Quechan
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Kwatsáan | |
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Catholicism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Maricopa, Mojave, Kumeyaay, Yavapai |
The Quechan (Quechan: Kwatsáan 'those who descended'), or Yuma, are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the Mexican border.[2] Despite their name, they are not related to the Quechua people of the Andes. Members are enrolled into the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation. The federally recognized Quechan tribe's main office is located in Winterhaven, California. Its operations and the majority of its reservation land are located in California, United States.
History
The historic Yuman-speaking people in this region were skilled warriors and active traders, maintaining exchange networks with the
The first significant contact of the Quechan with
Once the initial contact had been made, The Quechan people seemed inviting toward Juan Bautista de Anza. He promised them to set up a mission where all people would live together instead of in a hierarchy. Alongside the promise, de Anza gave Palma’s people horses, steel weapons, clothes, and iron as a token of allegiance.[6]
This allegiance would soon sour as the bureaucracy of the Spanish Empire would cause major delays to the construction of the missions. When the Spanish’s first gifts arrived in 1780, they would be more of a bad omen than a sign of friendship as the livestock being herded to them would go and trample most of if not all the Quechan’s crops. That year there was severe lack of rain thus forcing the Quechan to raid another nearby tribe known as the Maricopa.[6]
The following year, two high members of the tribe were arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate a high-ranking officer. One of the natives was placed in stocks to humiliate them and this caused Palma to finally turn his back on the Spanish.[6]
Spanish settlement among the Quechan did not go smoothly; the tribe rebelled from July 17–19, 1781 and killed four priests and thirty soldiers. They also attacked and damaged the Spanish mission settlements of San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer and Puerto de Purísima Concepción, killing many. The following year, the Spanish retaliated with military action against the tribe.[7] After 1840, the Quechan people near La Frontera returned to their original ways of religious practice as soon as the mission priests left and no one replaced them.[8]
After the United States annexed the territories after winning the
La Sierra de las Pintas
The Sierra de las Pintas was a mountain range that most Spanish expeditions would actively avoid. Spanish explorers were able to see the range, but avoided exploring due to the Quechan informing them that it was inhabitable and had no drinkable water sources.[8]
When the Spanish had the Yumans guide them through the Sierra de las Pintas, they would take the Spanish to an area with little to no water in order to discourage further exploration.[8]
The Spanish later on attempted to explore the mountain range, searching for water in creative ways. Explorers would follow herds of Bighorn Sheep up the mountain or by chance would find small patches of vegetation pointing toward a hidden water source.[8]
The Yuma Route
The Yuma route was a trail that ran from Southern New Mexico and reached Chihuahua and Sonora. The trail branched out even further to reach the Los Angeles Basin, San Diego, Colorado River and the Gila River. This route was well established before the arrival of the Spanish, and used as a trade route amongst the tribes of the areas.[9]
At first, the Spanish used minor portions of the trail. It was not until San Diego and Monterey were established that they needed a more reliable and faster path. The path was first walked by Sebastian Taraval, a Cochimi indigenous who fled from San Gabriel. Sebastian was then followed by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza. Anza was only able to follow Sebatian to the Imperial Valley Kamia village, where he lost Sebastian and was forced to reach the Quechuan people on his own.[9]
Population
Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially (see
Kroeber estimated the population of the Quechan in 1910 as 750. By 1950, there were reported to be just under 1,000 Quechan living on the reservation and more than 1,100 off it (Forbes 1965:343). The
Language
The Quechan language is part of the
The Quechan tribe, in partnership with linguists, have created a fully detailed language guide. This guide includes sections about their alphabet along with the different words for actions, animals, the body, colors, directions, family and friends, house, money, nature and the environment, numbers, place names, plants, time, and shapes.[11]
Fort Yuma Native American Reservation
The Fort Yuma Indian Reservation is a part of the Quechan's traditional lands. Established in 1884, the reservation, at 32°47′N 114°39′W / 32.783°N 114.650°W, has a land area of 178.197 km2 (68.802 sq mi) in southeastern Imperial County, California, and western Yuma County, Arizona, near the city of Yuma, Arizona. Both the county and city are named for the tribe.
See also
- Quechan traditional narratives
- Quechan language
- Fort Yuma
- Blythe geoglyphs
- Indigenous peoples of the Americas
- Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
- Native Americans in the United States
References
- ^ "2010 Census CPH-T-6. American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010" (PDF). census.gov.
- ^ "About Us - Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe". www.quechantribe.com. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
- ISBN 978-1-61530-130-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8061-4963-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8165-3685-6.
- ^ a b c Service, United States National Park (1993). The Spanish Missionary Heritage of the United States: Selected Papers and Commentaries from the November 1990 Quincentenary Symposium. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service.
- ISBN 978-0-8061-5509-8.
- ^ S2CID 252324718.
- ^ JSTOR 25155639.
- ^ "Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe". Keepers of the River. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ "Departments - Quechan Language Preservation - Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe". www.quechantribe.com. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
Further reading
- Forbes, Jack D. (1965). Warriors of the Colorado: The Yumas of the Quechan Nation and Their Neighbors. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Kroeber, A. L. (1925). Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. Vol. 78. Washington, DC.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Pritzker, Barry M. (2000). A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1.
- Zappia, Natale A. (2014). Traders and Raiders: The Indigenous World of the Colorado Basin, 1540–1859. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
- "Yuma Reservation, California/Arizona". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2006-11-27.
External links
- Quechan Tribal Council, official website
- Fort Yuma-Quechan Tribe, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona