The Tohono O'Odham and Pimeria Alta

The Tohono O odham have lived in southern Arizona s Sonoran Desert for millennia. Formerly known as the Papago, the people, acting as a nation in 1986, voted to change the colonial applied name, Papago, to their true name, Tohono O odham, a name literally meaning desert people. Living within a region the Spanish termed Pimeria Alta, the Tohono O odham, from the time of Spanish Jesuit Kino s first missionary efforts in the late 1680s, have been witness to numerous governmental, philosophical, and religious intrusions. Yet throughout, they have adapted and survived. Today the Tohono O odham Nation occupies the second largest land reserve in the United States, covering more than 2.8 million acres. The images in this volume date largely between 1870 and 1950, a period that documents great change in Tohono O odham traditions, culture, and identity."