Encyclopedia of North American Indians -

Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Akimel O'odham (Pima)

The Akimel O'odhams (River People), formerly known as the Pimas, are some of the oldest residents of the American Southwest. Approximately 14,400 Piman-speaking people live in Arizona on the Salt River and Gila River Indian reservations just beyond the Phoenix city limits. The Akimel creation stories tell how the River People inherited the pre-Columbian culture of the Hohokams and developed agricultural villages along the perennial Gila and Salt Rivers. Spanish missionaries first contacted the Gila River people in the 1690s. Although never under Spanish rule, the Akimels demonstrated their business acumen in trade with the presidio at Tucson. They also cooperated with the Spanish against the Yavapai and Apaches.

In the early 1800s, the Akimels welcomed the migrating Maricopas into the Gila River valley. The two groups formed a strong defensive alliance, and today they still peacefully share the Gila River and Salt River reservations.

Travelers to the California goldfields described the Akimel villages as an oasis. The River People enjoyed a brisk business in selling food and animals to the forty-niners. With federal troops diverted elsewhere during the Civil War, the territorial government relied for protection on the River People under the Akimel leader Antonio Azul.

In 1859 the U.S. government established the Gila River Reservation but failed to protect the Akimels' water supply as settlers upstream diverted the Gila River. Even though most Akimels and Maricopas stayed on the Gila River, some moved to the Salt River, where a second reservation was established in 1879. During the second half of the nineteenth century the Akimels went from being prosperous farmers and businessmen to working as dependent laborers for Anglo-American settlers. The Presbyterian missionary Charles Cook stepped into this unstable situation, and by the turn of the century most Akimels had converted to the Protestant faith.

No longer self-supporting, the Akimels referred to the period from the 1870s through the early twentieth century as "the years of famine." The situation worsened in the late 1910s, when the Bureau of Indian Affairs allotted each tribal member only ten acres of irrigable land (when there was any water). In the 1930s, an overly paternalistic BIA superintendent inadvertently damaged the quality of the soil when he leveled the Akimels' farms in an effort to improve irrigation.

The situation improved only when the River People reasserted control over their future. As early as 1911 a tribal member, Kisto Morago, organized a "business committee" to investigate issues affecting the Akimels. The group successfully forced a reservation agent to resign. The Akimels' potential for self-rule increased with the organization of a tribal government in 1936 in accordance with the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Returning World War II veterans used the Akimel government to promote tribal enterprises that could take advantage of the nearby Phoenix market. Successful ventures include the Gila River Farms, Gila River Telecommunications, Firebird International Raceway, and two industrial parks that by 1977 had attracted sixteen firms; recently, the Gila River Casino has opened for business. To help preserve Akimel culture, the tribe established the Gila River Arts and Crafts Center. The tribal constitution was amended in 1962 to increase the Akimel government's responsiveness to the River People's wishes.

Problems still exist. A settlement in 1978 from the Indian Claims Commission was far from satisfactory, and the Akimel community is still negotiating the return of an adequate water supply. Urban problems are also encroaching on the reservation. Nevertheless, the River People's prospects have improved now that the community is united in its desire to control its future.





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