The Hopi are thought to be descended from the Ancestral Pueblo people (Hopi: Hisatsinom), who constructed large apartment-house complexes and had an advanced culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado.

[7] It is thought that Hopi people descend from those Ancestral Puebloan settlements along the Mogollon Rim of northern Arizona.

[8] On December 16, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur passed an executive order creating an Indian reservation for the Hopi.

As the result of land disputes from 1940 to 1970 or earlier, the two nations used to share the government designated Navajo–Hopi Joint Use Area, but this continued to be a source of conflict.

[11][12] On October 24, 1936, the Hopi Tribe ratified its constitution, creating a unicameral government where all powers are vested in a Tribal Council.

Coronado dispatched Pedro de Tovar and other members of their party to find the Hopi villages.

[9] A few years later, the Spanish explorer García López de Cárdenas investigated the Rio Grande and met the Hopi.

[9] During that period the Spanish explored and colonized the southwestern region of the New World, but never sent many forces or settlers to the Hopi country.

[14] In the 1670s, the Rio Grande Pueblo Indians put forward the suggestion to revolt in 1680 and garnered Hopi support.

It took two decades for the Spanish to reassert their control over the Rio Grande Pueblos but the Catholic Inquisition never made it back to Hopiland.

The US established Fort Defiance in 1851 in Arizona, and placed troops in Navajo country to deal with their threats to the Hopi.

The American Baptist Home Mission Society made students attend services every morning and religious teachings during the week.

[20] In 1890, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Thomas Jefferson Morgan arrived in Hopi country with other government officials to review the progress of the new school.

On December 16, 1882, President Chester A. Arthur issued an executive order creating a reservation for the Hopi.

The Department of Interior would declare remaining land "surplus" to the tribe's needs and make it available for purchase by U.S. citizens.

In November 1894, Captain Frank Robinson and a group of soldiers were dispatched to enter the village and arrested 18 of the Hopi resisters.

[25] Eager to rid Orayvi of all resisters, government officials sent 19 Hopi men who they saw as troublesome to Alcatraz Prison, where they stayed for a year.

When the Hopi prisoners were sent home, they claimed that government officials told them that they did not have to send their children to school, but when they returned, Indian agents denied that this was promised to them.

[18] At the dawn of the 20th century, the U.S. government established day schools, missions, farming bureaus, and clinics on every Indian reservation.

This policy required that every reservation set up its own police force and tribal courts and appointed a leader who would represent their tribe to the U.S. government.

The constitution consists of 13 articles, addressing territory, membership, and organization of their government with legislative, executive and judicial branches.

This resulted in the establishment of "District 6" which placed a boundary around the Hopi villages on the first, second, and third mesas, thinning the reservation to 501,501 acres (2,029.50 km2).

[18] In 1962 the courts issued the "Opinion, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Judgment," which stated that the U.S. government did not grant the Navajo any type of permission to reside on the Hopi Reservation that was declared in 1882; and that the remaining Hopi land was to be shared with the Navajo, as the Navajo–Hopi Joint Use Area.

The current tribal officers are:[30] Representatives to the council are selected either by a community election or by an appointment from the village kikmongwi, or leader.

Representation on the Tribal Council as of December 2017 is as follows:[30] Village of Upper Moenkopi: Hubert Lewis Sr., Michael Elmer, Robert Charley, Philton Talahytewa Sr.

[33] On the 1,800,000-acre (7,300 km2) Navajo Reservation, a significant amount of coal is mined yearly from which the Hopi Tribe shares mineral royalty income.

Combined with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of official help for those who have lost access to the coal they need to burn to heat their homes, Hopi have turned to nonprofits for help.

[42] On November 30, 2017, in his last day as Chairman of the Hopi Tribe, Herman G. Honanie and Governor Doug Ducey signed the Hopi Tribe-State of Arizona Tribal Gaming Compact, a year after the Tribe approved entering into a compact with the State of Arizona.

In the present Fourth World, the Hopi worship Masauwu, who admonished them to "always remember their gods and to live in the correct way".

On the 20th day of a baby's life, the women of the paternal clan gather, each woman bringing a name and a gift for the child.