies that included only Mexicans who self-identified as Mestizos, the only criteria for sample selection in this study was that the volunteers self-identified as Mexicans. While Mexico does not have comprehensive modern racial censuses, some international publications believe that Mexican people of predominately European descent (Spanish or other European) make up approximately one-sixth (16.5%); this

14040-650: The Exploration of the Columbia River of the West and Its Tributaries , which was later republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons . In 1877 silver was discovered in southeastern Arizona. The notorious mining town of Tombstone, Arizona was born to service the miners. The town would become immortalized as the scene of what is considered the greatest gunfight in the history of

14235-491: The Foreign Miners' Tax discussed below forced between five thousand and fifteen thousand foreigners out of work in just a few months. According to Antonio F. Coronel's accounts, there was systematic race-influenced violence conducted by Americans to force out Californios and other Latinos. One account tells of a Frenchman and "un español" being lynched for supposed theft in 1848. Despite offers by Californios to replace

14430-514: The G.I. Forum to work for equal treatment. Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States , also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest , is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico , along with adjacent portions of California , Colorado , Nevada , Oklahoma , Texas , and Utah . The largest cities by metropolitan area are Phoenix , Las Vegas , El Paso , Albuquerque , and Tucson . Before 1848, in

14625-479: The Hispanic towns. California's Governor Pío Pico was criticized for his alleged descent from mestizo and mulato ( mulatto ) settlers. In the 1830s, the newly formed Mexican government was experiencing difficulties, having gone through several revolts, wars, and internal conflicts and a seemingly never-ending string of Mexican Presidents . One of the problems in Mexico was the large amount of land controlled by

14820-603: The Jesuit priest Eusebio Kino established several missions in the Santa Cruz River valley; and Kino further explored southern and central Arizona in 1694, during which he discovered the ruins of Casa Grande. Beginning in 1732, Spanish settlers began to enter the region, and the Spanish started bestowing land grants in Mexico and the Southwest US. In 1751, the O'odham rebelled against the Spanish incursions, but

15015-538: The LDS church issued the 1890 Manifesto , which officially banned polygamy for members of the church. It was the last roadblock for Utah entering the Union, and on January 4, 1896, Utah was officially granted statehood, becoming the 45th state. In 1869, John Wesley Powell led a 3-month expedition which explored the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. In 1875, he would publish a book describing his explorations, Report of

15210-610: The Mexican Government secularized the missions. In effect this meant that the government took control of large and vast areas of land. The government eventually distributed these lands among the elite of the population in the form of Ranchos, which soon became the basic socio-economic units of the province. Relations between Californios and English-speaking settlers were relatively good until 1846, when military officer John C. Fremont arrived in Alta California with

15405-501: The Mexican population have found their common ancestry at 58.96% European, 31.05% Amerindian and 10.03% African. There is genetic asymmetry, with the direct paternal line predominately European and the maternal line predominately Amerindian. Younger Mexican Americans tend to have more Indigenous ancestry; in those studied born between the 1940s and 1990s, there was an average increase in Indigenous ancestry of 0.4% per year. Though there

15600-827: The Mojave Desert. Bordered on the south by the Sonoran Desert and the east by the Colorado Plateau, its range within the region makes up the southeast tip of Nevada, the southwestern corner of Utah and the northwestern corner of Arizona. In terms of topography, the Mojave is very similar to the Great Basin Desert, which lies just to its north. Within the region, Las Vegas is the most populous city; other significant population centers include Laughlin and Pahrump in Nevada, St. George and Hurricane in Utah, and Lake Havasu City , Kingman , and Bullhead City in Arizona. The Mojave

15795-491: The Mojave and Colorado deserts in California. Other individuals who focus on Southwest studies who favored a more limited extent of the area to center on Arizona and New Mexico, with small parts of surrounding areas, include Erna Fergusson , Charles Lummis (who claimed to have coined the term, the Southwest), and cultural geographer Raymond Gastil , and ethnologist Miguel León-Portilla . Geographer D. W. Meinig defines

15990-633: The National Farm Workers Association, and her co-leader César Chávez united with the strikers to form the United Farm Workers . Huerta's slogan " Sí, se puede " (Spanish for "Yes we can"), was popularized by Chávez's fast. It became a rallying cry for the Chicano Movement or Mexican-American civil rights movement. The Chicano movement aimed for a variety of civil rights reforms and was inspired by

16185-680: The Native American (especially Apache , Pueblo , and Navajo ), Hispano , Mexican American , and frontier cowboy . The geography of the region is mainly made up of four features: the Mojave , Sonoran , and Chihuahuan Deserts , and the Colorado Plateau ; although there are other geographical features as well, such as a portion of the Great Basin Desert . The deserts dominate the southern and western reaches of

16380-538: The Old West, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral . Copper was also discovered in 1877, near Bisbee and Jerome in Arizona, which became an important component of the economy of the Southwest. Production began in 1880 and was made more profitable by the expansion of the railroad throughout the territory during the 1880s. The early 1880s also saw the completion of the second transcontinental railroad, which ran through

16575-628: The Pacific Coast in the early months of the Mexican–American War. The Royal Navy Pacific Station ships in the Pacific had more men and were more heavily armed than the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron, but did not have orders to help or hinder the occupation of California. New orders would have taken almost two years to get back to the British ships. The Marines were stationed aboard each ship to assist in ship-to-ship combat, as snipers in

16770-510: The Parry saltbush and the Mojave sage, both only found in the Mojave, as well as the creosote bush. The Colorado Plateau varies from the large stands of forests in the west, including the largest stand of ponderosa pine trees in the world, to the Mesas to the east. Although not called a desert, the Colorado Plateau is mostly made up of high desert. Within the Southwest U.S. region, the Colorado

16965-754: The Pecos, north of the [Mexican] Border, south of the Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon, and east of the mountains which wall off Southern California and make it a land in itself." Texas has long been the focal point of this dichotomy, and is often considered, as such, the core area of "the South's Southwest." While the Trans-Pecos area is generally acknowledged as part of the desert Southwest , most of Texas and large parts of Oklahoma are often placed into

17160-654: The Plateau, which includes spectacular lava formations, "painted" deserts, sand dunes, and badlands. One of the most distinctive features of the Plateau is its longevity, having come into existence at least 500 million years ago. The Plateau can be divided into six sections, three of which fall into the Southwest region. Beginning with the Navajo section forming the northern boundary of the Southwestern United States, which has shallower canyons than those in

17355-484: The Provincia de las Californias, creating the province Alta California , which consisted primarily of what would become California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. In 1821 Mexico achieved its independence from Spain and shortly after, in 1824, developed its constitution , which established the Alta California territory, which was the same geographic area as the earlier Spanish province. In 1825, Arizona

17550-466: The Ranchos that had been originally granted to them by the Mexican government. In the late nineteenth century, liberal Mexican president Porfirio Díaz embarked on a program of economic modernization that triggered not only a wave of internal migration in Mexico from rural areas to cities, but also Mexican emigration to the United States. A railway network was constructed that connected central Mexico to

17745-510: The Rio Grande into the Trans-Pecos region of Texas. The fourth subregion Meinig calls the "Northern Corridor and Navajolands," a major highway and railway trunk which connects Albuquerque and Flagstaff . Just north of the transportation trunk are large blocks of American Indian land. As the US expanded westward , the country's western border also shifted westward, and consequently, so did

17940-543: The Sonora Desert which lies in the Southwestern United States is the most populated area within the region. Six of the top ten major population centers of the region are found within its borders: Phoenix, Tucson , Mesa , Chandler , Glendale , and Scottsdale , all in Arizona. Also within its borders are Yuma and Prescott, Arizona . The most northwest portion of the American Southwest is covered by

18135-405: The Sonoran Desert to the west. The Chihuahuan Desert spreads across the southeastern portion of the region, covering from southeastern Arizona, across southern New Mexico, and the portion of western Texas included in the Southwest. While it is the second largest desert in the United States, only a third of the desert is within the United States, with the rest in Mexico. El Paso and Albuquerque are

18330-410: The Southwest as being only the states of Arizona, New Mexico, with parts of California, Nevada, Texas, and Utah; although they include all of those six states in their map of the region, solely for ease of defining the border. Lawrence Clark Powell, a major bibliographer whose emphasis is on the Southwest, defined the American Southwest in a 1958 Arizona Highways article as, "the lands lying west of

18525-487: The Southwest became embroiled in the Mexican–American War , partly as a result of the United States' annexation of Texas. On August 18, 1846, an American force captured Santa Fe, New Mexico. On December 16 of the same year, American forces captured Tucson, Arizona, marking the end of hostilities in the Southwest United States. When the war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848,

18720-509: The Southwest began to decline for unknown reasons, although severe drought and encroachment from other peoples have been postulated. By the end of the 15th century, all three cultures had disappeared. The modern Puebloan tribes of the Isleta , Sandia , Cochiti , Kewa , Santa Ana , Taos , Jemez , Acoma , Laguna , and Zia , as well as the Hopi and Zuni peoples , trace their ancestry back to

18915-475: The Southwest during Spanish colonial times, as well as local and Mexican Amerindians. New Mexico Hispanos were a notably large majority of the southwest US population. The vast majority of Hispanos are genetically Mestizo with varying degrees of Spanish ancestry, as well as ancestry from Pueblos and various North American Indigenous tribes. New Mexico was far more populated since the 16th century in comparison to Texas & California. As early as 1813, some of

19110-548: The Southwest in a very similar fashion to Reed: the portion of New Mexico west of the Llano Estacado and the portion of Arizona east of the Mojave - Sonoran Desert and south of the "canyon lands" and also including the El Paso district of western Texas and the southernmost part of Colorado. Meinig breaks the Southwest down into four distinct subregions. He calls the first subregion " Northern New Mexico ," and describes it as focused on Albuquerque and Santa Fe . It extends from

19305-554: The Southwest. Around AD 1100 their culture began to develop in the Four Corners area of the region. The Navajos migrated from northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska , where the majority of Athabaskan speakers reside. The Ute were found over most of modern-day Utah and Colorado, as well as northern New Mexico and Arizona. The Paiutes roamed an area which covered over 45,000 square miles of southern Nevada and California, south-central Utah, and northern Arizona. The Hopi settled

19500-720: The Spanish and Mexican eras of California. The term "Californio" has different meanings depending on the author or source. According to the Real Academia Española , a Californio is a person native to California. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a Californio as both a native or resident of this state and a specific ethnic group: the Spanish settlers and their descendants in California. Authors such as Douglas Monroy, Damian Bacich or Covadonga Lamar Prieto, among others, define Californios as exclusively applying to Alta California residents and their descendants.   Historians Hunt Janin and Ursula Carlson consider

19695-499: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexicans were repeatedly targeted by legislation that targeted their socio-economic standing in the area. One significant instance of this is exemplified by the passage of legislation that placed the heaviest tax burden on land. The fact that there was such a heavy tax on land was important to the socio-economic standing of Mexican Americans, because it essentially limited their ability to retain possession of

19890-428: The US border and also opened up previously isolated regions. The second factor was the shift in land tenure that left Mexican peasants without title or access to land for farming on their own account. For the first time, Mexicans in increasing numbers migrated north into the United States for better economic opportunities. In the early 20th century, the first main period of migration to the United States happened between

20085-407: The United States after the treaty was signed were forced to choose between keeping their Mexican citizenship or becoming a US citizen. Few chose to leave their homes, despite the changes in national government. The majority of these Hispanophone populations eventually adopted English as their first language and became Americanized . Also called Hispanos, these descendants of independent Mexico from

20280-474: The United States began to enter the territory. In California, Mexican settlement had begun in 1769 with the establishment of the Presidio and Catholic mission of San Diego. 20 more missions were established along the California coast by 1823, along with military Presidios and civilian communities. Settlers in California tended to stay close to the coast and outside the California interior. The California economy

20475-666: The United States beginning in World War II. They contracted agricultural labor from Mexico due to labor shortages from the World War II draft. An estimated 4.6 million Mexican immigrants were pulled into the United States through the Bracero Program from the 1940s to the 1960s. The lack of agricultural laborers due to increases in military drafts for World War II opened up a chronic need for low-wage workers to fill jobs. While Mexican Americans are concentrated in

20670-414: The United States from Argentina. In 2015, the United States admitted 157,227 Mexican immigrants, and as of November 2016, 1.31 million Mexicans were on the waiting list to immigrate to the United States through legal means. A 2014 survey showed that 34% of Mexicans would immigrate to the United States if given the opportunity, with 17% saying they would do it illegally. Ethnically, Mexican Americans are

20865-446: The United States gained control of all of present-day California, Nevada and Utah, as well as the majority of Arizona, and parts of New Mexico and Colorado (the rest of present-day Colorado, and most of New Mexico had been gained by the United States in their annexation of the Republic of Texas). The final portion of the Southwestern United States came about through the acquisition of the southernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico through

21060-520: The United States had annexed the territory, were prospecting for gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada . Although the territory they were in had up until recently been Mexican land, Californios and other Mexicans very quickly became the minorities and were seen as the foreigners. Once the Gold Rush had truly started in 1849, the campsites were segregated by nationality, further establishing

21255-717: The amendment referred only to racial, not "nationality", groups. Thus, since Mexican Americans were tried by juries composed of their racial group—whites—their constitutional rights were not violated. The US Supreme Court ruling in Hernandez v. Texas case held that "nationality" groups could be protected under the Fourteenth Amendment, and it became a landmark in the civil rights history of the United States. While Mexican Americans served in all-White units during World War II, many Mexican–American veterans continued to face discrimination when they arrived home; they created

21450-678: The ancestral Puebloans. The modern-day Zuni established a culture along the Zuni River in far-eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. Both major tribes of the O'odham tribe settled in the southern and central Arizona, in the lands once controlled by their ancestors, the Hohokam. The first European intrusion into the region came from the south. In 1539, a Jesuit Franciscan named Marcos de Niza led an expedition from Mexico City which passed through eastern Arizona. The following year Francisco Vázquez de Coronado , based on reports from survivors of

21645-580: The area, namely the Animas , San Andres , and Doña Ana Mountains in New Mexico; and the Franklin , Hueco , and Davis Mountains in Texas. It also reaches up into the foothills of the higher ranges such as the Black Range and Oscura Mountains in New Mexico. High above the desert, these forest-covered and sometimes snow-capped mountains form sky islands , with radically different flora and fauna than

21840-526: The area, while the plateau (which is largely made up of high desert) is the main feature north of the Mogollon Rim . The two major rivers of the region are the Colorado River , running in the northern and western areas, and the Rio Grande , running in the east, north to south. Formed approximately 8000 years ago, the Chihuahuan Desert is a relatively dry desert, although it is slightly wetter than

22035-489: The area. The Chihuahuan Desert is considered the "most biologically diverse desert in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most diverse in the world," and includes more species of cacti than any other desert in the world. The most prolific plants in this region are agave , yucca and creosote bushes , in addition to the ubiquitous presence of various cacti species. When people think of the desert southwest,

22230-506: The arrival of Europeans, the Southwestern United States was inhabited by a very large population of American Indian tribes. The area once occupied by the ancestral Puebloans became inhabited by several American Indian tribes, the most populous of which were the Navajo , Ute , Southern Paiute , and Hopi. The Navajo, along with the Hopi, were the earliest of the modern Indian tribes to develop in

22425-479: The brief Mexican–American War conflicts in California. Some of the Californios and California Native Americans fought on the side of the U.S. settlers during the conflict, with some joining John Frémont's California Battalion . Before the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848, the Californios forced the Mexican appointed governor, Manuel Micheltorena , to flee back to Mexico with most of his troops. Pío Pico ,

22620-470: The cattle and horse industry in California. About 600 horses and mules and 300 cattle survived the trip. In 1776 about 200 leather-jacketed soldiers, Friars, and colonists with their families moved to what was called Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) to start building a mission and a presidio there. The leather jackets the soldiers wore consisted of several layers of hardened leather and were strong enough body armor to usually stop an Indian arrow. In California

22815-535: The cattle and horses had few enemies and plentiful grass in all but drought years and essentially grew and multiplied as feral animals—doubling roughly every two years. They partially displaced the Tule Elk and pronghorn antelope who had lived there in large herds previously. Anza selected the sites of the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asís in what is now San Francisco; on his way back to Monterey, he sited Mission Santa Clara de Asís and

