Arizona

• 1. Introduction

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  Arizona became a state on the 14th of February 1912 - Valentine's Day - making it the 48th and last of the contiguous United States to join the Union. A state built on a name no one can fully agree on: the O'odham phrase alĭ ṣonak, possibly a Basque shepherd's term, haritz ona, or some combination of both. What is certain is that Arizona has always been a place where civilizations collide and endure. Ancient peoples built cliff dwellings and painted canyon walls thousands of years before any European set foot here. A Spanish Franciscan named Marcos de Niza made contact with native inhabitants in 1539. The Confederate government formally used the name "Territory of Arizona" as early as 1862. And when Abraham Lincoln finally signed the bill creating a U.S. territory in 1863, the name stuck - though Montezuma, Pimeria, and Arizuma had all been considered. This documentary asks what forces shaped a place so vast, so contradictory, so deeply layered that 27% of its land is forest despite being synonymous with desert. How did a land that saw its last Indian War battle in 1918 become home to the world's most internet-powered election in 2000? And what made Arizona, of all states, produce the most female governors of any state in the Union?

• 2. Ancient Foundations

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  Hohokam, Mogollon, and Ancestral Puebloan peoples built enduring civilizations across Arizona for thousands of years before the modern era, leaving behind pueblos, cliffside dwellings, and rock paintings that still draw visitors today. These were not simple encampments; they were layered cultures adapted to a landscape that demands ingenuity.

  Marcos de Niza arrived in 1539 as the first European to make contact with native inhabitants, probably the Sobaipuri. The expedition of Spanish explorer Coronado followed in 1540-1542, searching for the mythical Cíbola. One of the first settlers in Arizona was José Romo de Vivar.

  Father Kino, a Jesuit and member of the Society of Jesus, proved the more consequential presence. Working through the Pimería Alta - the region now split between southern Arizona and northern Sonora - in the 1690s and early 18th century, he built a chain of missions and converted many Native Americans to Christianity. Spain then established presidios at Tubac in 1752 and at Tucson in 1775, planting the institutional roots of permanent European settlement.

  When Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, what is now Arizona became part of its Territory of Nueva California. Descendants of colonial-era Spanish and mestizo settlers were still living there when the Mexican-American War brought a new political order. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 transferred the region to the United States, with Mexico receiving $15 million in compensation and protections for the language and cultural rights of its former citizens. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 then added the southern strip below the Gila River, secured specifically as the best route for a future transcontinental railway.

• 3. Territory and Statehood

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  The Confederate States government made the first formal use of the name "Territory of Arizona" on the 18th of January, 1862, when President Jefferson Davis signed the act organizing it. Arizona scout companies served with the Confederate Army, and the state holds the record for the westernmost Civil War military engagement: the Battle of Picacho Pass in 1862.

  The Union established its own Arizona Territory on the 24th of February, 1863, drawing the boundaries that would eventually define the state. Prescott became the first territorial capital in 1864, following a gold rush to central Arizona. The capital then moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and finally to Phoenix - each shift reflecting the volatile political arithmetic of a growing territory.

  Mormon settlement shaped northern Arizona just as mining shaped the south. Brigham Young sent settlers in the mid- to late 19th century, and they founded Mesa, Snowflake, Heber, Safford, and other towns that remain significant today.

  The 19th-century economy ran on gold and silver rushes, none more famous than the 1870s stampede to the silver bonanzas of Tombstone, also legendary for its outlaws and lawmen. By the late 1880s, copper had eclipsed precious metals. Towns like Bisbee and Jerome became copper camps, and by 1907 Arizona was producing more copper than any other state, earning the nickname "the Copper State". The boom carried violence alongside it: the Bisbee Deportation of 1917 erupted out of a copper miners' strike during the early years of statehood.

• 4. Landscape and Natural Extremes

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  The Grand Canyon is about 277 miles long, ranges from 4 to 18 miles wide, and reaches a depth of more than a mile - carved by the Colorado River over millions of years through nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history. President Theodore Roosevelt was among its most vocal champions for national park status, often visiting to hunt mountain lion and take in the scenery. It is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

  About 25 miles west of Winslow sits Meteor Crater - created around 50,000 years ago - nearly a mile wide and 570 feet deep, with a rim of boulders rising 150 feet above the surrounding plain. The Mogollon Rim, a 1,998-foot escarpment, cuts across the state's central section and marks the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire was the worst in state history until 2011.

  Despite its desert reputation, 27% of Arizona is forest - a proportion comparable to Romania or Greece. The world's largest stand of ponderosa pine trees is in Arizona. Flagstaff sits at nearly 7,000 feet at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, which contain Humphreys Peak, Arizona's highest point at 12,633 feet. Ski resorts operate near Flagstaff, Sunrise, and Tucson.

  Arizona holds its climate records at the extremes. The all-time high of 128 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded at Lake Havasu City on the 29th of June, 1994, and again on the 5th of July, 2007. The all-time low of -40 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded at Hawley Lake on the 7th of January, 1971. Arizona is the only state, alongside Hawaii, that does not observe Daylight Saving Time - though the Navajo Nation in the northeastern region does.

• 5. Native Nations and Civil Rights

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  About one-quarter of Arizona is made up of Indian reservations, home to 27 federally recognized Native American tribes. The Navajo Nation is the largest in both the state and the country, with more than 300,000 citizens. Arizona holds the largest number of speakers of Native American languages in the 48 contiguous states, with more than 85,000 individuals reporting Navajo and over 10,000 reporting Apache as a home language in 2005. Apache County has the highest concentration of Native American language speakers in the United States.

  The Phoenix Indian School was one of several federal boarding schools designed to assimilate Native American children into European-American culture. Children were often enrolled against their families' wishes. School policies forced them to cut their hair, take English names, speak only English, and practice Christianity.

  Native Americans from Arizona fought for the United States during World War II. When they returned, Maricopa County refused to let them register to vote. In 1948, veteran Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, of the Mojave-Apache Tribe at Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, filed suit in Harrison and Austin v. Laveen. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in their favor. At that time, Native Americans comprised about 11% of Arizona's population. Arizona and New Mexico were the only two states still prohibiting Native American voting; a similar provision fell in New Mexico that same year when challenged by another Indian veteran.

  The Heard Museum in Phoenix holds roughly 250,000 visitors a year and houses the Barry Goldwater Collection of 437 historic Hopi kachina dolls, along with the Mareen Allen Nichols Collection of 260 pieces of contemporary jewelry and exhibits on the 19th-century boarding school experiences.

• 6. Growth, Politics, and Identity

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  Arizona's population in 1910 was 294,353. By 1970, it had reached 1,752,122. The widespread adoption of air conditioning after World War II made the state's intense summers bearable and accelerated residential and business development. Sun City, established by developer Del Webb and opened in 1960, was among the first age-restricted retirement communities in the country - drawing senior citizens escaping Midwestern and Northeastern winters, a pattern that coined the term "snowbirds".

  In March 2000, Arizona hosted the first legally binding election ever conducted over the internet to nominate a candidate for public office. In that Arizona Democratic Primary, Al Gore defeated Bill Bradley under worldwide scrutiny. Voter turnout increased more than 500% over the 1996 primary.

  Arizona has had five female governors - more than any state. In 1998, voters elected women to all five of the top statewide offices simultaneously. Arizona is also the first and only state to have three consecutive female governors.

  The state has a long record of contested voting rights. In 2004, voters passed Proposition 200, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote; the Supreme Court struck it down in 2013. In 2010, Arizona enacted SB 1070, requiring all immigrants to carry immigration papers at all times; the Supreme Court invalidated parts of that law in Arizona v. United States in 2012.

  On the 8th of January, 2011, a gunman shot congresswoman Gabby Giffords and 18 others at a gathering in Tucson. Giffords was critically wounded. In 2024, Arizona voters passed a constitutional amendment recognizing abortion access in the state constitution, making Arizona the southernmost continental state to codify that right.

• 7. Music and Cultural Life

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  Chester Bennington, the former lead vocalist of Linkin Park, and shock rocker Alice Cooper, who helped define the genre, both came from Phoenix. Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, lives in the small town of Cornville. Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, and 2007 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks also trace their roots to the state.

  The Eagles' hit "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, mentions Arizona explicitly. Gordon Lightfoot's "Carefree Highway", released in 1974, takes its name directly from Arizona State Route 74 north of Phoenix. The Beatles' "Get Back" has Paul McCartney singing of JoJo leaving his home in Tucson, Arizona.

  Composer Elliott Carter wrote his first String Quartet in 1950-51 while on sabbatical in Arizona. That quartet won a Pulitzer Prize and became a standard of the repertoire.

  Bands including the Gin Blossoms, Jimmy Eat World, and the Meat Puppets all began their careers in Arizona. The Phoenix area also developed a heavy metal scene in the early to mid-1990s and a desert rock and sludge metal underground around 2009. The Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series in 2001. The Territorial Cup, first awarded in 1889 between Arizona State and the University of Arizona, is certified as the oldest trophy in college football - a rivalry that predates Arizona's statehood itself.