Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak )
is a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
in the
Southwestern United States. It is the
6th largest and the
14th most populous of the 50 states. Its
capital and
largest city is
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
. Arizona is part of the
Four Corners region with
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
to the north,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
to the northeast, and
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
to the east; its other neighboring states are
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
to the northwest,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
to the west and the
Mexican states
The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a separate en ...
of
Sonora and
Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
to the south and southwest.
Arizona is the 48th state and last of the
contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of in
New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the
Gadsden Purchase.
Southern Arizona
Southern Arizona is a region of the United States comprising the southernmost portion of the State of Arizona. It sometimes goes by the name Gadsden or Baja Arizona, which means "Lower Arizona" in Spanish.
Geography
Although Southern Arizona' ...
is known for its
desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters.
Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...
features forests of pine,
Douglas fir, and
spruce trees; the
Colorado Plateau; mountain ranges (such as the
San Francisco Mountains
The San Francisco Peaks (Navajo: , es, Sierra de San Francisco, Hopi: ''Nuva'tukya'ovi'', Western Apache: ''Dził Tso'', Keres: ''Tsii Bina'', Southern Paiute: ''Nuvaxatuh'', Havasupai-Hualapai: ''Hvehasahpatch''/''Huassapatch''/''Wik'hanbaja' ...
); as well as large, deep
canyons, with much more moderate summer temperatures and significant winter snowfalls. There are
ski resorts
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In ...
in the areas of
Flagstaff,
Alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
, and
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
. In addition to the internationally known
Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the
world's seven natural wonders, there are several
national forests,
national parks
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...
, and
national monuments.
Since the 1950s, Arizona's population and economy have grown dramatically because of migration into the state, and now the state is a major hub of the
Sun Belt. Cities such as Phoenix and Tucson have developed large, sprawling suburban areas. Many large companies, such as
PetSmart
PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...
and
Circle K
Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian chain of convenience stores headquartered in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by the multinational company Couche-Tard. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in ...
, have headquarters in the state, and Arizona is home to major universities, including the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
and
Arizona State University. Traditionally, the state is politically known for national conservative figures such as
Barry Goldwater and
John McCain, though it voted Democratic in the 1996 presidential race and in the 2020 presidential and senatorial elections.
Arizona is home to a diverse population. About one-quarter of the state is made up of
Indian reservations
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
that serve as the home of
27 federally recognized Native American tribes, including the
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...
, the largest in the state and the United States, with more than 300,000 citizens. Since the 1980s, the proportion of
Hispanics in the state's population has grown significantly owing to migration from Mexico. In terms of religion, a substantial portion of the population are followers of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
(LDS Church).
Etymology
The state's name appears to originate from an earlier Spanish name, , derived from the
O'odham
The O'odham peoples, including the Tohono O'odham, the Pima or Akimel O'odham, and the Hia C-ed O'odham, are indigenous Uto-Aztecan peoples of the Sonoran desert in southern and central Arizona and northern Sonora, united by a common herita ...
name , meaning "small spring". Initially this term was applied by Spanish colonists only to an area near the
silver mining
Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...
camp of
Planchas de Plata, Sonora. To the European settlers, the O'odham pronunciation sounded like ''Arissona''.
The area is still known as in the O'odham language.
Another possible origin is the
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
phrase ("the good oak"), as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area. A native Mexican of Basque ancestry established the (small rural settlement) of Arizona between 1734 and 1736 in the current Mexican state of
Sonora. It became notable after a significant discovery of silver there, .
The misconception that the state's name purportedly originated from the Spanish term ("Arid Zone") is considered a case of
folk etymology.
History
For thousands of years before the modern era, Arizona was home to many ancient
Native American civilizations.
Hohokam,
Mogollon, and
Ancestral Puebloan
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...
cultures were among those that flourished throughout the state. Many of their pueblos, cliffside dwellings, rock paintings and other prehistoric treasures have survived and attract thousands of tourists each year.
In 1539,
Marcos de Niza
Marcos de Niza, OFM (or Marco da Nizza; 25 March 1558) was a Savoyard missionary and Franciscan friar from the County of Nice. He is credited with being the first European in what is now the State of Arizona in the United States. He is most kn ...
, a Spanish
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
, became the first European to contact Native Americans. He explored parts of the present state and made contact with
native inhabitants, probably the
Sobaipuri. The expedition of Spanish explorer
Coronado entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for
Cíbola.
Few Spanish settlers migrated to Arizona. One of the first settlers in Arizona was
José Romo de Vivar.
[Martínez Laínez, Fernando and Canales Torres, Carlos. Banderas lejanas: La exploración, conquista y defensa por parte de España del Territorio de los actuales Estados Unidos (in Spanish: Far flags. The exploration, conquest and defense by Spain of the Territory of the present United States). pp. 145–146. Fourth edition: September 2009.]
Father Kino
Eusebio Francisco Kino ( it, Eusebio Francesco Chini, es, Eusebio Francisco Kino; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer born in ...
was the next European in the region. A member of the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
("
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
"), he led the development of a chain of missions in the region. He converted many of the Indians to Christianity in the
Pimería Alta (now southern Arizona and northern
Sonora) in the 1690s and early 18th century. Spain founded ''presidios'' ("fortified towns") at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775.
When Mexico achieved its independence from the
Kingdom of Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and its
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
in 1821, what is now Arizona became part of its Territory of ''Nueva California'', ("New California"), also known as ''
Alta California'' ("Upper California"). Descendants of ethnic Spanish and
mestizo settlers from the colonial years still lived in the area at the time of the arrival of later European-American migrants from the United States.
During the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
(1847–1848), the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
occupied the national capital of
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
and pursued its claim to much of northern Mexico, including what later became
Arizona Territory in 1863 and later the State of Arizona in 1912. The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
(1848) specified that, in addition to language and cultural rights of the existing inhabitants of former Mexican citizens being considered as inviolable, the sum of $15million in compensation () be paid to the Republic of Mexico. In 1853, the U.S. acquired the land south below the
Gila River from Mexico in the
Gadsden Purchase along the southern border area as encompassing the best future southern route for a transcontinental railway.
What is now the state of Arizona was administered by the United States government as part of the
Territory of New Mexico
The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of '' Nuevo México'' becomin ...
from 1850 until the southern part of that region seceded from the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
to form the
Territory of Arizona
The Territory of Arizona (also known as Arizona Territory) was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of ...
. This newly established territory was formally organized by the federal government of the
Confederate States
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
on Saturday, January 18, 1862, when
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Jefferson Davis approved and signed ''An Act to Organize the Territory of Arizona'', marking the first official use of the name "Territory of Arizona". The Southern territory supplied the Confederate government with men, horses, and equipment. Formed in 1862,
Arizona scout companies served with the
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. Arizona has the westernmost military engagement on record during the Civil War with the
Battle of Picacho Pass (1862).
The Federal government declared a new U.S. Arizona Territory, consisting of the western half of earlier New Mexico Territory, in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, on February 24, 1863.
These new boundaries would later form the basis of the state. The first territorial capital, Prescott, was founded in 1864 following a gold rush to central Arizona. The capital was later
moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and then to its final location in Phoenix in a series of controversial moves as different regions of the territory gained and lost political influence with the growth and development of the territory.
Although names including "Gadsonia", "Pimeria", "Montezuma" and "Arizuma" had been considered for the territory, when 16th President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
signed the final bill, it read "Arizona", and that name was adopted. (
Montezuma was not derived from the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
emperor, but was the sacred name of a divine hero to the
Pima people
The Pima (or Akimel O'odham, also spelled Akimel Oʼotham, "River People," formerly known as ''Pima'') are a group of Native Americans living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona, as well as northwestern Mexico in ...
of the
Gila River Valley
The Gila River Valley is a multi-sectioned valley of the Gila River, located primarily in Arizona. The Gila River forms in western New Mexico and flows west across southeastern, south-central, and southwestern Arizona; it changes directions as i ...
. It was probably consideredand rejectedfor its sentimental value before Congress settled on the name "Arizona".)
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
, patriarchal leader of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, sent
Mormons to Arizona in the mid- to late 19th century. They founded
Mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
,
Snowflake
A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. ...
,
Heber,
Safford, and other towns. They also settled in the
Phoenix Valley (or "Valley of the Sun"),
Tempe,
Prescott, and other areas. The Mormons settled what became
northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...
and northern New Mexico. At the time these areas were in a part of the former
New Mexico Territory.
During the nineteenth century, a series of gold and silver rushes occurred in the territory, the best known being the 1870s stampede to the silver bonanzas of
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town gr ...
in southeast Arizona, also known for its legendary outlaws and lawmen. By the late 1880s, copper production eclipsed the precious metals with the rise of copper camps like
Bisbee, Arizona
Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town was 4,923, down from 5,575 ...
and
Jerome, Arizona
Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, Jerome is located more than above sea level. It is about north of Phoenix alo ...
. The boom and bust economy of mining also left hundreds of
ghost towns
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by Alle ...
across the territory, but copper mining continued to prosper with the territory producing more copper than any other state by 1907, which earned Arizona the nickname "the Copper State" at the time of statehood. During the first years of statehood the industry experienced growing pains and labor disputes with the
Bisbee Deportation
The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal kidnapping and deportation of about 1,300 striking mine workers, their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 members of a deputized posse, who arrested them beginning on July 12, 1917, in Bisbee, A ...
of 1917 the result of a copper miners' strike.
20th century to present
During the
Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920, several battles were fought in the Mexican towns just across the border from Arizona settlements. Throughout the revolution, many Arizonans enlisted in one of the several armies fighting in Mexico. Only two significant engagements took place on U.S. soil between U.S. and Mexican forces:
Pancho Villa
Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...
's 1916 Columbus Raid in New Mexico, and the
Battle of Ambos Nogales in 1918 in Arizona. The Mexicans won the first battle and the Americans won the latter.
After Mexican federal troops fired on U.S. soldiers, the American garrison launched an assault into
Nogales, Mexico. The Mexicans eventually surrendered after both sides sustained heavy casualties. A few months earlier, just west of Nogales, an Indian War battle had occurred, considered the last engagement in the
American Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
, which lasted from 1775 to 1918. U.S. soldiers stationed on the border confronted
Yaqui Indians who were using Arizona as a base to raid the nearby Mexican settlements, as part of their wars against Mexico.
Arizona became a U.S. state on February 14, 1912. Arizona was the
48th state admitted to the U.S. and the last of the
contiguous states to be admitted.
Cotton farming and copper mining, two of Arizona's most important statewide industries, suffered heavily during the
Great Depression. But during the 1920s and even the 1930s, tourism began to develop as the important Arizonan industry it is today. Dude ranches, such as the K L Bar and Remuda in Wickenburg, along with the Flying V and Tanque Verde in Tucson, gave tourists the chance to take part in the flavor and activities of the "Old West". Several upscale hotels and resorts opened during this period, some of which are still top tourist draws. They include the
Arizona Biltmore Hotel
The Arizona Biltmore Hotel is a resort located in Phoenix near 24th Street and Camelback Road. It is part of Hilton Hotels' Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts. It was featured on the Travel Channel show ''Great Hotels.'' The Arizona Biltmore h ...
in central Phoenix (opened 1929) and the Wigwam Resort on the west side of the Phoenix area (opened 1936).
Arizona was the site of German prisoner of war camps during World WarII and
Japanese American internment camps. Because of wartime fears of a Japanese invasion of the
U.S. West Coast
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
(which in fact materialized in the
Aleutian Islands Campaign in June 1942). From 1942 to 1945, they were forced to reside in internment camps built in the interior of the country. Many lost their homes and businesses. The camps were abolished after World WarII.
The Phoenix-area German P.O.W. site was purchased after the war by the
Maytag
The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006.
Company history
The Maytag Washing Machine Company was founded in 1893 by businessman Frederick Maytag. In 1925, ...
family (of major
home appliance
A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation.
Appliances are divided into three ...
fame). It was developed as the site of the
Phoenix Zoo
The Phoenix Zoo opened in 1962 and is the largest privately owned, non-profit zoo in the United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the zoo was founded by Robert Maytag, a member of the Maytag family, and operates on of land in the Papago Park ...
. A Japanese-American internment camp was on
Mount Lemmon
Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of , is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. Mount Lemmon was named for botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, who ...
, just outside the state's southeastern city of Tucson. Another
POW camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...
was near the
Gila River in eastern
Yuma County.
Arizona was also home to the
Phoenix Indian School
The Phoenix Indian School, or Phoenix Indian High School in its later years, was a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated school in Encanto Village, in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona. It served lower grades also from 1891 to 1935, and then served as a ...
, one of several federal
Indian boarding schools
American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries with a primary objective of "civilizing" or assimilating Na ...
designed to assimilate Native American children into mainstream European-American culture. Children were often enrolled in these schools against the wishes of their parents and families. Attempts to suppress native identities included forcing the children to cut their hair, to take and use English names, to speak only English, and to practice Christianity rather than their native religions.
Numerous Native Americans from Arizona fought for the United States during World WarII. Their experiences resulted in a rising activism in the postwar years to achieve better treatment and civil rights after their return to the state. After Maricopa County did not allow them to register to vote, in 1948 veteran Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, of the
Mojave-Apache Tribe at
Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, brought a legal suit, ''
Harrison and Austin v. Laveen'', to challenge this exclusion. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in their favor.
[''Harrison v. Laveen'', July 1948](_blank)
, Arizona Supreme Court
Arizona's population grew tremendously with residential and business development after World WarII, aided by the widespread use of
air conditioning
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
, which made the intensely hot summers more comfortable. According to the ''Arizona Blue Book'' (published by the
Arizona Secretary of State
The secretary of state of Arizona is an elected position in the U.S. state of Arizona. Since Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, the secretary stands first in the line of succession to the governorship. The secretary also serves as actin ...
's office each year), the state population in 1910 was 294,353. By 1970, it was 1,752,122. The percentage growth each decade averaged about 20% in the earlier decades, and about 60% each decade thereafter.
In the 1960s,
retirement communities
A retirement community is a residential community or housing complex designed for older adults who are generally able to care for themselves; however, assistance from home care agencies is allowed in some communities, and activities and socializ ...
were developed. These age-restricted subdivisions catered exclusively to the needs of senior citizens and attracted many retirees who wanted to escape the harsh winters of the
Midwest and the
Northeast.
Sun City, established by developer
Del Webb and opened in 1960, was one of the first such communities.
Green Valley, south of Tucson, was another such community, designed as a retirement subdivision for Arizona's teachers. Many senior citizens from across the U.S. and Canada come to Arizona each winter and stay only during the winter months; they are referred to as
snowbirds
The Snowbirds, officially known as 431 Air Demonstration Squadron (french: 431e Escadron de démonstration aérienne, links=no), are the military aerobatics flight demonstration team of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The team is based at 15 Wing ...
.
In March 2000, Arizona was the site of the first legally binding election ever held over the internet to nominate a candidate for public office. In the 2000 Arizona Democratic Primary, under worldwide attention,
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...
defeated
Bill Bradley. Voter turnout in this state primary increased more than 500% over the 1996 primary.
In the 21st century, Arizona has frequently garnered national attention for its efforts to quell illegal immigration into the state. In 2004, voters passed
Proposition 200, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The
Supreme Court of the United States struck this restriction down in 2013. In 2010, Arizona enacted
SB 1070
The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (introduced as Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and commonly referred to as Arizona SB 1070) is a 2010 legislative Act in the U.S. state of Arizona that was the broadest and strictest an ...
which required all immigrants to carry immigration papers at all times, but the Supreme Court also invalidated parts of this law in ''
Arizona v. United States
''Arizona v. United States'', 567 U.S. 387 (2012), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's Arizona SB 1070, SB 1070, a state law intended to increase the powers of local law enforcement that w ...
'' in 2012.
On January 8, 2011, a
gunman shot congresswoman
Gabby Giffords
Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...
and 18 others at a gathering in Tucson. Giffords was critically wounded. The incident sparked national attention regarding incendiary political rhetoric.
Three ships named
USS ''Arizona'' have been christened in honor of the state, although only
USS ''Arizona'' (BB-39) was so named after statehood was achieved.
Geography
Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the
Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth
largest state by area, ranked after
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
and before
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. Of the state's , approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land,
state trust land and Native American reservations. There are 24
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...
maintained sites in Arizona, including the three national parks of
Grand Canyon National Park,
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is an American national park in Pima County, southeastern Arizona. The park consists of two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD) about west of the city of Tucson and the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) about ...
, and the
Petrified Forest National Park.
Arizona is well known for its
desert Basin and Range region in the state's southern portions, which is rich in a
landscape of
xerophyte
A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or the ...
plants such as the
cactus
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...
. This region's topography was shaped by prehistoric
volcanism
Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...
, followed by the cooling-off and related
subsidence. Its climate has exceptionally hot summers and mild winters. The state is less well known for its pine-covered north-central portion of the high country of the
Colorado Plateau (see
Arizona Mountains forests).
Like other states of the
Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
United States, Arizona is marked by high mountains, the Colorado plateau, and mesas. Despite the state's aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest, a percentage comparable to modern-day Romania or Greece. The world's largest stand of
ponderosa pine
''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...
trees is in Arizona.
The
Mogollon Rim
The Mogollon Rim ( or or ) is a topographical and geological feature cutting across the northern half of the U.S. state of Arizona. It extends approximately , starting in northern Yavapai County and running eastward, ending near the border ...
(), a
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
, cuts across the state's central section and marks the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. In 2002, this was an area of the
Rodeo–Chediski Fire
The Rodeo–Chediski Fire was a wildfire that burned in east-central Arizona beginning on June 18, 2002, and was not controlled until July 7.http://www.floa.org/rodeo_chediski/fire_photos12.htm Rodeo-Chediski fire, Forest lakes owners associatio ...
, the worst fire in state history until 2011.
Located in northern Arizona, the
Grand Canyon is a colorful, deep, steep-sided gorge, carved by the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
. The canyon is one of the
Seven Natural Wonders of the World
Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled from antiquity to the present day, in order to catalogue the world's most spectacular natural features and human-built structures.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the o ...
and is largely contained in the
Grand Canyon National Parkone of the first national parks in the United States. President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
was a major proponent of designating the Grand Canyon area as a National Park, often visiting to hunt
mountain lion
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...
and enjoy the scenery. The canyon was created by the Colorado River cutting a channel over millions of years, and is about long, ranges in width from and attains a depth of more than . Nearly twobillion years of the
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut through layer after layer of sediment as the Colorado Plateau uplifted.
Arizona is home to one of the most well-preserved
meteorite impact sites in the world. Created around 50,000 years ago, the Barringer Meteorite Crater (better known simply as "
Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officia ...
") is a gigantic hole in the middle of the high plains of the Colorado Plateau, about west of
Winslow Winslow may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish
* Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974
United States and Canada
* Rural Municipality of Winslo ...
. A rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises above the level of the surrounding plain. The crater itself is nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and deep.
Arizona is one of two U.S. states, along with Hawaii, that does not observe
Daylight Saving Time
Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...
, though the large
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native American reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah; at roughly , the ...
in the state's northeastern region does.
Adjacent states
*
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
(north)
*
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
(northeast)
*
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
(northwest)
*
Sonora, Mexico
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...
(south)
*
Baja California, Mexico (southwest)
*
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
(east)
*
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
(west)
Climate
Due to its large area and variations in elevation, the state has a wide variety of localized climate conditions. In the lower elevations, the climate is primarily desert, with mild winters and extremely hot summers. Typically, from late fall to early spring, the weather is mild, averaging a minimum of . November through February are the coldest months, with temperatures typically ranging from , with occasional frosts.
About midway through February, the temperatures start to rise, with warm days, and cool, breezy nights. The summer months of June through September bring a dry heat from , with occasional high temperatures exceeding having been observed in the desert area.
Arizona's all-time record high is recorded at
Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994, and July 5, 2007; the all-time record low of was recorded at
Hawley Lake
Hawley Lake is an American lake and place in east-central Arizona, in the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation, and has an elevation of .
The lake is a remnant of Pliocene volcanism on the Mogollon Rim but it has been artificially extended ...
on January 7, 1971.
Due to the primarily dry climate, large diurnal temperature variations occur in less-developed areas of the desert above . The swings can be as large as 83°F (46°C) in the summer months. In the state's urban centers, the effects of
local warming result in much higher measured night-time lows than in the recent past.
Arizona has an average annual rainfall of , which comes during two rainy seasons, with
cold front
A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Northern ...
s coming from the Pacific Ocean during the winter and a
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
in the summer.
The monsoon season occurs toward the end of summer. In July or August, the
dewpoint
The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will co ...
rises dramatically for a brief period. During this time, the air contains large amounts of
water vapor
(99.9839 °C)
, -
, Boiling point
,
, -
, specific gas constant
, 461.5 J/( kg·K)
, -
, Heat of vaporization
, 2.27 MJ/kg
, -
, Heat capacity
, 1.864 kJ/(kg·K)
Water vapor, water vapour or aqueous vapor is the gaseous p ...
. Dewpoints as high as 81°F (27°C)
have been recorded during the
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
monsoon season. This hot moisture brings
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...
,
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...
s, wind, and torrential, if usually brief, downpours. These downpours often cause
flash floods, which can turn deadly. In an attempt to deter drivers from crossing flooding streams, the
Arizona Legislature enacted the
Stupid Motorist Law. It is rare for
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es or
hurricanes
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
to occur in Arizona.
Arizona's northern third is a
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
at significantly higher altitudes than the lower desert, and has an appreciably cooler climate, with cold winters and mild summers, though the climate remains semiarid to arid. Extremely cold temperatures are not unknown; cold air systems from the northern states and Canada occasionally push into the state, bringing temperatures below to the state's northern parts.
Indicative of the variation in climate, Arizona is the state which has both the metropolitan area with the most days over (
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
), and the metropolitan area in the lower 48 states with the most days with a low temperature below freezing (
Flagstaff).
Cities and towns
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, in
Maricopa County
Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about ...
, is Arizona's capital and largest city. Other prominent cities in the Phoenix metro area include
Mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
(Arizona's third largest city),
Chandler (Arizona's fourth largest city),
Glendale,
Peoria,
Buckeye,
Sun City,
Sun City West,
Fountain Hills,
Surprise,
Gilbert,
El Mirage,
Avondale,
Tempe,
Tolleson and
Scottsdale, with a total metropolitan population of just over 4.7million. The average high temperature in July, , is one of the highest of any metropolitan area in the United States, offset by an average January high temperature of , the basis of its winter appeal.
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
, with a metro population of just over onemillion, is the state's second-largest city. Located in
Pima County
Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populati ...
, approximately southeast of Phoenix, it was incorporated in 1877, making it the oldest incorporated city in Arizona. It is home to the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
. Major incorporated suburbs of Tucson include
Oro Valley
Oro Valley, incorporated in 1974, is a suburban town located north of Tucson, Arizona, United States, in Pima County. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town is 47,070, an increase from 29,700 in 2000. Dubbed the "Upscale Te ...
and
Marana northwest of the city,
Sahuarita
Sahuarita is a town in Pima County, Arizona, United States. Sahuarita is located south of the Tohono O'odham Nation and abuts the north end of Green Valley, 15 miles (24 km) south of Tucson. The population was 34,134 at th2020 census
His ...
south of the city, and
South Tucson in an enclave south of downtown. It has an average July temperature of 100°F (38°C) and winter temperatures averaging 65°F (18°C).
Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is an American national park in Pima County, southeastern Arizona. The park consists of two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD) about west of the city of Tucson and the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) about ...
, just west of the city in the
Tucson Mountains
The Tucson Mountains ( O'odham: Cuk Doʼag) are a minor mountain range west of Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson Mountains, including Wasson Peak, are one of four notable mountain ranges surrounding the Tucson Basin. The Santa Catalina Mountains l ...
, is the site of the world's largest collection of
Saguaro
The saguaro (, ) (''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountai ...
cacti.
The
Prescott metropolitan area includes the cities of Prescott,
Cottonwood,
Camp Verde
Camp Verde ( yuf-x-yav, ʼMatthi:wa; Western Apache: Gambúdih) is a town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town is 10,873.
The town hosts an annual corn festival in July, sponsored and orga ...
and many other towns in the of
Yavapai County
Yavapai County is near the center of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 236,209, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arizona. The county seat is Prescott.
Yavapai County comprises the Prescott, AZ M ...
area. With 212,635 residents, this cluster of towns is the state's third largest metropolitan area. The city of Prescott (population 41,528) lies approximately northwest of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Situated in pine tree forests at an elevation of about , Prescott enjoys a much cooler climate than Phoenix, with average summer highs around and winter temperatures averaging .
Yuma is the center of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Arizona. Located in
Yuma County, it is near the borders of California and Mexico. It is one of the hottest cities in the United States, with an average July high of . (The same month's average in
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
is .) The city features sunny days about 90% of the year. The Yuma
Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...
has a population of 160,000. Yuma attracts many winter visitors from all over the United States.
Flagstaff, in
Coconino County, is the largest city in northern Arizona, and is at an elevation of nearly . With its large Ponderosa pine forests, snowy winter weather and picturesque mountains, it is a stark contrast to the desert regions typically associated with Arizona. It is sited at the base of the
San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountain range in the state of Arizona, which contains
Humphreys Peak
Humphreys Peak ( hop, Aaloosaktukwi, nv, Dookʼoʼoosłííd) is the highest natural point and the second most prominent peak after Mount Graham in the U.S. state of Arizona, with an elevation of and is located within the Kachina Peaks Wildern ...
, the highest point in Arizona at . Flagstaff has a strong tourism sector, due to its proximity to numerous tourist attractions including:
Grand Canyon National Park,
Sedona, and
Oak Creek Canyon. Historic
U.S. Route 66 is the main east–west street in the town. The Flagstaff metropolitan area is home to 134,421 residents and the main campus of
Northern Arizona University.
Lake Havasu City, in
Mohave County
Mohave County is in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is the fifth largest county in the United St ...
, known as "Arizona's playground", was developed on the Colorado River and is named after Lake Havasu. Lake Havasu City has a population of about 53,000 people. It is famous for huge spring break parties, sunsets and the
London Bridge, relocated from London, England. Lake Havasu City was founded by real estate developer
Robert P. McCulloch
Robert Paxton McCulloch (May 11, 1911 – February 25, 1977) was an American entrepreneur from Missouri, best known for McCulloch chainsaws and purchasing the "New" London Bridge (Lake Havasu City), London Bridge, which he moved to Lake Havasu Ci ...
in 1963. It has two colleges,
Mohave Community College and ASU Colleges in Lake Havasu City.
Demographics
The
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
records Arizona's population as 7,151,502 in the 2020 census,
a 12% increase since the
2010 United States census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...
.
Arizona remained sparsely settled for most of the 19th century. The 1860 census reported the population of "Arizona County" to be 6,482, of whom 4,040 were listed as "Indians", 21 as "free colored", and 2,421 as "white". Arizona's continued
population growth puts an enormous stress on the state's water supply. , 61% of Arizona's children under age one belonged to racial groups of color.
The population of metropolitan Phoenix increased by 45% from 1991 through 2001, helping to make Arizona the second fastest-growing state in the U.S. in the 1990s (the fastest was
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
). , the population of the Phoenix area is estimated to be over 4.9million.
According to the 2010 United States census, Arizona had a population of 6,392,017. In 2010,
illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...
constituted an estimated 8% of the population. This was the second highest percentage of any state in the U.S.
Metropolitan Phoenix (4.7million) and Tucson (1.0million) are home to about five-sixths of Arizona's people (as of the 2010 census). Metro Phoenix alone accounts for two-thirds of the state's population.
Race and ethnicity
Arizona's five largest ancestry groups, , were:
#
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
(58%)
#
German (9%)
#
Asian (7%)
#
African (12%)
#
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
(7%)
Languages
, 73% (4,215,749) of Arizona residents age five and older spoke only English at home, while 21% (1,202,638) spoke Spanish, 2% (85,602)
Navajo, <1% (22,592) German, <1% (22,426)
Chinese (which includes
Mandarin), <1% (19,015)
Tagalog, <1% (17,603) Vietnamese, <1% (15,707)
Other North American Indigenous Languages (especially
indigenous languages of Arizona
Arizona, a state in the southwestern region of the United States of America, is known for its high population of Native Americans. Arizona has the third highest number (and the sixth highest percentage) of Native Americans of any state in the Unio ...