23010-717: The century put many Mexican Americans out of work in addition to people of other ethnic groups. Their industrial skills were not as useful in the changing economies of these areas. The Delano grape strike was influenced by the Filipino-American farm worker strike in Coachella Valley, May 1965. Migrant Filipino-American workers asked for a $ 0.15/hour raise. The 1965 Delano grape strike , sparked by mostly Filipino American farmworkers, became an intersectional struggle when labor leaders and voting rights and civil rights activists Dolores Huerta , founder of

23205-572: The children of the early Spanish military expeditions into northern reaches of the Californias. They established the presidios of California and subsequently enabled the foundation of the California mission system . Later, the primary cultural focus of the Californio population became the Vaquero tradition practiced by the landed gentry , who received large land grants and created

23400-405: The classic "Old South" or Southeast , these features are strong enough to give it a separate southwestern identity quite different in nature from that of the interior southwestern states to the west. Californios Californios (singular Californio ) are Hispanic Californians , especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries before California

23595-584: The command of Lt. Colonel John Robert Baylor forced the surrender of the small Union garrison stationed at Fort Fillmore , near Mesilla, New Mexico . On August 1, 1861, Baylor declared the creation of the Arizona Territory , and claimed it for the Confederacy, with Mesilla as its capital. The territory, which had been formed by the portion of the existing New Mexico Territory below the 34th parallel, became official on February 14, 1862. Nevada

23790-490: The conflict (U.S. and Mexico). The battlefield memorials attest to the heroic fight and loss on both sides. Most towns in California surrendered without a shot being fired on either side. What little fighting that did occur usually involved small groups of disaffected Californios and small groups of soldiers, marines or militia . In late December, 1846, while Fremont was in Santa Barbara, Bernarda Ruíz de Rodriguez ,

23985-642: The creation of the Bear Flag Republic . On July 9, US military forces reached Sonoma; they lowered the Bear Flag Republic's flag, replacing it with a US flag. Californios organized an army to defend themselves from invading American forces after the Mexican army retreated from Alta California to defend other parts of Mexico. The Californios defeated an American force in Los Angeles on September 30, 1846. In turn, they were defeated after

24180-626: The early 1860s and they could not pay back the high cost mortgages (poorly understood by the mostly illiterate ranchers) they had taken out to improve their lifestyle and subsequently lost much or all of their property when they could not be repaid. Californios did not disappear. Some people in the area still have strong identities as Californios. Thousands of people who are descended from the Californios have well-documented genealogies of their families. The developing agricultural economy of California allowed many Californios to continue living in pueblos alongside Native peoples and other Mexicans well into

24375-545: The early 21st century, the states with the largest percentages and populations of Mexican Americans are California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. There have also been markedly increasing populations in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Illinois. In terms of religion, Mexican Americans are primarily Roman Catholic , which was largely established in culture during the Spanish and Mexican periods. A large minority are Evangelical Protestants . Notably, according to

24570-645: The early-to-middle 19th century differentiate themselves culturally from the population of Mexican Americans whose ancestors arrived in the American Southwest after the Mexican Revolution . The number of Mexican immigrants in the United States has sharply risen in recent decades. In 1900, there were slightly more than 500,000 Hispanics of Mexican descent living in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California, and Texas. Most were Mestizo Mexican Americans of Spanish and Indigenous descent, Spanish settlers, other Hispanicized European settlers who settled in

24765-592: The effect Texas independence had on the Tejano community: A native of San Antonio, Juan Seguín is probably the most famous Tejano to be involved in the War of Texas Independence. His story is complex because he joined the Anglo rebels and helped defeat the Mexican forces of Santa Anna. But later on, as Mayor of San Antonio, he and other Tejano felt the hostile encroachments of the growing Anglo power against them. After receiving

24960-535: The establishment of Alta Ski Area , Utah's skiing began to be developed. Due to the ski conditions in the state, during WWII, the 10th Mountain Division established Camp Hale in Colorado to train elite ski troops. While this article deals with the core definition for the American Southwest, there are many others. The various definitions can be broken down into four main categories: Historical/Archeological; Geological/Topographical; Ecological; and Cultural. In

25155-489: The fact that "Americans" had taken the title as the majority ethnicity in Northern California. Because the Californio "foreigners" so quickly became a minority, their claims to land protected under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo were ignored when miners overran their land and squatted. Any protests by Californios were quickly put down by hastily formed Euro-American militias, so any legal protection provided by

25350-413: The federal government and not as a separate race in the census, lower courts held that they were not being denied equal protection by being tried by juries that excluded Mexican Americans by practice. The lower court ruled there was no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment by excluding people with Mexican ancestry among the juries. Attorneys for the state of Texas and judges in the state courts contended that

25545-515: The future state of Oregon 's border with about 30 soldiers and 30 scouts and hunters and took command of the "Republic" in the name of the United States. Frémont began to recruit a militia from among the new settlers living around Sutter's Fort to join with his forces. Many of these settlers had just arrived over the California Trail and many more would continue to arrive after July 1846 when they got to California. The Donner Party were

25740-494: The growing importance of the Mexican American vote. The struggle of presidents of both Democratic and Republican administrations to solve immigration reform in the United States has led in part to an increased polarization in the nation over an increasingly diverse population. Mexican Americans have increasingly settled in areas other than traditional centers in the Southwest and Chicago. Most Mexican Roma came to

25935-619: The heart of the Southwest, called the "Santa Fe Route." It ran from Chicago, down through Topeka, then further south to Albuquerque, before heading almost due west through northern Arizona to Los Angeles. The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 led to the decline of the silver mining industry in the region. In 1901, the Santa Fe Railroad reached the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, opening

