Timeline of Arizona

Situated in the desert southwest, for millennia the area was home to a series of Pre-Columbian peoples.

By 1 AD, the dominant groups in the area were the Hohokam, the Mogollon, and the Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi).

The Hohokam dominated the center of the area which is now Arizona, the Mogollon the southeast, and the Puebloans the north and northeast.

Spanish missionaries began to settle in the southern portion of the state, near present-day Tucson, around 1700, but did not move further north.

During the American Civil War, both sides laid claim to Arizona, although the North and South split the New Mexico/Arizona area differently: the South split the territory into north and south divisions, creating Confederate Arizona, while the northern section remained part of the United States as the New Mexico Territory; while the North in 1863, after driving Confederate forces from the Tucson area, created the Arizona Territory from the New Mexico Territory by splitting off the western section.