), and French was spoken as a
main language by <1% (15,062) of the population over the age of five. In total, 27% (1,567,548) of Arizona's population age five and older spoke a
mother language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
other than English.
Arizona is home to the largest number of speakers of
Native American languages
Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large numbe ...
in the 48 contiguous states, as more than 85,000 individuals reported speaking
Navajo,
[2005 American Community Survey. Retrieved fro]
the data of the MLA
, July 13, 2010 and 10,403 people reported
Apache, as a language spoken at home in 2005.
Arizona's
Apache County has the highest concentration of speakers of Native American Indian languages in the United States.
Religion
The 2010 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study by
ARDA reported that the three largest denominational groups in Arizona were the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and non-denominational Evangelical Protestants. The Catholic Church had the highest number of adherents in Arizona (at 930,001), followed by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
with 392,918 members reported and then non-denominational Evangelical Protestant churches, reporting 281,105 adherents. The religious body with the largest number of congregations is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (with 811 congregations) followed by the
Southern Baptist Convention (with 323 congregations). This census accounted for about 2.4 million of Arizona's 6.4 million residents in 2010.
According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the fifteen largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 and 2000 were:
Hinduism became the largest non-Christian religion (when combining all denominations) in 2010 with more than 32,000 adherents, followed by Judaism with more than 20,000 and Buddhism with more than 19,000.
By the publication of the
Public Religion Research Institute
The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of politic ...
's 2020 study, 68% of the population identified as Christian. At the Pew Research Center's 2014 study, 67% of Arizona was Christian. Among the irreligious population from 2014 to 2020 per both studies, they have decreased from 27% of the population to 24% of self-identified irreligious or agnostic Arizonans.
Economy
The 2020 total
gross state product
Gross regional domestic product (GRDP), gross domestic product of region (GDPR), or gross state product (GSP) is a statistic that measures the size of a region's economy. It is the aggregate of gross value added (GVA) of all resident producer uni ...
was $373billion. The composition of the state's economy is moderately diverse; although health care, transportation and the government remain the largest sectors.
The state's per capita income is $40,828, ranking 39th in the U.S. The state had a
median household income
The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways o ...
of $50,448, making it 22nd in the country and just below the U.S. national mean. Early in its history, Arizona's economy relied on the "five C's": copper (see ''
Copper mining in Arizona
Copper mining in Arizona, a state of the United States, has been a major industry since the 19th century. In 2007, Arizona was the leading copper-producing state in the country, producing 750 thousand metric tons of copper, valued at $5.54 billi ...
''), cotton, cattle,
citrus
''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...
, and
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
(tourism). Copper is still extensively mined from many expansive open-pit and underground mines, accounting for two-thirds of the nation's output.
Employment
* Total employment (2016): 2,379,409
* Total employer establishments (2016): 139,134
The state government is Arizona's largest employer, while
Banner Health
Banner Health is a non-profit health system in the United States, based in Phoenix, Arizona. It operates 30 hospitals and several specialized facilities across 6 states. The health system is the largest employer in Arizona and one of the largest ...
is the state's largest private employer, with more than 39,000 employees (2016). , the state's unemployment rate was 5.9%.
The largest employment sectors in Arizona are (August 2020, Nonfarm Employment):
Largest employers
According to ''
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
'', the largest private employers in the state were:
Taxation
Tax is collected by the Arizona Department of Revenue.
Arizona collects personal
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
es in five brackets: 2.59%, 2.88%, 3.36%, 4.24% and 4.54%. The state
transaction privilege tax is 5.6%; however, county and municipal sales taxes generally add an additional 2%.
In 2020, Arizona voters approved Proposition 208 to create an additional income tax bracket of 8% for incomes over $250,000 (single filers) and $500,000 (joint filers). The
Goldwater Institute
The Goldwater Institute is a conservative and libertarian public policy think tank located in Phoenix whose stated mission is "to defend and strengthen the freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the constitutions of the United States and all fi ...
filed a lawsuit challenging it, but it was rejected by Maricopa County
Arizona Superior Court
The Superior Court of the State of Arizona is the Arizona state court of general jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction
The Constitution of Arizona provides the Superior Court with jurisdiction over:
* concurrent jurisdiction over cases and proceedings in whi ...
judge John Hannah Jr.
The state rate on transient lodging (hotel/
motel
A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...
) is 7.27%. The state of Arizona does not levy a state tax on food for home consumption or on drugs prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist. However, some cities in Arizona do levy a tax on food for home consumption.
All fifteen Arizona counties levy a tax. Incorporated municipalities also levy transaction privilege taxes which, with the exception of their hotel/motel tax, are generally in the range of 1-to-3%. These added assessments could push the combined sales
tax rate to as high as 10.7%.
Agriculture
Romaine lettuce
Romaine or cos lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'' L. var. ''longifolia'') is a variety of lettuce that grows in a tall head of sturdy dark green leaves with firm ribs down their centers. Unlike most lettuces, it is tolerant of heat. In North America, ...
was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $291,001,000.
Head lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food ...
was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $236,994,000.
Leaf lettuce was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $123,066,000.
Spinach was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $113,620,000.
Cantaloupe
The cantaloupe, rockmelon (Australia and New Zealand, although cantaloupe is used in some states of Australia), sweet melon, or spanspek (Southern Africa) is a melon that is a variety of the muskmelon species (''Cucumis melo'') from the fami ...
was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $91,907,000.
The state is consistently the second largest grower of
broccoli
Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering head, stalk and small associated leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Broccoli is cla ...
, consistently behind
California's harvest, going from in 2012, 2017, and 2021.
In 2021 that yielded , for a total harvest of .
When sold for an average of , that brought $87,545,000.
Cauliflower was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $76,908,000.
Cabbage was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $56,088,000.
Watermelon
Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varie ...
was harvested from , yielding an average of , for a total harvest of .
Selling for , that sold for $32,311,000
.
Federal
crop insurance
Crop insurance is purchased by agricultural producers, and subsidized by the federal government, to protect against either the loss of their crops due to natural disasters, such as hail, drought, and floods, or the loss of revenue due to declines ...
is available for (''
Vitis vinifera
''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curr ...
'' and other ''
Vitis
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 79 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, ...
'' spp.) here.
Together with
California's crop it falls under special provisions of the relevant crop insurance statutes.
Insect pests and
diseases are
covered, excluding Phylloxera (''
Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'') or failure to correctly
apply insect control or
apply disease control.
Arizona Extension
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
The ...
has tested some varieties (and recommends some others which their experience tells them should produce well) for the
Low Desert
The Low Desert is a common name for any desert in California that is under 2,000 feet (609.6 m) in altitude. These areas include, but are not exclusive to, the Colorado Desert and Yuha Desert, in the Southern California portion of the Sonoran Dese ...
area:
*
Apricot:
Katy,
Patterson Patterson may refer to:
People
* Patterson (surname)
Places
;Canada
* Pattersons Corners, Ontario
*Patterson Township, Ontario
*Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta.
;United States of America
* Patterson, Arkansas
*Patterson, C ...
(
Castlebrite,
Gold Kist,
Modesto
Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...
,
Royal Rosa).
*
Blackberry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...
:
Brazos,
Rosborough.
*
Fig:
Black Mission,
Brown Turkey,
White Conadria,
White Kadota.
*
Grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...
:
Cardinal,
Exotic,
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
,
Flame seedless
The Flame Seedless (''Vitis vinifera'') is a vigorous, heavy-bearing table grape cultivar that keeps well in storage. It is a hybrid of Thompson Seedless, Cardinal, and several other ''Vitis vinifera'' cultivars. It produces large clusters of me ...
,
Perlette,
Ruby seedless,
Thompson seedless
The sultana is a "white" (pale green), oval seedless grape variety also called the sultanina, Thompson Seedless (United States), Lady de Coverly (England), and oval-fruited Kishmish (Iraq, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India) ...
.
*
Kiwi
Kiwi most commonly refers to:
* Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand
* Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders
* Kiwifruit, an edible berry
* Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency
Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...
: (
Tomari Male,
Vincent Female).
*
Peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-f ...
:
Bonanza Miniature,
Babcock,
Desert Gold,
Desert Red,
Earligrande,
Flordaprince,
Tropic Beauty,
Tropic Snow,
Tropic Sweet (
August Pride,
Eva's Pride,
Flordaking,
Flordagrande,
May Pride,
Mid-Pride,
Vallegrande
Vallegrande (''Spanish: "Big Valley"'') is a small colonial town in Bolivia, located in the Department of Santa Cruz, some 125 km (bee-line) southwest of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It is the capital of the Vallegrande Province and Vallegrand ...
).
*
Pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...
: (
Flordahome,
Kieffer).
*
Asian pear: (
Shinseiki,
Yakumo).
*
Persimmon
The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-per ...
: (
Fuyu/Jiro,
Giant Fuyu,
Izu Izu may refer to:
Places
*Izu Province, a part of modern-day Shizuoka prefecture in Japan
**Izu, Shizuoka, a city in Shizuoka prefecture
**Izu Peninsula, near Tokyo
**Izu Islands, located off the Izu Peninsula
People with the surname
*, Japane ...
).
*
Plum:
Gulf Gold,
Gulf Ruby,
Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose.
Santa Rosa may also refer to:
Places Argentina
*Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city
* Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca
* Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca
* Santa Rosa, La Pampa
* S ...
(
Beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
,
Methley).
*
Quince: (
Orange Quince
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
,
Pineapple Quince).
*
Strawberry:
Camerosa,
Chandler,
Sequoia,
Tioga.
The whitefly
''Bemisia tabaci'' B was introduced through the
poinsettia trade in the 1980s, displacing the previous
A biotype.