26130-428: The historical region of Santa Fe de Nuevo México as well as parts of Alta California and Coahuila y Tejas , settlement was almost non-existent outside of Nuevo México's Pueblos and Spanish or Mexican municipalities . Much of the area had been a part of New Spain and Mexico until the United States acquired the area through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the smaller Gadsden Purchase in 1854. While

26325-584: The increasing volume of Anglo-American immigration and restricted the number of settlers from the United States allowed to enter Texas. Consistent with its abolition of slavery, the Mexican government banned slavery within the state, which angered American slave owners. The American settlers, along with many of the Tejano, rebelled against the centralized authority of Mexico City and the Santa Anna regime, while other Tejano remained loyal to Mexico, and still others were neutral. Author John P. Schmal wrote of

26520-551: The key problem that Mexican Americans face, highlighting the need for stronger community and political organization. Since there were not many job opportunities in their country, Mexicans moved to the United States to gain work. They often had to settle for low-paying jobs, including as agricultural workers. During this period, civil rights groups such as the National Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee were founded. By

26715-708: The lands of the central and western portions of northern Arizona. Their village of Oraibi , settled in approximately AD 1100, is, along with Acoma Sky City in New Mexico, one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements in the United States. The Mogollon area became occupied by the Apaches and the Zuni. The Apache migrated into the American Southwest from the northern areas of North America at some point between 1200 and 1500. They settled throughout New Mexico, eastern Arizona, northern Mexico, parts of western Texas, and southern Colorado. The Zuni count their direct ancestry through

26910-413: The landscape of the Sonoran Desert is what mostly comes to mind. The Sonoran Desert makes up the southwestern portion of the Southwest; most of the desert lies in Mexico, but its United States component lies on the southeastern border of California, and the western 2/3 of southern Arizona. Rainfall averages between 4 and 12 in (100 and 300 mm) per year, and the desert's most widely known inhabitant

27105-408: The large ranches that took over the former mission lands and livestock. Many natives who had learned to ride horses and knew a smattering of Spanish were recruited to become vaqueros ( cowboys or cattle herders) that worked the cattle and horses on the large ranchos and did other work. Some of these rancho owners and their hired hands would make up the bulk of the few hundred Californios fighting in

27300-491: The last man to defend it. After three days of tension, Fremont retreated to Oregon without a shot being fired. With relations between Californios and Americans quickly souring, Fremont returned to Alta California, where he encouraged European-American settlers to seize a group of Castro's soldiers and their horses. Another group seized the Presidio of Sonoma and captured Mariano Vallejo. The Americans chose William B. Ide as Commander in Chief and on July 5, 1846, he proclaimed

27495-407: The last of the 48 contiguous United States on February 14, 1912. The 1930s saw the beginning of the ski industry in the Southwest. Resorts were established in Colorado in areas such as Estes Park , Gunnison , and on Loveland Pass . New Mexico's oldest ski area is Sandia Peak Ski Area at the eastern edge of Albuquerque , which opened to skiers in 1936. At the end of the decade, in 1939, with

27690-450: The last settlers to use the Anza trail as the Quechans (Yumas) closed the trail for the next 40 years shortly after they had passed over it. Almost none of the settlers was españoles (Spanish); the rest had casta (caste) designations such as mestizo , indio , and negro . Some classifications were changed in the California Census of 1790, as often happened in colonial Spanish America. The settlers and escort soldiers who founded

27885-475: The last travelers on the trail in late 1846 when they were caught by early snow while they were trying to get across the Sierra Nevada . Under orders from John D. Sloat , Commodore of the Pacific Squadron , the U.S. Marines and some of the bluejacket sailors from the U.S. Navy sailing ships USS  Savannah with the Cyane and Levant captured the Alta California capital city of Monterey, California on July 7, 1846. The only shots fired were salutes by

28080-463: The location of the Southwestern and Northwestern United States . In the early years of the United States, newly colonized lands lying immediately west of the Appalachian Mountains were detached from North Carolina and given the name Southwest Territory . During the decades that followed, the region known as "the Southwestern United States" covered much of the Deep South east of the Mississippi River. However, as territories and eventual states to

28275-412: The major US cities in this desert, with other smaller cities being Las Cruces and Roswell in New Mexico and Willcox in Arizona. The elevation in the Chihuahuan varies from about 1,750 to 6,000 feet (500 to 1,800 meters), as there are several larger mountain ranges, such as the Organ Mountains , the Guadalupe Mountains , and the Chiracahua Mountains , plus many smaller mountain ranges contained in

28470-485: The middle of the 15th century AD: the Basketmaker I , II , and III phases followed by the Pueblo I , II , III , and IV . As the Puebloans transitioned from a nomadic lifestyle to one based on both dry land and irrigated agriculture, their first domiciles were pithouses. The Mogollon culture developed later than the Puebloan, arising in the eastern area of the region at around 300 BC. Their range would eventually extend deep into what would become Mexico, and dominate

28665-430: The missions, presidios , and pueblo (town) dwellers. The mission lands and herds formerly controlled by the missions were usually distributed to the settlers around each mission. Since most had almost no money, the land was distributed or granted free or at very little cost to friends and families of the government officials (or those who paid the highest bribes). The Californio Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo , for example,

28860-781: The new California legislature was ineffective when the threat of violence and lynchings loomed. Even if Californios were able to win their land back in court, often lawyer's fees cost large sums of land that left them with a fraction of their former wealth. Many Latino miners were experienced due to learning a "dry-digging" technique in the Mexican mining state of Sonora . Their early success drew praise and respect from Euro-American miners, they eventually became jealous and used threats and violence to force Mexican workers out of their plots and into less lucrative ones. In addition to these informal forms of discrimination, Anglo miners also worked to establish Jim Crow -like laws to prevent Latinos from mining altogether. In 1851, mob violence as well as

