The Halchidhoma entered
written history in 1604–1605, when a Spanish expedition coming overland from
New Mexico under
Juan de Oñate encountered the "Alebdoma" on the lower Colorado River, below its junction with the Gila River. When the
Jesuit missionary-explorer
Eusebio Francisco Kino returned to the river in 1700, the Halchidhoma had moved to a portion of the river 100 miles farther north. A system of military alliances and traditional hostilities seems to have prevailed among the relatively warlike tribes of the lower Colorado and Gila rivers. This may account for the Halchidhoma's move during the seventeenth century. The Halchidhoma were part of an alliance that also included the Maricopa and
Cocopa, among others, and was opposed by the Quechan and Mohave. In the 1820s, the Halchidhoma were finally driven from the Colorado River. They took refuge with the Maricopa on the middle Gila River. In the following decades, some continued on to
Lehi on the Salt River and maintained a separate identity, while others stayed and became assimilated to the Maricopa. The territory on the Colorado River vacated by the Halchidhoma was subsequently occupied by the
Chemehuevi. ==Population==