The only people to settle in Arizona were the Navajos and Apaches until 1629, when Spanish missionaries arrived in Hopi villages and forced the residents to adopt Catholicism and European clothes. The missionaries also transferred their diseases: smallpox, measles, chicken pox. In 1680, the Hopi rebelled, driving out the Spaniards. By 1692, the Spanish had regained Arizona/New Mexico but not Hopi lands.
By the late 1800s, a number of mines had opened, producing silver, gold, copper and other minerals. The mine owners got rich while miners worked long hours in dangerous conditions. In 1917, more than 1,000 miners in Bisbee went on strike, refusing to return to work; 2,000 armed men forced the miners into railroad cars and dumped them in the New Mexico desert to fend for themselves.
In 1912, Arizona was the last of the lower 48 states to join the Union; it could have joined earlier but Pres. Taft objected to one of its constitutional provisions allowing recall elections for judges. Arizona removed the provision, was granted statehood, then reinserted the provision.
The original constitution also didn't allow women or Native Americans to vote. Women were granted the right in 1914, but Natives didn't get it until 1948, when the US Supreme Court said the old provision was unconstitutional. And to demonstrate where letting women vote can lead, in 2000 women were elected to all statewide offices, the first time for any state in US history.
In 1917, during WWI, the British intercepted and decoded the so-called Zimmerman Telegram that Germany sent to Mexico, asking for help during the war; in exchange, Germany would see that Mexico regained Arizona and New Mexico. That didn't work out, but it was one of the reasons the US joined the war.
In 1922, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming signed the Colorado River Compact, agreeing how much water each state could take out of the river. AZ refused to sign, claiming it should be able to take as much as it wanted because half the river flowed along AZ's border with California. Then California also signed the compact, and Pres. Hoover started building the dams that would control the flow, including the Hoover Dam in AZ's northwest corner. In 1944, AZ reluctantly agreed to sign.
The Sitgreaves National Forest in AZ has the US's largest single stand of Ponderosa pine.
The Sonoran Desert that occupies the southern third of AZ supports a larger variety of plants and animals than any other desert in North America.
AZ has a "Stupid Motorist Law": if water covers a road and barriers are in place and a motorist bypasses them and then has to be rescued from the vehicle, the motorist can be billed the cost of emergency services, up to $2,000.
The Phoenix metro area has more days over 100° than any other metro area in the US. Flagstaff has more days below 32° than any other city in the Lower 48.
As of the 2010 census, 57.8% of Arizonans were white.
AZ can produce 3 cotton crops a year, due to the climate.
AZ produces more copper than all other states combined. The Morenci Mine in southeast AZ is the 2nd largest open-pit copper mine in the world.
 |
| Morenci copper mine |
The US's only poisonous lizard - the Gila monster - is found in AZ. The whiptail, a reptile species found in AZ, is unusual in that there are no males: females can lay eggs without them. AZ has 11 species of rattlesnake - the most of any other state.
 |
| Whiptail lizard |
 |
| Gila monster |
The Heard Museum in Phoenix has the US's best collection of Native art, and the world's best collection of Southwest Indian art.
Camels were imported to AZ in the 1850s to be used, before the days of railroads, for hauling minerals from mines.
In the Prescott National Forest, the north part is heavily forested and the south part is a treeless desert.
The official state neckwear is the bolo tie. The official state flower is the Saguaro cactus blossom.
 |
| Bolo tie |
 |
| Saguaro cactus blossom |
Cesar Chavez, Marty Robbins, Linda Ronstadt and Steven Spielberg were all born in AZ.
No comments:
Post a Comment