Initially, the Akimel Oʼodham experienced little intensive colonial contact. Early encounters were limited to parties traveling through the territory or community members visiting settlements to the south. The Hispanic era (AD 1694–1853) of the Historic period began with the first visit by
Father Kino to their
villages in 1694. The
Pima Revolt, also known as the
Oʼodham Uprising or the
Pima Outbreak, was a revolt of Akimel Oʼodham people in 1751 against colonial forces in
Spanish Arizona and one of the major northern frontier conflicts in early
New Spain. Contact was infrequent with the Mexicans during their rule of southern Arizona between 1821 and 1853. The Akimel Oʼodham were affected by introduced European elements, such as infectious diseases to which they had no immunity, new crops (such as wheat), livestock, and use of metal tools and trade goods. Euroamerican contacts with the Akimel Oʼodham in the middle Gila Valley increased after 1846 as a result of the
Mexican–American War. The Akimel Oʼodham traded and gave aid to the expeditions of
Stephen Watts Kearny and
Philip St. George Cooke on their way to California. After
Mexico's defeat, it ceded the territory of what is now Arizona to the United States, with the exception of the land south of the Gila River. Soon thereafter the
California Gold Rush began, drawing Americans to travel to California through the Mexican territory between
Mesilla and the
Colorado River crossings near
Yuma, on what became known as the
Southern Emigrant Trail. Travelers used the villages of the Akimel Oʼodham as oases to recover from the crossing of unfamiliar deserts. They also bought new supplies and livestock to support the journey across the remaining deserts to the west. The American era (A.D. 1853–1950), began in 1853 with the
Gadsden Purchase, when the US acquired southern Arizona. New markets were developed, initially to supply immigrants heading for California. Grain was needed for horses of the
Butterfield Overland Mail and for the military during the
American Civil War. As a result, the Akimel Oʼodham experienced a period of prosperity. The Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) was established in 1859. The 1860 census records the Akimel Oʼodham villages as
Agua Raiz, Arenal, Casa Blanca,
Cachanillo, Cerrito, Cerro Chiquito, El Llano, and
Hormiguero. After the American Civil War, numerous
Euroamerican migrants came to settle upstream locations along the Gila, as well as along the lower Salt River. Due to their encroachment and competition for scarce resources, interaction between Native American groups and the Euro-American settlers became increasingly tense. The U.S. government adopted a policy of pacification and confinement of Native Americans to reservations. Uncertainty and variable crop yields led to major settlement reorganizations. The establishment of agency headquarters, churches and schools, and trading posts at Vahki (Casa Blanca) and Gu U ki (Sacaton) during the 1870s and 1880s led to the growth of these towns as administrative and commercial centers, at the expense of others. By 1898 agriculture had nearly ceased within the GRIC. Although some Akimel Oʼodham drew rations, their principal means of livelihood was woodcutting. The first allotments of land within Gila River were established in 1914, in an attempt to break up communal land. Each individual was assigned a parcel of irrigable land located within districts irrigated by the Santan, Agency, Blackwater, and Casa Blanca projects on the eastern half of the reservation. In 1917, the allotment size was doubled to include a primary lot of irrigable land and a secondary, usually non-contiguous tract of grazing land. The most ambitious effort to rectify the economic plight of the Akimel Oʼodham was the San Carlos Project Act of 1924, which authorized the construction of a water storage dam on the Gila River. It provided for the irrigation of of Indian and of non-Indian land. For a variety of reasons, the San Carlos Project failed to revitalize the Oʼodham farming economy. In effect the project halted the Gila river waters, and the Akimel Oʼodham no longer had a source of water for farming. This began the
famine years. Many Oʼodham have believed these wrong and misguided government policies were an attempt of mass
genocide. Over the decades, the U.S. government promoted assimilation, forcing changes on to the Akimel Oʼodham in nearly every aspect of their lives. Since World War II, however, the Akimel Oʼodham have experienced a resurgence of interest in tribal sovereignty and economic development. The community has regained its self-government and are recognized as a tribe. In addition, they have developed several profitable enterprises in fields such as agriculture and telecommunications, and built several gaming casinos to generate revenues. They have begun to construct a water delivery system across the reservation in order to revive their farming economy. ==Akimel Oʼodham and the Salt River==