Phoenix History

For more than 2,000 years, the Hohokam peoples occupied the land that would become Phoenix.[15][16] The Hohokam created roughly 135 miles (217 km) of irrigation canals, making the desert land arable. Paths of these canals would later become used for the modern Arizona Canal, Central Arizona Project Canal, and the Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct. The Hohokam also carried out extensive trade with the nearby Anasazi, Mogollon and Sinagua, as well as with the more distant Mesoamerican civilizations.[17] It is believed that between 1300 and 1450, periods of drought and severe floods led to the Hohokam civilization's abandonment of the area.[18]

After the departure of the Hohokam, groups of Akimel O'odham (commonly known as Pima), Tohono O'odham and Maricopa tribes began to use the area, as well as segments of the Yavapai and Apache.[19] The O'odham were offshoots of the Sobaipuri tribe, who in turn were thought to be the descendants of the formerly urbanized Hohokam.[20][21][22]