Gila River Indian Reservation Maricopa Arizona United States
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The irrigation works, ball courts, and settlements of the Hohokam have fallen into disuse by the time Spaniards explore the American Southwest in 1540.
The Pima and Papago, Aztec-Tanoan speakers believed to be their descendants, live in small, semi-independent patrilineage-based villages and frequently war with Apache bands.
The Pima, unlike the Papago, have plenty of water available in the Gila River for irrigating their fields; they therefore have less need to wander in search of wild foods and are able to live a settled life in villages near the river.
Because of frequent Apache attacks, they concentrate their numbers in larger villages under an elected chief and develop a degree of tribal solidarity that is lacking among the Papago.
Papago means "bean-eating people" in the Pima language; the modern name for the Papago is Tohono O'Odham, meaning "People of the Desert".