In 2004 the
Q biotype (from the Mediterranean) was first found here, also on poinsettia.
[
]
The (''
Leptinotarsa decemlineata'') is either native or an early
introduction here.
Unusually, the population here commonly feeds on (''
Solanum elaeagnifolium
''Solanum elaeagnifolium'', the silverleaf nightshade or silver-leaved nightshade, is a common native plant to parts of the southwestern USA, and sometimes weed of western North America and also found in South America. Other common names includ ...
''), which is usually a less attractive host for this beetle.
The CPB is an occasional pest of tomato.
[
]
Transportation
Highways
Interstate highways
, , , , , ,
U.S. routes
, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Main Interstate routes include I-17, and I-19 traveling north–south, I-8, I-10, and I-40, traveling east–west, and a short stretch of I-15 traveling northeast–southwest through the extreme northwestern corner of the state. In addition, the various urban areas are served by complex networks of
state routes and highways, such as the
Loop 101, which is part of Phoenix's vast
freeway system.
Public transportation, Amtrak, and intercity bus
The Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas are served by public bus transit systems. Yuma and Flagstaff also have public bus systems.
Greyhound Lines serves Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and several smaller communities statewide.
A
light rail system, called
Valley Metro Rail
Valley Metro Rail (styled as METRO) is a light rail line serving the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa in Arizona, USA. The network, which is part of the Valley Metro public transit system, began operations on December 27, 2008. In , the sys ...
, was completed in December 2008; it connects Central Phoenix with the nearby cities of Mesa and Tempe.
In Tucson, the
Sun Link streetcar system travels through the downtown area, connecting the main
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
campus with Mercado San Agustin on the western edge of downtown Tucson. Sun Link, loosely based on the
Portland Streetcar
The Portland Streetcar is a streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, that opened in 2001 and serves areas surrounding downtown Portland. The NS Line runs from Northwest Portland to the South Waterfront via Downtown and the Pearl District. The Lo ...
, launched in July 2014.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
''
Southwest Chief
The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagsta ...
'' route serves the northern part of the state, stopping at
Winslow Winslow may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish
* Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974
United States and Canada
* Rural Municipality of Winslo ...
,
Flagstaff,
Williams and
Kingman. The ''
Texas Eagle
The ''Texas Eagle'' is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak between Chicago and San Antonio in the central and western United States. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the ''Eagle''.
Trains #21 (southbound) and 22 (northbound) ...
'' and ''
Sunset Limited'' routes serve South-Central Arizona, stopping at
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
,
Maricopa
Maricopa can refer to:
Places
* Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city
** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix
** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona
* Maricopa County, Arizona, United States
* Marico ...
,
Yuma and
Benson. Phoenix lost Amtrak service in 1996 with the rerouting of the ''Sunset Limited'', and now an Amtrak bus runs between Phoenix and the station in Maricopa. As of 2021, Amtrak has proposed to restore rail service between Phoenix and Tucson.
Law and government
Capitol complex
The capital of Arizona is
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
. The original
Capitol building, with its distinctive copper dome, was dedicated in 1901 (construction was completed for $136,000 in 1900) when the area was a territory. Phoenix became the official state capital with Arizona's admission to the union in 1912.
The
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and
Senate buildings were dedicated in 1960, and an Executive Office Building was dedicated in 1974 (the ninth floor of this building is where the Office of the Governor is located). The original Capitol building was converted into a museum.
The Capitol complex is fronted and highlighted by the richly landscaped
Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, named after
Wesley Bolin
Wesley Bolin (July 1, 1909 – March 4, 1978) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 15th governor of Arizona between 1977 and 1978. His five months in office mark the shortest term in office for any Arizona governor. Pr ...
, a governor who died in office in the 1970s. The site also includes many monuments and memorials, including the anchor and signal mast from the
USS ''Arizona'' (one of the U.S. Navy ships
sunk in Pearl Harbor) and a granite version of the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
.
State legislative branch
The
Arizona Legislature is
bicameral and consists of a thirty-member
Senate and a 60-member
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
. Each of the thirty legislative districts has one senator and two representatives. Legislators are elected for two-year terms.
Each Legislature covers a two-year period. The first session following the general election is known as the first regular session, and the session convening in the second year is known as the second regular session. Each regular session begins on the second Monday in January and adjourns ''sine die'' (terminates for the year) no later than Saturday of the week in which the 100th day from the beginning of the regular session falls. The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House, by rule, may extend the session up to seven additional days. Thereafter, the session can be extended only by a majority vote of members present of each house.
The majority party is the
Republican Party, which has held power in both houses since 1993. The
Democratic Party picked up several legislative seats in recent elections, bringing both chambers one seat away from being equally divided as of 2021.
Arizona state senators and representatives are elected for two-year terms and are limited to four consecutive terms in a chamber, though there is no limit on the total number of terms. When a lawmaker is term-limited from office, it is common for him or her to run for election in the other chamber.
The fiscal year 2006–07 general fund budget, approved by the Arizona Legislature in June 2006, was slightly less than $10billion. Besides the money spent on state agencies, it also included more than $500million in income and property tax cuts, pay raises for government employees, and additional funding for the K–12 education system.
State executive branch
Arizona's executive branch is headed by a
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, who is elected to a four-year term. The governor may serve any number of terms, though no more than two in a row. Arizona is one of the few states that has no governor's mansion. During their term, the governors reside within their private residence, with executive offices housed in the executive tower at the state capitol. The governor of Arizona is
Doug Ducey
Douglas Anthony Ducey (, né Roscoe Jr.; born April 9, 1964) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 23rd governor of Arizona since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Ducey was previously the CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, a c ...
(R).
Governor
Jan Brewer
Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine, formerly Warren; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician and author who was the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Brewer is the fourth woman (and was t ...
assumed office in 2009 after
Janet Napolitano
Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...
had her nomination by Barack Obama for
Secretary of Homeland Security
The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...
confirmed by the Senate. Arizona has had four female governors, more than any other state.
Other elected executive officials include the
Secretary of State,
State Treasurer,
State Attorney General
The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney gener ...
,
Superintendent of Public Instruction,
State Mine Inspector, and a five-member
Corporation Commission. All elected officials hold a term of four years, and are limited to two consecutive terms (except the office of the State Mine Inspector, which is limited to four terms).
Arizona is one of five states that do not have a
lieutenant governor. The elected secretary of state is first in line to succeed the governor in the event of death, disability, resignation, or removal from office. If appointed, the Secretary of State is not eligible and the next governor is selected from the next eligible official in the line of succession, including the attorney general, state treasurer, and superintendent of public instruction. Since 1977, four secretaries of state and one attorney general have succeeded to Arizona's governorship.
State judicial branch
The
Arizona Supreme Court
The Arizona Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Arizona. Sitting in the Supreme Court building in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justice ...
is the highest court in Arizona, consisting of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Justices are appointed by the governor from a list recommended by a bipartisan commission and must be sustained in office by election after the first two years following their appointment. Subsequent sustaining elections occur every six years. The supreme court has appellate jurisdiction in death penalty cases, but nearly all other appellate cases go through the
Arizona Court of Appeals first. The court has original jurisdiction in a few other circumstances, as outlined in the state constitution. The court meets in the Arizona Supreme Court Building at the capitol complex (at the southern end of Wesley Bolin Plaza).
The
Arizona Court of Appeals, subdivided into two divisions, is the intermediate court in the state. Division One is based in Phoenix, consists of sixteen judges, and has jurisdiction in the Western and Northern regions of the state, along with the greater Phoenix area. Division Two is based in Tucson, consists of six judges, and has jurisdiction over the Southern regions of the state, including the Tucson area. Judges are selected in a method similar to the one used for state supreme court justices.
Each county of Arizona has a
superior court, the size and organization of which are varied and generally depend on the size of the particular county.
Counties
Arizona is divided into 15
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, ranging in size from to .
Federal representation
Arizona's two United States Senators are
Kyrsten Sinema
Kyrsten Lea Sinema (; born July 12, 1976) is an American politician and former social worker serving as the senior United States senator from Arizona since January 2019. A former member of the Democratic Party, Sinema became an independent in ...
(I) and
Mark Kelly (D).
Arizona's United States Representatives are
Tom O'Halleran
Thomas Charles O'Halleran (; born January 24, 1946) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2017. Beginning his political career as a Republican, he was the Arizona state senator from the 1st district from 2007 ...
(D-1),
Ann Kirkpatrick
Ann Leila Kirkpatrick (born March 24, 1950) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the United States representative from since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2013 to ...
(D-2),
Raul Grijalva (D-3),
Paul Gosar
Paul Anthony Gosar ( ; born November 27, 1958) is an American far-rightMultiple sources:
*
*
* politician and former dentist who has been the U.S. representative for since 2013. A Republican, he was elected in 2010 to represent the neighbor ...
(R-4),
Andy Biggs
Andrew Steven Biggs (born November 7, 1958) is an American attorney and politician who represents in the United States House of Representatives. The district, which was once represented by U.S. Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, is in the ...
(R-5),
David Schweikert
David S. Schweikert (; born March 3, 1962) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2023 and since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he first entered Congress in 2011, representing ...
(R-6),
Ruben Gallego
Rubén Marinelarena Gallego (; born November 20, 1979) is an American politician and U.S. Marine combat veteran, having served and deployed as a USMCR Corporal during Operation Iraqi Freedom, who is the U.S. Representative for Arizona's 7th co ...
(D-7),
Debbie Lesko (R-8), and
Greg Stanton
Gregory John Stanton (born March 8, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative from . A Democrat, he was mayor of Phoenix, Arizona. Stanton was on the Phoenix City Council from 2000 until 2009.
Stanton was elect ...
(D-9). Arizona gained a ninth seat in the House of Representatives due to
redistricting based on the
2010 United States census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...
.
Political culture
From statehood through the late 1940s, Arizona was primarily dominated by the
Democratic Party. During this time, the Democratic candidate for the presidency carried the state each election, the only exceptions being the elections of
1920,
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...
and
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...
all three were national
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
landslides.
In 1924, Congress had passed a law granting citizenship and suffrage to all Native Americans, some of whom had previously been excluded as members of tribes on reservations. Legal interpretations of Arizona's constitution prohibited Native Americans living on reservations from voting, classifying them as being under "guardianship".
This interpretation was overturned as being incorrect and unconstitutional in 1948 by the Arizona Supreme Court, following a suit by World WarII Indian veterans
Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, both of the
Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation (Yavapai: A'ba:ja), formerly the Fort McDowell Mohave-Apache Community of the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe and Indian reservation in Maricopa County, Arizona about northeast of ...
. The landmark case is ''
Harrison and Austin v. Laveen''. After the men were refused the opportunity to register in Maricopa County, they filed suit against the registrar. The
National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilati ...
, the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
, the
Department of the Interior, and the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
all filed ''amicus curiae'' (friends of the court) briefs in the case. The State Supreme Court established the rights of Native Americans to vote in the state; at the time, they comprised about 11% of the population.
That year, a similar provision was overturned in New Mexico when challenged by another Indian veteran in court. These were the only two states that had continued to prohibit Native Americans from voting.
[Dr. Dean Chavers, "History of Indian voting rights and why it's important"](_blank)
, ''Indian Country Today'', October 29, 2012; accessed July 17, 2016. See ''Trujillo v. Garley'' (1948)
Arizona voted Republican in every presidential election from 1952 to 1992, with
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
winning the state by particularly large margins. During this forty-year span, it was the only state not to be carried by a Democrat at least once.
Democrat
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
, in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
, lost the state by fewer than 5,000 votes to Arizona Senator and native
Barry Goldwater. (This was the most closely contested state in what was otherwise a landslide victory for Johnson that year.) Democrat
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
ended this streak in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
, when he won Arizona by a little over two percentage points (Clinton had previously come within less than two percent of winning Arizona's electoral votes in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
). From 2000 until 2016, the majority of the state continued to support Republican presidential candidates by solid margins. In the
2020 United States presidential election
The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
,
Joe Biden again broke the streak by becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Arizona since 1996.
Since the mid 20th century, the Republican Party has also dominated Arizona politics in general. The fast-growing Phoenix and Tucson suburbs became reliably Republican areas from the 1950s onward. During this time, many "Pinto Democrats", or conservative Democrats from rural areas, became increasingly willing to support Republicans at the state and national level. While the state normally supports Republicans at the federal level, Democrats are often competitive in statewide elections. Two of the last six governors have been Democrats.
On March 4, 2008, Senator
John McCain effectively clinched the Republican nomination for 2008, becoming the first major party presidential nominee from the state since Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Arizona politics are dominated by a longstanding rivalry between its two largest counties,
Maricopa
Maricopa can refer to:
Places
* Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city
** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix
** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona
* Maricopa County, Arizona, United States
* Marico ...
and
Pima
Pima or PIMA may refer to:
People
* Pima people, the Akimel O'odham, Indigenous peoples in Arizona (U.S.) and Sonora (Mexico)
Places
* Pima, Arizona, a town in Graham County
* Pima County, Arizona
* Pima Canyon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains ...
home to Phoenix and Tucson, respectively. The two counties have almost 75 percent of the state's population and cast almost 80 percent of the state's vote. They also elect a substantial majority of the state legislature.
Maricopa County is home to almost 60 percent of the state's population, and most of the state's elected officials live there. Before
Joe Biden won Maricopa County in 2020, it had voted Republican in every presidential election since 1948. This includes the
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
run of native son Barry Goldwater; he would not have carried his home state without his 20,000-vote margin in Maricopa County. Similarly, while McCain won Arizona by eight percentage points in 2008, aided by his 130,000-vote margin in Maricopa County
In contrast, Pima County, home to Tucson, and most of southern Arizona have historically voted more Democratic. While Tucson's suburbs lean Republican, they hold to a somewhat more moderate brand of Republicanism than is common in the Phoenix area.
Arizona rejected a
same-sex marriage ban in a referendum as part of the 2006 elections. Arizona was the first state in the nation to do so.
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
was not recognized in Arizona, but this amendment would have denied any legal or financial benefits to unmarried homosexual or heterosexual couples. In 2008, Arizona voters passed
Proposition 102, an amendment to the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. It passed by a more narrow majority than similar votes in a number of other states.
In 2010, Arizona adopted
SB 1070
The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (introduced as Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and commonly referred to as Arizona SB 1070) is a 2010 legislative Act in the U.S. state of Arizona that was the broadest and strictest an ...
, called the "toughest
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
law" in the United States. A fierce debate erupted between supporters and detractors of SB 1070. The
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
struck down portions of the Arizona law, which required all immigrants to carry immigration papers at all times, in ''
Arizona v. United States
''Arizona v. United States'', 567 U.S. 387 (2012), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's Arizona SB 1070, SB 1070, a state law intended to increase the powers of local law enforcement that w ...
''.
The
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
teachers' strike in 2018 inspired
teachers in other states, including
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, to take similar action.
In a 2020 study, Arizona was ranked as the 21st hardest state for citizens to vote in.
Same-sex marriage and civil unions
In 2006, Arizona became the first state in the United States to reject a proposition,
Prop 107, that would have banned same-sex marriage and civil unions. However, in 2008, Arizona voters approved of Prop 102, a constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage but not other unions. Prior to same-sex marriage being legal, the
City of Bisbee became the first jurisdiction in Arizona to approve of
civil union
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
s. The state's Attorney General at the time,
Tom Horne
Thomas Charles Horne (born March 28, 1945) is an American attorney, politician, and Republican activist who served as the 25th Attorney General of Arizona from 2011 to 2015. Horne lost to Mark Brnovich in the Republican primary for Attorney Gene ...
, threatened to sue, but rescinded the threat once Bisbee amended the ordinance; Bisbee approved of civil unions in 2013. The municipalities of
Clarkdale,
Cottonwood,
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
,
Sedona, and
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
also passed civil unions.
A November 2011
Public Policy Polling
Public Policy Polling (PPP) is an American polling firm affiliated with the Democratic Party. Founded in 2001 by businessman Dean Debnam, the firm is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Debnam currently serves as president and CEO of PPP, while T ...
survey found 44% of Arizona voters supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, while 45% opposed it and 12% were not sure. A separate question on the same survey found 72% of respondents supported legal recognition of same-sex couples, with 40% supporting same-sex marriage, 32% supporting civil unions, 27% opposing all legal recognition and 1% not sure. Arizona Proposition 102, known by its supporters as the Marriage Protection Amendment, appeared as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Arizona, where it was approved: 56–43%. It amended the Arizona Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
On October 17, 2014, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced his office would no longer object to same-sex marriage, in response to a U.S. District Court Ruling on Arizona Proposition 102. On that day, each county's Clerk of the Superior Court began to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and Arizona became the 31st state to legalize same-sex marriage.
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Public schools in Arizona are separated into about 220 local school districts which operate independently, but are governed in most cases by elected county school superintendents; these are in turn overseen by the Arizona State Board of Education and the
Arizona Department of Education
Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is a state-level department tasked in Arizona with oversight of public education from kindergarten to secondary school. The ADE is run by an elected Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.
History
Th ...
. A state
Superintendent of Public Instruction (elected in partisan elections every even-numbered year when there is not a presidential election, for a four-year term). In 2005, a School District Redistricting Commission was established with the goal of combining and consolidating many of these districts.
Higher education
Arizona is served by three public universities: The
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
,
Arizona State University, and
Northern Arizona University. These schools are governed by the
Arizona Board of Regents.
Private higher education in Arizona is dominated by a large number of for-profit and "chain" (multi-site) universities.
Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott
Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott is a residential campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. The university offers bachelor and master's in arts, sciences, aviation, business, engineering, and security ...
and
Prescott College
Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona.
History
In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering.
The college was originall ...
are Arizona's only non-profit four-year private colleges.
Arizona has a wide network of two-year vocational schools and
community colleges
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...
. These colleges were governed historically by a separate statewide board of directors but, in 2002, the state legislature transferred almost all oversight authority to individual community college districts. The Maricopa County Community College District includes 11 community colleges throughout Maricopa County and is one of the largest in the nation.
Public universities in Arizona
*
Arizona State University, (
Sun Devils) Tempe/Phoenix/Mesa/Glendale/Lake Havasu
*
Northern Arizona University, (
Lumberjacks
Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Uni ...
) Flagstaff/Yuma/Prescott
*
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
, (
Wildcats
The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...
) Tucson/Sierra Vista,
MD college in downtown Phoenix and UA Agricultural Center in Yuma/Maricopa
Private colleges and universities in Arizona
*
American Indian College
*
Carrington College
*
Arizona Christian University
Arizona Christian University is a private Christian university in Glendale, Arizona.
History
Founded in 1960 as Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College, Arizona Christian University's original campus was located at 2625 E. Cactus Ro ...
*
Art Center College of Design
Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California.
History
ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School.
In 1935, Fred R. ...
*
Art Institute of Tucson
*
Art Institute of Phoenix
The Art Institutes (AI) are a collection of private for-profit art schools in the United States. Since 2019, the schools have been owned by Education Principle Foundation (aka Colbeck Foundation), a non-profit that also owns South Univers ...
