page_title: El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Luzi - Papago (The North American Indian; v.02) CREATOR Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952. SUMMARY Description by Edward S. Curtis: The Papago women always carry their burdens on, or supported from, their heads. When the burden - be it a basket, pottery, or a box - has a flat or a rounded bottom, the ring of the woven yucca is placed on the head in order to give the load a firm position for carrying, and to relieve the bearer of pressure. NOTES 1 photogravure&#160;: brown ink&#160;; 45 x 30 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. 53 Seattle&#160;: E.S. Curtis, 1908. http://memory.loc.gov/award/iencurt/cp02/cp02014v.jpg
context_page_description: El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site managed by the Federal government of Mexico, specifically by Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources, in collaboration with state government of Sonora and the Tohono O'odham.
  It is in the Sonoran Desert in northwest Mexico, east of Gulf of California, in the eastern part Gran Desierto de Altar, just below the border of Arizona, United States and north of the city of Puerto Peñasco. It is one of the most significant visible landforms in North America seen from space. A volcanic system, known as Santa Clara is the main part of the landscape, including three peaks; Pinacate, Carnegie and Medio.
  In the area there are over 540 species of plants, 40 species of mammals, 200 of birds, 40 of reptiles, also amphibians and freshwater fishes. There are threatened endemic species as sonoran pronghorn, bighorn sheep, gila monster and desert tortoise.
  The biosphere reserve covers an area of 2,695.05 square kilometres making up about half of the World Heritage site.
caption: Tohono O'odham woman. Photo by Edward S. Curtis, circa 1907.
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