Figure 1.--This photograph was taken by Frederick I. Monsen and published in 1908. It shows two little Hopi children. Source: Library of Congress LC-USZ62-101159. |
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The Hopi at their peak inhabited virtually all of northern Arizona, including areas of southwestern California and southern Nevada. The Hopis have a reservation in Black Mesa, Arizona near the famed Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. The Hopi speak a Shoshonean language, which is one of the Uto-Aztecan languages branches of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock. An exception is the Hano Pueblo where the people speak a language which belongs to the Tanoan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock. The Hopi or Moki/Moqui are one of the principal Pueblo tribal groups. The Hopi were a pre-literate people. Researchers have been avle to develop some basic history of the Hopu through archeology, anthropology, and linguistic studies. DNA studies may be avle to tell us more. The written record, however, only begins with the European discovery and exploration of the America. Within only decades of Columbus' voyages, Spanish Conquistadores reached the Hopi nd other Pueblo peoples (1540). The Hopi began involved in a fight for their existence with both the Spanish and Navho. Theur response was to move into more remote areas and build better protected pueblos. Spanish missionaries built missions, but they were destroyed in the Hopi Revolt. The remote inhospital lands and the small Spanish population was their best protection. The same was true after Mexican independence. The expanding United States reached the the Hopi after the Civil War. American authorities moved the Hopi on to the Black Nesa Reservation. The Hopi are best known for their agricultural skills. To achieve high levels of agricultural production they used methods like terracing and varius types of irrigation. Corn was the primary crop. They also raised cotton, beans, squash, and tobacco. This thriving agricultural economy was a phenomenal technological achievement in the middle of the Arizona desert. Since the coming of the Spanish, sheep ranching has become important. A further social impact as the villages grew was that clans began to form with land ties. Hopi villages were divided into the clans and governed by a chief, who was a political and spiritual leader. Clans became very important in Hopi society. Both political and religious duties revolved around the clans. Each clan became responsible for specific fields in the valleys (arroyos) below the mesas. Hopi society was organize on matrilineal lines. All important field inheritance and social status was thus passed through the mothers. It was the men who worked the fields.
The Hopi at their peak inhabited virtually all of northern Arizona, including areas of southwestern California and southern Nevada. The Hopis have a reservation in Black Mesa, Arizona near the famed Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park.
The Hopi speak a Shoshonean language, which is one of the Uto-Aztecan languages branches of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock. An exception is the Hano Pueblo where the people speak a language which belongs to the Tanoan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock. This presumably reflects the lack of political centralization of early Hopi groups. The Hano came from the Rio Grande area and arrived centuries after the other Hopi. Until the development of DNA studies. lingustic studies were one of the few ways of assessing ethnic relationships among tribes.
The Hopi or Moki/Moqui are one of the principal Pueblo tribal groups,
The Hopi were a pre-literate people. Researchers have been avle to develop some basic history of the Hopu through archeology, anthropology, and linguistic studies. DNA studies may be avle to tell us more. The written record, however, only begins with the European discovery and exploration of the America. Within only decades of Columbus' voyages, Spanish Conquistadores reached the Hopi nd other Pueblo peoples (1540). The Hopi began involved in a fight for their existence with both the Spanish and Navho. Theur response was to move into more remote areas and build better protected pueblos. Spanish missionaries built missions, but they were destroyed in the Hopi Revolt. The remote inhospital lands and the small Spanish population was their best protection. The same was true after Mexican independence. The expanding United States reached the the Hopi after the Civil War. American authorities moved the Hopi on to the Black Nesa Reservation.
The history of the Hopi begins about 500 BC. The Hopi are thought to have migrated north from Mexico. At this time they were a hunter-gathering people. They were organized in small bands with little political cohesion. They were notable for their pit houses. Over time they became a more settled people, subsisting on corn-based agriculture 700 AD). The Hopi staple was a small, blue ear typeof corn well adapted to the arid southwestern climate. This required careful water management. The Hopi utilized runoff from the mesas. As agriculture developed, there was a concomitant social change. Small bands were appropriate for hynter-gathering in the resource-poor southwest. The increased production from agriculture could support larger populations. And to conduct agriculture, a greater level of social organization was needed. We begin to see larger situated on top of prominant mesas. And as the populations grew, the Hopi became increasingly dependant on agriculture.
The Hopi like other Native Americans were significantly impacted by the arrival of Europeans, in their case the Spanish. Coronado led a group of Conquistadores from Mexico into what is now the American southwest (1540). The Spanish were attracted by the myths of El Dorado. It was a group of Coronado's men catained by Pedro de Tovar that first encountered the Hopi. Coronado was accopanied by Catholic missionaries intent on converting the Hopi and other Native Americans. After the Spanish did not find gold they sought other ways of exploiting the Hopi. The inhospitality of the Hopi lands, however, was the best protection from the Spanish. Other tribes were affected by the Spanish incursions. The Navajo in particular began to fight the Spanish and also increased attacks on Hopi pueblos. The Hopi people were thus involved in a long-term struggle for their existence. The Spanish began to establish missions in Hopi lands (1629). The first Hopi missions were at Awatobi, Oraibi, and Shongopovi pueblos. Hopi war partoies destroyed these early missions during were destroyed in the great revolt against the Spanish (1680). The Hopi at Awatobi invited the Spanish missionaries back, but the otherv Hopi attacked and destroyed their village. Following the revolt, the Hopi began building more secure pueblos. The Hopi abandoned the pueblos in the more accesable foothills and build new pueblos on more remote mesas where it would be easier to fight off Spanish raids. The Hano pueblo was built by the Tewa at this time. They had fled from the Rio Grande valley where the Spanish managed to conquer and control (17th century). Mexico achieved its independence from Spain (1824). This meant that southwest was now in Mexican lands, but Mexico only had limited control over large areas of the lightly populated southwest. Attacks from the Navajo continued. The Mexican-American War (1844-46) resulted in the transfer of the southwest to the United States. After the Civul War (1861-65) the United States began taking a more aggressive policy toward the Western tribes. The United States demnded Hopi lands (1870). A war ensued in which the Hopi were defeated. The U.S. pacified the area abd established the Black Mesa Reservation for the Hopi (1882). There were problems with the Navaho who encroached on traditional Hopi lands.
The Hopi are best known for their agricultural skills. To achieve high levels of agricultural production they used methods like terracing and varius types of irrigation. Corn was the primary crop. They also raised cotton, beans, squash, and tobacco. This thriving agricultural economy was a phenomenal technological achievement in the middle of the Arizona desert. Since the coming of the Spanish, sheep ranching has become important.
A further social impact as the villages grew was that clans began to form with land ties. Hopi villages were divided into the clans and governed by a chief, who was a political and spiritual leader. Clans became very important in Hopi society. Both political and religious duties revolved around the clans. Each clan became responsible for specific fields in the valleys (arroyos) below the mesas. Hopi society was organize on matrilineal lines. All important field inheritance and social status was thus passed through the mothers. It was the men who worked the fields.
The clans were responsible for the religious ceremonies conducted during the year. Societies within the clans actually perform the ceremonies. To me accepted into these socities was a great honor.
The Badger clan conduct the kachina (fertility) ceremony. The Antelope and Snake clans perform the famous snake dance at Walpi and other pueblos. The socities were mostly made up of men, but socities with women members which also were responsible for some of the ceremonies. The Hopi practiced a distinctive dance, the snake dress, not practiced by other pueblo tribes.
Generally the transition to agriculture was accompanied by a development of a more peacefull life style and this was the case of the Hopi. The wealth created from agriculture attracted the attention of the more war-like hunter-gathering tribes like the Navajo and Apache.
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