Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Post-Archaic, Spanish, Mexican, and American eras are all included in Arizona’s history. In what is now Arizona, Paleo-Indians first inhabited between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago.
The state was home to the Hohokam, the Mogollon, the Sinagua, and the Ancient Puebloan cultures a few thousand years ago. Nevertheless, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, all of these civilizations vanished from the area inexplicably. Arizona is home to numerous historic ruin sites. Although there were not many settlers in Arizona, it was a part of the Mexican state of Sonora starting in 1822.
Following the Mexican War, the United States annexed Arizona above the Gila River in 1848 under the provisions of the Mexican Cession, incorporating it into the state of New Mexico. In 1854, the United States acquired the northern portion of Sonora, which is today Arizona south of the Gila River, through the Gadsden Purchase.
To create the Arizona Territory, Arizona was divided from the Territory of New Mexico in 1863. When railroads arrived in the area in 1880, it became less isolated. When Arizona became a state in 1912, it was mostly a rural state with a cattle, cotton, citrus, and copper-based economy. After 1945, there was a sharp increase in population as seniors and young families left the Northeast and Midwest for the Midwest and warmer climate.
During the Mexican-American War, the commander of the garrison managed to stay out of trouble with Lieutenant Colonel Cooke and the Mormon Battalion by leaving the town while the Americans passed through it en route to California. Mexico gave over the northern 70% of present-day Arizona to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), which was signed above the boundary with Sonora along the Gila River.
Upward of 50,000 individuals used Cooke’s Southern Emigrant Trail during the California Gold Rush to get to the gold fields in 1849.In addition to frequently selling fresh food, the Pima Villages helped troubled visitors in this crowd and in years that followed.