29055-425: The peace agreement she and Fremont had forged. Fremont and two of Pico's officers agreed to the terms for a surrender, and Jose Antonio Carrillo penned Articles of Capitulation in both English and Spanish. The first seven articles were almost entirely from Ruiz's suggestions. The story of Bernarda Ruiz is based largely on two short paragraphs and a footnote in Fremont's memoirs, first published in 1887. Many aspects of

29250-401: The peace. In Pueblo de Los Angeles , the largest city in California with about 3,000 residents, things might have remained peaceful, except that Major Gillespie placed the town under martial law, greatly angering some of the Californios. On September 23, 1846, about 200 Californios under Californio General José María Flores staged a revolt, the Siege of Los Angeles , and exchanged shots with

29445-401: The ports in Mexican California and elsewhere along the Pacific Coast. The only other United States military force in California at the time was a small exploratory expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel John C. Frémont , made up of 30 topographical, surveying, etc. army troops and about 25 men hired as guides and hunters. The Frémont expedition had been dispatched to California, in 1845, from

29640-441: The pueblo San Jose in the Santa Clara Valley but did not initially leave settlers to settle them. Mission San Francisco de Asís (or Mission Dolores), the sixth Spanish mission, was founded on June 29, 1776, by Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga and Father Francisco Palóu (a companion of Junípero Serra). On November 29, 1777, El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (The Town of Saint Joseph of Guadalupe now called simply San Jose)

29835-437: The region's boundaries are not officially defined, there have been attempts to do so. One such definition is from the Mojave Desert in California in the west (117° west longitude) to Carlsbad, New Mexico , in the east (104° west longitude); another says that it extends from the Mexico–United States border in the south to the southern areas of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada in the north (39° north latitude). In another definition,

30030-438: The reported amount of gold stolen, they were still hanged. In addition, later in the Gold Rush, Coronel and his group found a rich vein of gold on the American River. When Euro-Americans caught wind of this, they invaded the claim armed and insisted it was their plot, forcing out Coronel and ending his mining career. Accounts like these show the harsh and violent living and working conditions that Californios were faced with during

30225-421: The revolt was unsuccessful. In fact, it had the exact opposite effect, for the result of the rebellion was the establishment of the presidio at Tubac , the first permanent European settlement in Arizona. In 1768, the Spanish created the Provincia de las Californias , which included California and the Southwest US. Over approximately the next 50 years, the Spanish continued to explore the Southwest, and in 1776

30420-435: The rigging, and to defend against boarders. They could also be detached for use as armed infantry . In addition, there were some "bluejacket" sailors on each ship that could be detached for shore duty as artillery crews and infantry, leaving the ship functional though short handed. The artillery used were often small naval cannon converted to land use. The Pacific Squadron had orders, in the event of war with Mexico, to seize

30615-523: The same American flag originally flown over Los Angeles . Los Angeles was retaken without a fight on January 10, 1847. Following their defeat at the Battle of La Mesa , the Californio government signed the Treaty of Cahuenga , which ended the war in California on January 13, 1847. The main Californio military force, known as the Californio lancers , was disbanded. On January 16, 1847, Commodore Stockton appointed Frémont military governor of U.S. territorial California. Some Californios fought on both sides of

30810-433: The same day—June 1, 1863. In some cases particular mission land and livestock were split into parcels and then distributed by drawing lots. In nearly all cases the Indians got very little of the mission land or livestock. Whether any of the proceeds of these sales made their way back to Mexico City is unknown. These lands had been worked by settlers and the much larger settlements of local Native American Kumeyaay peoples on

31005-402: The sought-after Southwestern architectural styles in the region inspired by blending Pueblo and Territorial styles, with Mediterranean Revival , Spanish Colonial architecture , Mission Revival architecture , Pueblo Deco , and Ranch-style houses in the form of the amalgamated Pueblo Revival and Territorial Revival architectures. This is due to the region's caballero heritage of

31200-400: The south the 37th parallel . In 1862 Nevada's eastern border shifted to the 38th meridian west from Washington , and finally to its current position at the 37th meridian west from Washington in 1866. The boundary modification in 1866 also included adding the southern triangular tip of the present-day state, taken from the Arizona Territory. From July 24–27, 1861 a Confederate force under

31395-402: The southeastern portion of the Southwest. Their settlements would evolve over time from pit-dwellings through pueblos and finally also incorporating cliff-dwellings. The Hohokam were the last of these ancestral cultures to develop, somewhere around AD 1, but they would grow to be the most populous of the three by AD 1300, despite being the smallest of the three in terms of area, covering most of

31590-437: The southernmost sections of Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, as well as parts of southwest Nebraska, western Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. By 1977, the Society's definition had narrowed to only the four states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico; and by 1982 the portion of the Southwest in the United States, as defined by the Society, had shrunk to Arizona and New Mexico, with the southernmost strip of Utah and Colorado, as well as

31785-403: The southwest portion. Beginning in approximately AD 600, the Hohokam began to develop an extensive series of irrigation canals; of the three major cultures in the Southwest, only the Ancestral Puebloans of the Chaco culture and the Hohokam developed irrigation as a means of watering their agriculture. Not long after the Hohokam reached the height of their culture, all three major cultures in

