page_title: Irataba
section_title: As Aha macave yaltanack
hierarchical_section_title: Irataba / As Aha macave yaltanack
caption_attribution_description: English: Chief Irataba of the Mojave Nation, February 1864, artist's impression
context_page_description: Irataba was a leader of the Mohave Nation, known as a mediator between the Mohave and the United States. He was born near the Colorado River in present-day Arizona. Irataba was a renowned orator and one of the first Mohave to speak English, a skill he used to develop relations with the United States.
  Irataba first encountered European Americans in 1851, when he assisted the Sitgreaves Expedition. In 1854, he met Amiel Whipple, then leading an expedition crossing the Colorado. Several Mohave aided the group, and Irataba agreed to escort them through the territory of the Paiute to the Old Spanish Trail, which would take them to southern California. Noted for his large physical size and gentle demeanor, he later helped and protected other expeditions, earning him a reputation among whites as the most important native leader in the region.
  Against Irataba's advice, in 1858 Mohave warriors attacked the first emigrant wagon train to use Beale's Wagon Road through Mohave country. As a result, the U.S. War Department sent a detachment under Colonel William Hoffman to pacify the tribe.
context_section_description: After Cairook's death, whites living near the Colorado River began to view Irataba as the main leader of the Mohave. He had become Aha macave yaltanack (leader of the Mohave Nation) or hochoch (leader elected by the people); "yaltanack" is Mohave for "leader", and "hochach" means "head of a group". Homoseh quahote was a hereditary leader of the Malika clan ("the understanding people"), and the position of head of the Mohave was traditionally inherited only by someone from that clan. Because Irataba was of the Huttoh pah, in order for him to become the leader of the Mohave Nation, Homoseh quahote had to step down so Irataba, as an elected leader, could take his place.
  Despite the accepted English translations, the words yaltanack and huchach do not mean a "ruler" or "boss". Devereux describes Mohave government as "one of the least understood segments of Mohave culture", and notes that while white officials "tended to act on the assumption that Indian chiefs exercised absolute authority", as an elected leader Irataba was "primarily a servant of the tribe".
  By the mid-1860s a deep rift had developed between Irataba, who was proactive in cooperating with white settlers, and Homoseh quahote, who passively tolerated but did not approve of white encroachment on Mohave lands. Irataba was Aha macave yaltanack of the Mohave from 1861 to 1866, but from 1867 to 1869 opinions differ, and by 1870 US government correspondence suggests that Homoseh quahote had succeeded him as leader of the Fort Mohave group.
caption: Artist's impression of Irataba, February 1864
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