History of Arizona: Encyclopedia II - History of Arizona - Spanish Arizona

History of Arizona - Spanish Arizona

Main article: Spanish Arizona

Although the Spanish did not yet have towns for themselves, in the late 17th century colonists began steadily entering the region, attracted by the recent discovery of deposits of silver around the Arizonac mining camp. Most of the colonists left after Juan Bautista de Anza announced it had merely been buried treasure; however, several stayed and became subsistence farmers. During the mid-18th century, the pioneers of Arizona tried to expand their territory northward, but were prevented from doing so by the Tohono O'Odham and Apache Native Americans, who had begun raiding their villages for livestock.

In 1765, the Bourbon Reforms began, with Charles III of Spain doing a major rearranging of the presidios on the northern frontier. The Jesuits were expelled from the area, and the Franciscans took their place at their missions. In the 1780s and 1790s, the Spanish began a plan of setting up Apache peace camps and providing the Apache with rations so that they would not attack, allowing the Spanish to expand northward.

For the most part, Spanish Arizona had a subsistence economy, with occasional small gold and silver mining operations.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Spanish Arizona", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki