page_title: Pima people
section_title: Akimel O'odham and the Salt River
hierarchical_section_title: Pima people / Akimel O'odham and the Salt River
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Esposizione di cesti Pima di complessa fattura, fotografati circa nel 1907 da Edward S. Curtis.English: Pima baskets. Original description from LOC (boldface preserved): Pima baskets (The North American Indian; v.02) CREATOR Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. SUMMARY Description by Edward S. Curtis: The baskets made by the Pima, Papago, and Qahatika, as well as by their Maricopa neighbors, are practically identical in form and design, but the Maricopa basketry is of somewhat superior workmanship. The four-armed cross, a form of the swastika, appears as the central feature in the decoration of a majority of the Piman and Maricopa baskets of to-day, and while the true signification here is not known with certainty, it is not impossible that it was designed originally to represent the winds of the four cardinal directions. Less than a generation ago the swastika was employed by the Pima to decorate their shields, and as a brand for their horses. NOTES 1 photogravure&#160;: brown ink&#160;; 31 x 44 cm. Original photogravure produced in Boston by John Andrew &amp; Son, c1907. Original source: The Pima. The Papago. The Qahatika. The Mohave. The Yuma. The Maricopa. The Walapai. The Havasupai. The Apache-Mohave, or Yavapai [portfolio]&#160;; plate no. 41 Seattle&#160;: E.S. Curtis, 1908. SUBJECTS Pima Indians. Baskets Swastikas New Southwest OBJECT TYPE Photomechanical print Image REPOSITORY Northwestern University. Library., Evanston, Ill.
context_page_description: The Pima are a group of Native Americans living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona, as well as northwestern Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. The majority population of the surviving two bands of the Akimel O'odham are based in two reservations: the Keli Akimel Oʼotham on the Gila River Indian Community and the On'k Akimel O'odham on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
  They are closely related to other river people, the Ak-Chin O'odham, now forming the Ak-Chin Indian Community. They are also related to the Sobaipuri, whose descendants reside on the San Xavier Indian Reservation or Wa꞉k, and in the Salt River Indian Community. Together with the kindred Tohono O'odham of Eastern Papagueria, and the Hia C-ed O'odham of the Western Papagueria, the Akimel O'odham form the Upper Oʼotham or Upper Pima.
  The short name, "Pima". is believed to have come from the phrase pi 'añi mac or pi mac, meaning "I don't know," which they used repeatedly in their initial meetings with Spanish colonists. The latter referred to them as the Pima. This term was adopted by later English speakers: traders, explorers and settlers.
context_section_description: The Akimel O'odham ("River People") have lived on the banks of the Gila and Salt Rivers since long before European contact.
  Their way of life (himdagĭ, sometimes rendered in English as Him-dag) was and is centered on the river, which is considered holy. The term Him-dag should be clarified, as it does not have a direct translation into the English language, and is not limited to reverence of the river. It encompasses a great deal because O'odham him-dag intertwines religion, morals, values, philosophy, and general world view which are all interconnected. Their world view/religious beliefs are centered on the natural world, and this is pervasive throughout their culture.
  The Gila and Salt Rivers are currently dry, due to the (San carlos Irrigation project) upstream dams that block the flow and the diversion of water by non-native farmers. This has been a cause of great upset among all of the Oʼotham.  The upstream diversion in combination with periods of drought, led to lengthy periods of famine that were a devastating change from the documented prosperity the people had experienced until non-native settlers engaged in more aggressive farming in areas that were traditionally used by the Akimel Oʼotham and Apache in Eastern Arizona. This abuse of water rights was the impetus for a nearly century long legal battle between the Gila River Indian Community and the United States government, which was settled in favor of the Akimel Oʼotham and signed into law by George W. Bush in December 2005. As a side note, at times during the monsoon season the Salt River runs, albeit at low levels. In the weeks after December 29, 2004, when an unexpected winter rainstorm flooded areas much further upstream (in Northern Arizona), water was released through dams on the river at rates higher than at any time since the filling of Tempe Town Lake in 1998, and was a cause for minor celebration in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The diversion of the water and the introduction of non-native diet is said to have been the leading contributing factor in the high rate of diabetes among the Akimel Oʼotham tribe.
caption: Fine Pima baskets, photographed around 1907 by Edward S. Curtis
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