PIMA

North American Indians who traditionally lived along the Gila and Salt rivers in Arizona in what was the core area of the prehistoric Hohokam culture (q.v.). The Pima, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language and call themselves the River People, are usually considered to be the descendants of the Hohokam, although this has not been proved. Like their presumed ancestors, the Pima originally were sedentary farmers who lived in one-room houses and utilized the rivers for irrigation. Some hunting and gathering were done to supplement the diet; but in drought years, which occurred on the average of one year in five, the crops of corn (maize) and other vegetables would fail, and hunting and gathering became the sole mode of subsistence. During these dry years jackrabbits and mesquite beans were the dietary staples. The intensive farming of the Pima made possible larger villages than were feasible for their neighbours and relatives, the Papago. With larger communities came a stronger and more complex political organization. In early Spanish times the Pima possessed a strong tribal organization, with a tribal chief elected by the chiefs of the various villages. The tribal chief attained his status through his personal qualities rather than through birth, and this was true of local chiefs also. The village chief, aided by a council of all adult males, had the responsibilities of directing the communal irrigation projects and of protecting the village against alien tribes, notably the Apache. Planting and harvesting of crops were handled as a cooperative venture. From the time of their earliest recorded contacts with whites, the Pima have been regarded as a friendly people. At the time of the California Gold Rush (184950), the Pima often gave or sold food to white emigrants and gold seekers and provided them with an escort through Apache territory. During the Apache wars (186186), Pima served as scouts for the U.S. Army. Such close contacts with white culture contributed to disintegration of aboriginal Pima culture. In the late 20th century the Pima numbered about 10,000. With their traditional neighbours, the Maricopa, a group of Yuman Indians, the Pima live chiefly on the Gila River and Salt River reservations in Arizona.