Yuma (people)

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Reservations of the Yuma and neighboring tribes in the southwestern United States

The Yuma is a group of different linguistically related Indian tribes in North America in the river basin of the lower reaches of the Colorado River and the mouth of the Gila River in the same, as well as in the area south of the Grand Canyon and the adjacent Sonoran Desert and Mojave Desert in southern California and in North and west of Arizona in the United States as well as north of Baja California and northwest of Sonora in Mexico . All of these tribes and peoples once spoke related indigenous languages ​​and dialects of the Yuma branch of the Cochimí-Yuma language family , which is sometimes included in the Hoka languages . Yuma means wormers in the language of the hostile Pima .

With Yuma . Only the groups of so-called flow-Yuma are often referred to in the narrower sense, as their dominant and militarily strongest tribe, the Quechan (Kwtsaan or Kwtsan) , were once known as "Yuma" and this name on neighboring - linguistically culturally and similar groups - was transferred.

Regional and cultural groups

The tribes and peoples called Yuma under the collective term are culturally and geographically divided into three groups:

River Yuma
Highlands Yuma
Desert Yuma

Residential areas

The River Yuma lived on the lower Colorado and middle Gila Rivers and their main groups from north to south include the Mohave, Halchidhoma, Quechan and the Cocopa along with the Maricopa on the middle Gila River.

The highland Yuma inhabited western Arizona south of the Grand Canyon and their main groups include the Walapai, Havasupai and Yavapai.

The Desert Yuma , Kamia, Tipai, and Ipai (now known as Diegueño) lived in southern California and northern Baja California. The Kiliwa and Papai can still be found in northern Baja California.

history

The Yuma were commonly known as fearless warriors. Wars were highly ritualized and fought cruelly. Some Yuma groups were wiped out by these battles and lost their identity as a separate ethnic group. In the early and mid-19th century, these battles caused the Maricopa to leave the Colorado area and flee to the Pima, with whom they formed a bulwark against predatory groups of the Apaches . The main enemies of the Yuma were the Apaches and the Pima.

Way of life and culture

River Yuma

Members of the Yuma near the Mexican border, 1857
Hwalya - Yuma, Edward Curtis , 1908

The Yuma River were mostly farmers who benefited from the annual floods of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. These floods brought regular fertilization of the arable land through the deposition of mud, and thus made irrigation unnecessary. The Maricopa were influenced by the neighboring Pima and allied with them against other River Yuma, such as the Mohave and the Quechan. They also had a tribal organization for the purpose of waging war, and their sense of ethnic identity was strong. In civil matters, however, the local group made the decisions. For their additional food, as well as raw materials for building houses and clothing, they were dependent on wild plants. Since their dwellings were periodically flooded, there was no cultural incentive for them to accumulate personal belongings. Even today, for example, the Cocopa despise the display of wealth. The belongings of a person is burned at his death. Even the possessions of relatives and friends are thrown into the funeral fire at death, a process that is repeated at the most important religious ceremony , the annual festival. Historically, the Chemehuevi , a group from the California Cultural Area, joined the River Yuma way of life.

Highlands Yuma

The highland Yuma are culturally similar to the ancient desert cultures, from which some of the southwestern cultural traditions are derived. They lived in the plateaus of western and northern Arizona and did not have enough water on their lands to support themselves from farming. In addition to some agriculture, most of the livelihood was based on hunting and collecting wild plants. With a way of life that was not very different from that of other hunter-gatherer peoples, the Walapai had only limited technical skills. They lived in small groups, whose migrations often took place in a traditionally established circle. The Havasupai were an exception, partly because of their contact with the Hopi and partly because of their residence in Cataract Canyon, a side canyon of the Grand Canyon. The stream flowing through this canyon made extensive agriculture possible through irrigation. In contrast to the other Yuma, the Havasupai were very peaceful. The Yavapai, on the other hand, often allied with groups of the Western Apaches for raids and were sometimes called the Yavapai Apaches . They were later interned in various Apache reservations . Frequent marriages resulted in a strong cultural mix with the Western Apaches.

Desert Yuma

The Kamia, Ipai and Tipai, formerly known as Diegueño, originally lived on either side of what is now the US- Mexico border in California and Baja California. Their culture is similar to that of their neighbors in the north, the Luiseño , and other Yuma groups in the east, the Mohave. The social organization of the Diegueño was based on the lineage , each of which apparently had a specific residence. The chief of a lineage presided over the ceremonies. The coastal diegueños ate fish and molluscs . Some Diegueño farmed fields inland. Their houses were made of posts with a roof of brushwood and earth or sand. They made baskets, pots and containers from substances that could be woven.

Although many of the Diegueño's religious practices were similar to those of the Luiseño, their worldview was different. While the Luiseño adhered to the mystical, the Diegueño were more for real, visible life. Like most other Californian Indians, with a mission in their midst, the Diegueño resisted the attempts to Christianize the Spanish Franciscans ; they even attacked the San Diego Mission. The conversion was slow and not comprehensive.

Demographics

The current total number of Yuma Indians in the United States and Mexico is unknown. There are a number of large and small reservations in California and Arizona that are home to the following groups: Quechan, Mohave, Havasupai, Walapai, Yavapai-Apache, Cocopa, Maricopa, and Diegueño; these Yuma on reservations number a good 4,000 tribesmen.

literature

Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 9, 1979
Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): Southwest Vol. 10, 1983
  • Robert F. Heizer (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Vol. 8 California, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 1978

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.indianerwww.de/indian/yuma.htm