Quechan
The Quechan (also Kwtsan , Kwtsaan , English pronunciation: 'Kwuh-tsan'), often out of date Yuma , are Indians in the southwestern United States and live on the banks of the Colorado River in Arizona . According to their lore, the Kwikumat created all the Yuma-speaking tribes such as the Quechan, Kumeyaay , Cocopa, Halchidhoma and Maricopa , all of whom descended from the sacred Avikwamé ('Spirit Mountain', near Laughlin , Nevada) to earth and settled in their respective tribal areas - only the Quechan used a special path called Xam Kwatcán ('another going down') to descend . Because of this, they called themselves Quechan ('those who descended on a different path'). Their language is called Quechan and belongs to the Cochimí-Yuma languages .
residential area
They lived in the area where the Gila River meets the lower Colorado; their neighbors were the Mohave in the north and the Cocopa in the south. The green valley of the lower Colorado is surrounded by a dry desert and in the past, before the construction of the great dams, was flooded annually by floods and a large amount of mud was deposited, so it was fertile farmland. Today they inhabit the approximately 176 km² Fort Yuma reservation on the border between Arizona and California .
history
The earliest contact with the Spaniards was a brief visit from Hernando de Alarcón , who sailed the Colorado upriver in 1540. Father Eusebio Francisco Kino lived in the Quechan villages on his journey to California in 1698.
In 1779 the Franciscans (OFM) sent Father Francicsco Garcés to the Quechan along with a military escort to set up mission stations. The Indians had pledged to remain peaceful if treated as equals and opposed this attempt to subdue them. They were unwilling to give up their country or independence for dubious benefits of a new religion. In 1781 they destroyed the mission near what is now the city of Yuma , killing the priests and some soldiers. Apart from the introduction of new crops, the contact with the Spaniards had no influence on the Quechan culture.
The discovery of gold in California caused thousands of prospectors to flood the Quechan lands on their way to California. The migrants stole crops from the Indian gardens, while the Quechan robbed freight trains. Nevertheless, the situation remained relatively peaceful. Some resourceful Quechan even built a ferry across the Colorado and provided the whites with a ferry service. Even before the Spanish arrived, their residential area on the Colorado was a strategic point. The river is relatively narrow here and gave the Quechan the ability to control trade between the inland and the Pacific coast.
The Quechan met with resistance to any attempt to settle on their land. The first problems came when the Americans wanted to build a ferry to compete with the Indians. Around 1850, the Americans demanded protection from the Quechan when a military outpost was established at Camp Yuma . The small detachment kept hostilities to a minimum but failed to prevent whites from occupying Indian lands.
Hostilities soon broke out and in 1852 the Quechan were subjugated by the army. This happened less through acts of war, but more through the destruction of Indian fields and settlements. In 1884 a reserve was set up, which consisted mostly of dry soil unsuitable for agriculture.
Way of life and culture
In earlier times the Quechan lived in six settlements or rancherias in autumn, winter and spring , which were located on the higher bank and therefore could not be reached by the floods. After the last flood in the spring, families fanned out to plant or sow corn, beans, squash and grain in the cracks of the drying mud. Wild plants, especially mesquite beans, and fish supplemented their nutritional needs.
Each rancheria had its own guide and consisted of several hundred people. In 1774, the Spaniards estimated that up to 800 Quechan lived in the largest settlement, Xuksil . The inhabitants of all rancherias gathered for larger war campaigns and for harvest and mourning rituals . Each also belonged to a patrilineal clan , with names like corn, snake, or frog. Men could not marry women from their own clan. Most Quechan still know their clan membership today, although many no longer care.
The Quechan believed (and still believe today) in a special personal power that comes from dreams. Strength in war and the meaning of mourning were common themes in the mourning ceremony, called karuk , which included a mock battle and the burning of portraits of dead loved ones. This ceremony is rarely held today. The Quechan are currently striving to ensure that their ritual knowledge is not irretrievably lost.
Demographics
Garcés estimated the population at 3,000 Quechan in 1776. An estimate by M. Leroux from the early 19th century also gives 3,000 members, while the United States Indian Office gives only 655 for 1910, 826 for 1929 and 848 for 1937. Today's numbers are 2,182 tribesmen.
Individual evidence
literature
- William C. Sturtevant (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC
- Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest. Vol. 9, 1979, ISBN 0-16-004577-0 .
- Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest. Vol. 10, 1983, ISBN 0-16-004579-7 .
