Arizona Important Dates

• 1200 Oraibi, the oldest Indian community in continental United States is founded.
  
• 1528 Cabeza De Vaca is shipwrecked off Gulf of Mexico coast and wanders to Arizona and Mexico.
  
• 1539 Estevan, black companion of De Vaca, guides Friar Marcos de Niza to the Zuni villages in Arizona, Friar Marcos claims the region for Spain.
  
• 1540 Grand Canyon discovered.
  
• 1582 Antonio de Espejo finds silver near Prescott.
  
• 1680 Hopi Indians rise against the Spanish priests.
  
• 1751 Pima and Papago Indians revolt.
  
• 1776 The Spanish established a garrison at Tucson.
  
• 1821 Mexico wins independence from Spain. Apache troubles eliminated white settlements except in Tucson.
  
• 1824 Mexico creates New Mexico Territory, including Arizona. American traders enter region.
  
• 1846 The Mormon Battalion built Cooke's Wagon Road, south of the Gila River. The road became a favorite route into Arizona and California for early prospectors and pioneers.
  
• 1848 Mexico ceded the portion of Arizona north of the Gila River to the United States.
  
• 1850 Arizona becomes part of New Mexico Territory established by US.
  
• 1853 Gadsden Purchase gives southern Arizona to the US.
  
• 1857 First stagecoach line established.
  
• 1863 - 1866 Arizona was organized as a separate territory. The first four counties were organized in 1864. In 1866, the northwestern part of Arizona Territory was transferred to the new state of Nevada.
  
• 1870 - 1910 The non-Indian population of Arizona increased from fewer than 10,000 to over 200,000 as settlers moved in from many states and countries.
  
• 1878 Southern Pacific Railroad reaches Yuma; extends to Tucson in 1880.
  
• 1886 Apache Chief Geronimo surrenders.
  
• 1912 Arizona became a state, February 14.
  
• 1971 Historic London Bridge reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, after removal from Thames River.
  

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