31980-434: The state government in December, 1851. It was named Benicia for the General's wife, Francisca Benicia Carillo de Vallejo. The General intended that the prospective city be named "Francisca" after his wife, but this name was dropped when the city of Yerba Buena changed its name to "San Francisco" on January 30, 1847. Benicia was the third site selected to serve as the California state capital, and its newly constructed city hall

32175-422: The states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California. Although the treaty promised that the landowners in this newly acquired territory would have their property rights preserved and protected as if they were citizens of the United States, many former citizens of Mexico lost their land in lawsuits before state and federal courts over terms of land grants, or as a result of legislation passed after

32370-408: The story cannot be verified in primary source materials. On January 13, at a deserted rancho at the north end of Cahuenga Pass (modern-day North Hollywood), John Fremont, Andres Pico and six others signed the Articles of Capitulation, which became known as the Treaty of Cahuenga. Fighting ceased, thus ending the war in California. In 1848, Congress set up a Board of Land Commissioners to determine

32565-408: The surrounding desert below. The sky islands also supply the surrounding desert foothills with flowing water during the spring runoff and after the summer storms of the New Mexican monsoon season . The Chihuahuan is a "rain shadow" desert, formed between two mountain ranges (the Sierra Madre Occidental on the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental on the east) which block oceanic precipitation from reaching

32760-408: The terms "Spanish", "Mexican", and sometimes, "colored"; some Californios even intermarried with Mexican Americans (those whose ancestors were refugees escaping the Mexican Revolution in 1910). Alexander V. King has estimated that there were between 300,000 and 500,000 descendants of Californios in 2004. In 1848, gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill , near Coloma , California. This discovery

32955-503: The town without firing a shot. Leaving about 40 men to garrison San Diego, Fremont continued on to Los Angeles where on August 13, with the Navy band playing and colors flying, the combined forces of Stockton and Frémont entered Pueblo de Los Angeles, without a man killed nor shot fired. U.S. Marine Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie , Frémont's second in command, was appointed military commander of Los Angeles with an inadequate force from 30 to 50 California Battalion troops stationed there to keep

33150-417: The towns of San José de Guadalupe , Yerba Buena (San Francisco), Monterey, San Diego and La Reina de Los Ángeles were primarily mestizo and of mixed Negro and Native American ancestry from the province of Sonora y Sinaloa in Mexico. Recruiters in Mexico of the Fernando Rivera y Moncada expedition and other expeditions later, who were charged with founding an agricultural community in Alta California, had

33345-407: The treaty. Even those statutes which Congress passed to protect the owners of property at the time of the extension of the United States' borders, such as the 1851 California Land Act, had the effect of dispossessing Californio owners. They were ruined by the cost over years of having to maintain litigation to support their land titles. Following the concession of California to the United States under

33540-421: The validity of Mexican land grants in California. California Senator William M. Gwin presented a bill that, when approved by the Senate and the House on March 3, 1851, became the California Land Act of 1851 . It stated that unless grantees presented evidence supporting their title within two years, the property would automatically pass back into the public domain . Rancho owners cited the articles VIII and X of

33735-405: The very southern tip of Nevada; while the Utah Territory consisted of Utah, most of Nevada, and portions of Wyoming and Colorado. The New Mexico Territory was expanded along its southern extent, to its current border, with the signing of the Gadsden Purchase Treaty on December 30, 1853, which was ratified by the U.S. Congress, with some slight alterations, in April 1854. The Colorado Territory

33930-474: The very southernmost part of Utah, southwestern Colorado, the very tip of west Texas, and triangle formed by the southern tip of Nevada. This will be the defined scope that is used in this article unless otherwise specified in a particular area. Parts of the other states make up the various areas that can be included in the Southwest, depending on the source. The Learning Center of the American Southwest (LCAS) does not rely on current state boundaries, and defines

34125-448: The way for a tourism boom, a trend led by restaurant and hotel entrepreneur Fred Harvey . The last two territories within the Southwest to achieve statehood were New Mexico and Arizona. By 1863, with the splitting off of the Arizona Territory, New Mexico reached its modern borders. They became states within forty days of one another. On January 6, 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state in the Union. Arizona would shortly follow, becoming

34320-459: The west to Las Vegas, New Mexico in the East. Reed's definition is roughly equivalent to the western half of the Learning Center of the American Southwest's definition, leaving out any portion of Kansas and Oklahoma, and much of Texas, as well as the eastern half of New Mexico. Since this article is about the Southwestern United States, the areas of Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico will be excluded. The portion left includes Arizona and western New Mexico,

34515-429: The west were added after the Mexican–American War , the geographical "Southwest" expanded, and the relationship of these new acquisitions to the South itself became "increasingly unclear." However, archeologist, Erik Reed, gives a description which is the most widely accepted as defining the American Southwest, which runs from Durango, Colorado in the north, to Durango, Mexico, in the south, and from Las Vegas, Nevada in

34710-458: The westernmost metropolitan areas in the Southwest, while Albuquerque - Santa Fe and El Paso - Las Cruces dominate the easternmost metropolitan areas. Human history in the Southwest begins with the arrival of the Clovis culture , a Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer culture which arrived sometime around 9000 BC. This culture remained in the area for several millennia. At some point they were replaced by three great Pre-Columbian Indian cultures:

34905-412: The word has changed through time, and in the early 21st century, it is used to refer to the segment of the Mexican population who are of at least partial Indigenous ancestry, but do not speak Indigenous languages . Thus in Mexico, the term "Mestizo", while still applying mostly to people who are of mixed European and Indigenous descent, to various degrees, has become more of a cultural label rather than

