The Preterritorial Period
Arizona’s written history goes back to the 1500s, long after the cultural decline of the pre-historic groups (including Sinagua, Anasazi and Hohokam), who had settled in the region as early as 300 BC (McClory, 2012).
The Spanish Period
The Spanish arrived in the region when a Franciscan priest, Cabeza de Vaca’s expedition was shipwrecked of the Coast of present day Texas in 1528, after which they set off to explore the territory including the city of Cibola in 1539. De Vaca claimed the modern-day Southwest territory for Spain between1540-1542. Franciscan Europeans arrived in 1629 to settle the territory, while also establishing ...