*
A.T. Still University
A.T. Still University (ATSU) is a private medical school based in Kirksville, Missouri, with a second campus in Arizona and third campus in Santa Maria, California. It was founded in 1892 by Andrew Taylor Still and was the world's first osteopa ...
*
Brookline College
Brookline College is a private for-profit college in Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States. It offers associate and bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaure ...
*
Brown Mackie College
Brown Mackie College was a private for-profit college system in the United States. The colleges offered bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates in programs including early childhood education, information technology, health sc ...
*
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
*
Grand Canyon University
Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the largest Christian university in the world in 2018, with 20,000 attending students on ...
*
International Baptist College
*
Midwestern University
*
Northcentral University
Northcentral University is a private online university with its headquarters in San Diego, California. It was established in 1996 and is classified among "D/PU: Doctoral/Professional Universities"; it offers bachelor's, master's, specialist, ...
*
Ottawa University
Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas, a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City, Phoenix and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. It was founded in ...
*
Park University
Park University is a private university in Parkville, Missouri. It was founded in 1875.
In the fall of 2017, Park had an enrollment of 11,457 students.
History
The school which was originally called Park College was founded in 1875 by John A. ...
*
University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree lev ...
*
Penn Foster College
Penn Foster College is a private, for-profit online college headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was founded in 1890 as International Correspondence Schools and presently offers bachelor's and associate degree programs in 22 certified p ...
*
Prescott College
Prescott College is a private college in Prescott, Arizona.
History
In 1965, the Ford Foundation brought together a group of educators from around the United States. Prescott College was the result of this gathering.
The college was originall ...
*
Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine
*
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University (or simply Thunderbird) is a global management school in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1946 as an independent, private institution, it was acquired by Arizona State University ( ...
*
University of Advancing Technology
University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is a private for-profit university in Tempe, Arizona. Founded in 1983, UAT integrates technology into its general education requirements. The institution offers core classes (e.g., Legal Issues in Technol ...
*
Western Governors University
Western Governors University (WGU) is a private online university based in Millcreek, Utah. The university uses an online competency-based learning model. Degrees awarded by WGU are accredited by the NWCCU, ACBSP, CAEP, CAHIIM, and CCNE. T ...
*
Western International University
Apollo Education Group, Inc. is an American corporation based in the South Phoenix area of Phoenix, Arizona, with an additional corporate office in Chicago, Illinois.
The company owns and operates several higher-learning institutions, including ...
*
Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences
The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (informally Cras) is a private for-profit technical school specializing in audio recording, audio engineering and production education with its main location in Tempe and a satellite campus in G ...
Community colleges
*
Arizona Western College
Arizona Western College (AWC) is a public community college in Yuma, Arizona. It offers associate degrees, occupational certificates, and transfer degrees.
AWC also offers classes in Dateland, La Paz, San Luis, Somerton, and Wellton.
Aca ...
*
Central Arizona College
Central Arizona College (CAC) is a public community college near Coolidge, Arizona. CAC serves the population of Pinal County.
History and campus
Since 1969, Central Arizona College has been serving and educating the communities of Pinal Coun ...
*
Cochise College
Cochise College is a public college in Arizona. Founded in 1964, the school has campuses in Douglas and Sierra Vista, and centers in Benson, Fort Huachuca, and Willcox. Cochise College offers associate degrees in art, applied science, business, ...
*
Coconino Community College
Coconino Community College (CCC) is a public community college in Coconino County, Arizona. It enrolls more than 7,500 learners annually.
The college offers more than 50 associate degrees and certificates. Scholarships are available through the ...
*
Diné College
Diné College is a public tribal land-grant college in Tsaile, Arizona, serving the Navajo Nation. It offers associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, and academic certificates.
Campus
The main campus of Diné College is in Tsaile, a census-desi ...
*
Eastern Arizona College
Eastern Arizona College (EAC), is a community college in Graham County, Arizona. The main campus is in Thatcher, with satellite locations in Gila County, and Greenlee County. It is the oldest community college in Arizona and the only community ...
*
Chandler-Gilbert Community College
*
Estrella Mountain Community College
Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC) is a public community college in Avondale, Arizona. The college has been serving the Southwest Valley community since 1990 and at the Avondale campus since 1992. Estrella Mountain is one of the ten Mar ...
*
GateWay Community College
GateWay Community College is a community college in Phoenix, Arizona. Established in 1968, GateWay is one of ten regionally accredited colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District. The Maricopa Skill Center was rebranded as the Tr ...
*
Glendale Community College
*
Maricopa County Community College District
The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), also known as Maricopa Community Colleges, is a community college district in Arizona with its headquarters in Tempe. It is one of the largest, serving more than 220,000 students each yea ...
*
Mesa Community College
Mesa Community College (MCC) is a public community college in Mesa, Arizona. It is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District, the largest community college district in the United States in ter ...
*
Mohave Community College
*
Northland Pioneer College
Northland Pioneer College (NPC) is a public community college serving the communities of northeastern Arizona. Campuses are located in four of the largest Navajo County communities: Holbrook, Show Low, Snowflake, and Winslow. Five centers are l ...
*
Paradise Valley Community College
Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) is a public community college in Phoenix, Arizona. A branch campus, PVCC at Black Mountain, opened in August 2009 in the far northern section of Scottsdale, Arizona to serve this rapidly growing area. I ...
*
Phoenix College
Phoenix College (PC) is a public community college in Encanto, Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1920, it is one of the oldest community colleges in the country.
History
The college was originally a part of the Phoenix Union High School and Junio ...
*
Pima Community College
Pima Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Pima County, Arizona. It serves the Tucson metropolitan area with a community college district consisting of five campuses, four education centers, and several adult education learnin ...
*
Rio Salado Community College
Rio Salado College is a public community college headquartered in Tempe, Arizona United States. It is part of the Maricopa County Community College District and accredited by The Higher Learning Commission. It offers associate degree and certi ...
*
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale Community College is a public community college in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is on the eastern boundary of the city on 160 acres (650,000 m2) of land belonging to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The lease was taken out i ...
*
South Mountain Community College
South Mountain Community College is a Public college, public community college in Phoenix, Arizona. It is one of the ten colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District.
History
South Mountain Community College was established by t ...
*
Yavapai College
Yavapai College is a public community college in Yavapai County, Arizona. The main campus is in Prescott, with locations in Clarkdale, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Sedona.
History
Yavapai College was established in 1965 by means of a c ...
Art and culture
Visual arts and museums
Phoenix Art Museum
The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of ...
, on the historic
Central Avenue Corridor
The Central Avenue Corridor is a significant stretch of north–south Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of c ...
in Phoenix, is the Southwest's largest collection of visual art from across the world. The museum displays international exhibitions alongside the museum's collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. With a community education mandate since 1951, Phoenix Art Museum holds a year-round program of festivals, live performances, independent art films and educational programs. The museum also has PhxArtKids, an interactive space for children; photography exhibitions through the museum's partnership with the
Center for Creative Photography
The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...
; the landscaped Sculpture Garden and dining at Arcadia Farms.
Arizona is a recognized center of Native American art, with a number of galleries showcasing historical and contemporary works. The
Heard Museum
The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...
, also in Phoenix, is a major repository of Native American art. Some of the signature exhibits include a full Navajo hogan, the Mareen Allen Nichols Collection containing 260 pieces of contemporary jewelry, the
Barry Goldwater Collection of 437 historic
Hopi kachina dolls
Hopi katsina figures ( Hopi language: or ), also known as kachina dolls, are figures carved, typically from cottonwood root, by Hopi people to instruct young girls and new brides about katsinas or ''katsinam'', the immortal beings that bring rai ...
, and an exhibit on the 19th-century boarding school experiences of Native Americans. The Heard Museum has about 250,000 visitors a year.
Sedona,
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
, and
Tubac
Tubac is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,191 at the 2010 census. The place name "Tubac" is an English borrowing from a Hispanicized form of the O'odham name ''Cuwak'', which tr ...
are known as budding artist colonies, and small arts scenes exist in the larger cities and near the state universities.
Film
Several major Hollywood films, such as ''
Billy Jack
''Billy Jack'' is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie ''The Born Losers'' (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the scr ...
'', ''
U Turn
A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a m ...
'', ''
Waiting to Exhale
''Waiting to Exhale'' is a 1995 American romance film directed by Forest Whitaker (in his feature film directorial debut) and starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett. The film was adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMil ...
'', ''
Just One of the Guys
''Just One of the Guys'' is a 1985 American teen comedy film directed by Lisa Gottlieb and co-written by Dennis Feldman and Jeff Franklin, although according to Gottlieb, she also co-wrote the screenplay together with her writing partner Mitch ...
'', ''
Can't Buy Me Love
"Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was included o ...
'', ''
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' is a 1989 American science fiction film, science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson (screenwriter), Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The first installment of the Bill & T ...
'', ''
The Scorpion King
''The Scorpion King'' is a 2002 American sword and sorcery action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell, starring Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov and Michael Clarke Duncan. It is both a prequel and spin-off of ''The ...
'', ''
The Banger Sisters
''The Banger Sisters'' is a 2002 American comedy film written and directed by Bob Dolman, and produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film stars Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as two middle-aged women who used to be friends and groupies when ...
'', ''
Used Cars
''Used Cars'' is a 1980 American satirical black comedy film co-written and directed by Robert Zemeckis. The story follows Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell), a devious salesman, working for affable, but monumentally unsuccessful used-car dealer Luke Fuc ...
'', and ''
Raising Arizona
''Raising Arizona'' is a 1987 American crime comedy film directed by Joel Coen, produced by Ethan Coen, and written by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Nicolas Cage as H.I. "Hi" McDunnough, an ex-convict, and Holly Hunter as Edwina "Ed" McDunnough, ...
'' have been made there (as have many
Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
). The 1993 science fiction movie ''
Fire in the Sky
''Fire in the Sky'' is a 1993 American biopic science fiction mystery film directed by Robert Lieberman and adapted by Tracy Tormé. It is based on Travis Walton's book ''The Walton Experience'', which describes an extraterrestrial abduction ...
'', based on a reported alien abduction in the town of
Snowflake
A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth's atmosphere as snow.Knight, C.; Knight, N. (1973). Snow crystals. Scientific American, vol. 228, no. ...
, was set in Snowflake. It was filmed in the Oregon towns of
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
,
Roseburg, and
Sutherlin.
The 1974 film ''
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' is a 1974 American comedy drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Robert Getchell. It stars Ellen Burstyn as a widow who travels with her preteen son across the Southwestern United States in se ...
'', for which
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...
won the
Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. ...
, and also starring
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...
, was set in Tucson. The climax of the 1977
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
film ''
The Gauntlet'' takes place in downtown Phoenix. The final segments of the 1984 film ''
Starman
''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy.
Background
''StarMan'' was first published ...
'' take place at
Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officia ...
outside
Winslow Winslow may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish
* Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974
United States and Canada
* Rural Municipality of Winslo ...
. The
Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall Foxworthy (born September 6, 1958) is an American actor, author, comedian, producer and writer. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White. Known for his "You might be a ...
comedy documentary movie ''
Blue Collar Comedy Tour'' was filmed almost entirely at the
Dodge Theatre
The Arizona Financial Theatre (formerly known as the Dodge Theatre, the Comerica Theatre and the Arizona Federal Theatre) is a multi-use theatre in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The venue seats 5,000 people.
History
Jerry Colangelo, longtime fo ...
. Some of
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
's classic film ''
Psycho'' was shot in Phoenix, the ostensible home town of the main character.
Some of the television shows filmed or set in Arizona include ''
The New Dick Van Dyke Show
''The New Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American sitcom starring Dick Van Dyke that aired on CBS from 1971 to 1974. It was Van Dyke's first return to series television since ''The Dick Van Dyke Show''.
Background
CBS was so eager to have Dick Van ...
'', ''
Medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
* Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
'', ''
Alice'', ''
The First 48
''The First 48'' is an American documentary/news magazine television series on A&E filmed in various cities in the United States, offering an insider's look at the real-life world of homicide investigators. While the series often follows the in ...
'', ''
Insomniac with Dave Attell
''Insomniac with Dave Attell'' was an American television show on Comedy Central hosted by comedian Dave Attell, which ran from August 5, 2001 until November 11, 2004.
Overview
Host Dave Attell goes through a particular city at night, usually cl ...
'', ''
Cops'', and ''
America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...
''. The TV sitcom ''
Alice'', which was based on the movie was set in Phoenix. ''
Twilight
Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...
'' had passages set in Phoenix at the beginning and the end of the film.
Music
Arizona is prominently featured in the lyrics of many
Country and Western
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
songs, such as Jamie O'Neal's hit ballad "There Is No Arizona". George Strait's "Oceanfront Property" uses "ocean front property in Arizona" as a metaphor for a sucker proposition. The line "see you down in Arizona Bay" is used in a Tool (band), Tool song in reference to the possibility (expressed as a ''hope'' by comedian Bill Hicks) that Southern California will one day fall into the ocean. Glen Campbell, a notable resident, popularized the song "By The Time I Get To Phoenix".
"Arizona" was the title of a popular song recorded by Mark Lindsay. Arizona is mentioned by the hit song "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey and performed by the Eagles (band), Eagles. Arizona is also mentioned in the Beatles' song "Get Back", credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney; McCartney sings: "JoJo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some California grass." "Carefree Highway (song), Carefree Highway", released in 1974 by Gordon Lightfoot, takes its name from Arizona State Route 74 north of Phoenix.
Arizona's budding music scene is helped by emerging bands, as well as some well-known artists. The Gin Blossoms, Chronic Future, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Jimmy Eat World, Caroline's Spine, and others began their careers in Arizona. Also, a number of punk rock, punk and rock bands got their start in Arizona, including JFA (band), JFA, The Feederz, Sun City Girls, The Meat Puppets, The Maine (band), The Maine, The Summer Set, and more recently Authority Zero and Digital Summer.
Arizona also has many singers and other musicians. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Michelle Branch is from
Sedona. Chester Bennington, the former lead vocalist of Linkin Park, and Mashup (music), mash-up artist DJ Z-Trip are both from
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
. One of Arizona's better known musicians is shock rocker Alice Cooper, who helped define the genre. Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of the bands Tool (band), Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, calls the town of Cornville, Arizona, Cornville home.
Other notable singers include Country music, country singers Dierks Bentley and Marty Robbins, folk music, folk singer Katie Lee (singer), Katie Lee, Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, CeCe Peniston, Rex Allen, 2007 ''American Idol (season 6), American Idol'' winner Jordin Sparks, and Linda Ronstadt.
Arizona is also known for its heavy metal music, heavy metal scene, which is centered in and around Phoenix. In the early to mid-1990s, it included bands such as Job for a Cowboy, Knights of the Abyss, Greeley Estates, Eyes Set To Kill, blessthefall, The Word Alive, The Dead Rabbitts, and Abigail Williams (band), Abigail Williams. The band Soulfly calls Phoenix home and Megadeth lived in Phoenix for about a decade. Beginning in and around 2009, Phoenix began to host a burgeoning
desert rock and sludge metal underground, (ala' Kyuss in 1990s California) led by bands like Wolves of Winter, Asimov, and Dead Canyon.
American composer Elliott Carter composed his first String Quartet (1950–51) while on sabbatical (from New York) in Arizona. The quartet won a Pulitzer Prize and other awards and is now a staple of the string quartet repertoire.
Sports
State Farm Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008, and Super Bowl XLIX on February 1, 2015. The stadium is also scheduled to host Super Bowl LVII tentatively scheduled for February 12, 2023.
Due to its numerous golf courses, Arizona is home to several stops on the PGA Tour, most notably the Phoenix Open, held at the TPC of Scottsdale, and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in
Marana.
Auto racing is another sport known in the state. Phoenix Raceway in
Avondale is home to NASCAR race weekends twice a year. Firebird International Raceway near
Chandler is home to drag racing and other motorsport events.
College sports
College sports are also prevalent in Arizona. The Arizona State Sun Devils and the Arizona Wildcats belong to the Pac-12 Conference while the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks compete in the Big Sky Conference and the Grand Canyon Antelopes compete in the Western Athletic Conference. The rivalry between Arizona State Sun Devils and the Arizona Wildcats predates Arizona's statehood, and is the oldest rivalry in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. The Territorial Cup, first awarded in 1889 and certified as the oldest trophy in college football, is awarded to the winner of the annual football game between the two schools.
Arizona also hosts several college football bowl games. The Fiesta Bowl, originally held at Sun Devil Stadium, is now held at State Farm Stadium in
Glendale. The Fiesta Bowl is part of the new College Football Playoff (CFP). University of Phoenix Stadium was also home to the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, 2007 and 2011 BCS National Championship Game, 2011 BCS National Championship Games.
State Farm Stadium hosted the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2017 and is scheduled to host it again in 2024.
Baseball
Arizona is a popular location for Major League Baseball spring training, as it is the site of the Cactus League. Spring training was first started in Arizona in 1947 when Brewers owner Veeck sold them in 1945 but went onto purchase the Cleveland Indians in 1946. He decided to train the Cleveland Indians in Tucson and convinced the New York Giants to give
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
a try. Thus the Cactus League was born.
On March 9, 1995, Arizona was awarded a franchise to begin to play for the 1998 season. A $130million franchise fee was paid to Major League Baseball and on January 16, 1997, the Diamondbacks were officially voted into the National League.
Since their debut, the Diamondbacks have won five National League West titles, one National League Championship pennant, and the 2001 World Series.
Notable people
See also
* Outline of Arizona
* Index of Arizona-related articles
Notes
References
Further reading
* Bayless, Betsy, 1998, ''Arizona Blue Book, 1997–1998''. Phoenix: Office of the Arizona Secretary of State.
* McIntyre, Allan J., 2008, ''The Tohono O'odham and Pimeria Alta''. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ().
* Miller, Tom (editor), 1986, ''Arizona: The Land and the People''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ().
* Officer, James E., 1987, ''Hispanic Arizona, 1536–1856''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ().
* Plascencia, Luis F.B. and Gloria H. Cuádraz (eds.), 2018, ''Mexican Workers and the Making of Arizona.'' Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
* Thomas, David M. (editor), 2003, ''Arizona Legislative Manual''. I
''Arizona''Phoenix: Arizona Legislative Council. Google Print. Retrieved January 16, 2006.
* Trimble, Marshall, 1998, ''Arizona, A Cavalcade of History''. Tucson: Treasure Chest Publications. ().
* Woosley, Anne I., 2008
''Early Tucson''.Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ().
External links
*
*
Arizona USDA State Fact SheetArizona IndicatorsEnergy Data & Statistics for ArizonaArizona State DatabasesArizona State Library, Archives and Public Records*
*
*
Official Arizona Office of TourismArizona Game & Fish DepartmentNational Park Service Travel Itinerary
{{coord, 35, -112, dim:300000_region:US-AZ_type:adm1st, name=State of Arizona, display=title
Arizona,
1912 establishments in the United States
Former Spanish colonies
States and territories established in 1912
States of the United States
U.S. states with multiple time zones
Western United States
Contiguous United States