Arizona, which was formerly part of the Territory of New Mexico, was organized as a separate territory on February 24, 1863. Arizona became the forty-eighth state in 1912. Exactly 110 years ago, on Monday, Arizona joined the United States. But it wasn't exactly a simple process. At the time, the eastern half of the country considered the territory of Arizona to be rebellious and not Anglo-Saxon enough. It was the Wild West full of unpleasant characters.
In this episode of Valley 101, we dive into the story leading up to Admission Day and the process of becoming part of the United States. Listen to Valley 101 on your favorite podcast app, or play the full episode below. Follow Valley 101 and all azcentral podcasts on Twitter and Instagram. After the successful revolution that led Mexico to independence from Spain in 1821, the new government ordered the closure of missions in Arizona.
The expedition of the Spanish priest Fray Marcos de Niza in 1539, which searched for the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola, led the first European explorers to the area now known as Arizona. Over the past 2000 years, the prehistoric societies that developed in Arizona were highly organized and advanced. Memorials from the territories of Arizona and New Mexico requesting statehood from Congress, 1899 and 1901. Arizona has become one of the most excavated parts of the New World for archaeological research on this period. Baylor defined the Confederate Territory of Arizona, separating it from the territory of New Mexico along a horizontal line at the 34th parallel, a measure that the Confederate government soon approved.
Hunt, the man who would become the state's first governor, who was instrumental in guiding Arizona to statehood. In the early 18th century, Roman Catholic missionaries established churches in the upper part of the Santa Cruz Valley, in southern Arizona. When European settlers arrived in the area now known as Arizona, they came into conflict with the Navajos and other indigenous peoples, who participated in raids to obtain food, livestock and captives. In 1849, Arizona's population began to grow with the California Gold Rush, which attracted miners to the area.
The following year, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led a large, well-armed expedition to Arizona in an effort to reclaim for Spain what is now known as the southwestern United States. The authorization allowed Arizona to enter into a constitutional convention so that residents could ratify the state constitution. The Grand Canyon, considered one of the seven great natural wonders of the world, earned Arizona the nickname “Grand Canyon State”. When statehood for Arizona was first proposed in the early 20th century, to compensate for the lack of people in the territory, the idea of union was presented.
Known as the “long hike,” more than 8,500 Diné people were forced to leave their homes in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico and walk 300 miles for two months to the Redondo Forest Reserve, in eastern New Mexico, near Fort Sumner.