35100-400: The writings of colonial Tejanos such as Antonio Menchaca , the Texas Revolution was initially a colonial Tejano cause. Mexico encouraged immigration from the United States to settle east Texas and, by 1831, English-speaking settlers outnumbered Tejanos ten to one in the region. Both groups were settled mostly in the eastern part of the territory. The Mexican government became concerned about

35295-454: Was 3 miles (5 km) from the original San Jose pueblo site in neighboring Santa Clara . Mission San José was not founded until 1797, about 20 miles (30 km) north of San Jose in what is now Fremont . The Los Angeles Pobladores ("villagers") is the name given to the 44 original Sonorans—22 adults and 22 children—who settled the Pueblo of Los Angeles in 1781. The pobladores were agricultural families from Sonora , Mexico. They were

35490-403: Was California's capitol from February 11, 1853, to February 25, 1854. Vallejo gave the Rancho Suscol to his oldest daughter, Epifania Guadalupe Vallejo, on April 3, 1851, as a wedding present when she married U.S. Army General John H. Frisbie. It is unknown what he gave as a wedding present when his two daughters Natalia and Jovita married the brothers, Attila Haraszthy and Agoston Haraszthy , on

35685-423: Was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, becoming the 36th state. This was followed by the admittance to the Union of Colorado, which became the 38th state on August 1, 1876. Confederate Arizona was short-lived, however. By May 1862, Confederate forces had been driven out of the region by union troops. That same month a bill was introduced into the U.S. Congress, and on February 24, 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed

35880-436: Was annexed by the United States. California's Spanish-speaking community has resided there since 1683 and is made up of varying Spanish and Mexican origins, including criollos , Mestizos , Indigenous Californian peoples, and small numbers of Mulatos. Alongside the Tejanos of Texas and Neomexicanos of New Mexico and Colorado, Californios are part of the larger Spanish-American / Mexican-American /Hispano community of

36075-422: Was based on agriculture and livestock. In contrast to central New Spain, coastal colonists found little mineral wealth. Some became farmers or ranchers, working for themselves on their own land or for other colonists. Government officials, priests, soldiers, and artisans settled in towns, missions, and presidios. One of the most important events in the history of Mexican settlers in California occurred in 1833, when

36270-556: Was first published in Monterey on August 15, 1846, after the city's occupation by the U.S. Navy's Pacific Squadron on July 7, 1846. Late in 1775, Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza led an overland expedition over the Gila River trail he had discovered in 1774 to bring colonists from Sonora New Spain (Mexico) to California to settle two missions , one presidio , and one pueblo (town). Anza led 240 friars, soldiers and colonists with their families. They started out with 695 horses and mules and 385 Texas Longhorn bulls and cows—starting

36465-425: Was founded by José Joaquín Moraga on the first pueblo -town not associated with a mission or a military post ( presidio ) in Alta California. The original San Jose settlers were part of the original group of 200 settlers and soldiers that had originally settled in Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Mission Santa Clara , founded in 1777, was the eighth mission founded and closest mission to San Jose. Mission Santa Clara

36660-401: Was made only nine days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which turned over California to the United States as a result of the Mexican–American War. From the end of 1849 to the end of 1852, the population in California increased from 107,000 to 264,000 due to the California Gold Rush . In early 1849, approximately 6,000 Mexicans, many of whom were Californios who remained after

36855-426: Was much more common during the repatriations than formal deportation. According to legal professor Kevin R. Johnson, the repatriation campaign was based on ethnicity and meets the modern legal standards of ethnic cleansing , because it frequently ignored individuals' citizenship. The second period of increased migration is known as the Bracero Era from 1942 to 1964. This referred to the Bracero program implemented by

37050-433: Was organized on February 28, 1861, created out of lands then currently in the Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, and New Mexico territories. The Nevada Territory was also organized in 1861, on March 2, with land taken from the existing Utah Territory. Initially, only the western 2/3 of what is currently the State of Nevada was included in the territory, with its boundary to the east being the 39th meridian west from Washington , and to

37245-423: Was reputed to be the richest man in California before the California Gold Rush . Vallejo oversaw the secularization of Mission San Francisco Solano and the distributions of its roughly 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km ). He founded the towns of Sonoma and Petaluma, California , owned Mare Island and the future town site of Benicia, California , and was granted the 66,622-acre (269.61 km ) Rancho Petaluma ,

37440-442: Was settled with two friars and about 40 men and served as the capital of California from 1777 to 1849. The nearby Carmel Mission , in Carmel, California was moved there after a year in Monterey to keep the mission and its Mission Indians away from the Monterey Presidio soldiers. It was the headquarters of the original Alta California province missions headed by Father-President Junípero Serra from 1770 until his death in 1784—he

37635-422: Was the gente de razón , a term literally meaning "people of reason". It designated peoples who were culturally Hispanic (that is, they were not living in traditional Native American communities) and had adopted Christianity . This served to distinguish the Mexican Indio settlers and converted Californian Indios from the barbaro (barbarian) Californian Native Americans, who had not converted or become part of

37830-484: Was the largest and richest landowner in Mexico and its provinces. In California the situation was even more pronounced, as the Franciscan friars held over 90% of all settled property, supposedly in trust for the mission Indians . In 1834, secularization laws that voided the mission control of lands in the northern settlements under Mexican rule were enacted. The missions directed thousands of Indians in herding livestock, growing crops and orchards, weaving cloth, etc. for

38025-434: Was visited by its first non-Spanish Europeans, English trappers. In 1836, the Republic of Texas , which contained the easternmost of the Southwest United States, won its independence from Mexico. In 1845 the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States and immediately became a state, bypassing the usual territory phase. The new state still contained portions of what would eventually become parts of other states. In 1846,

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