Havasupai (tribe)
The Havasupai are a Native American tribe, known as the "People of the Blue-Green Water," residing primarily in Supai, a village nestled within a side canyon of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. Their population is approximately 639, as recorded in 2024 by the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. Historically, the Havasupai have engaged in agriculture, growing crops like corn and melons, and have a rich tradition of basket-making. Over the centuries, they have dealt with external pressures, such as territorial restrictions imposed by the U.S. government and the loss of access to winter hunting grounds.
In the 1970s, the tribe began to see some improvements in their circumstances with the return of over 180,000 acres of ancestral land, following the implementation of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Despite a lack of road access, which limits transportation to foot, mule, or helicopter, the Havasupai have adapted their economy in recent decades by developing tourism, operating a campground, motel, store, and restaurant for visitors attracted by the stunning waterfalls near their village. While they continue to face challenges, particularly in education access for their children, the Havasupai maintain a strong cultural identity and connection to their land.
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Havasupai (tribe)
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Southwest
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Yuman
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Northern Arizona
- POPULATION SIZE: 639 (2024 Inter Tribal Council of Arizona)
The Havasupai (“People of the Blue-Green Water”) live in the village of Supai, located in a side canyon of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. They are related to the Hualapai people, now located in Peach Springs, Arizona, and they have a long history of trading with the Hopi to the east and having their storehouses raided by the Apache to the south. The Havasupai are noted for their basketry.
For at least six centuries, the Havasupai have lived in the summer at the bottom of a narrow side canyon, growing corn, melons, and other crops on small farms watered by a large spring just above their village. In winter, they ranged out along the south rim of the Grand Canyon, hunting deer and other animals as far south as the present-day locations of Williams and Flagstaff, Arizona.
The United States government officially restricted them to a tiny reservation in Havasu Canyon in 1882, and during the 1920s, White ranchers forced them off their winter hunting grounds on the surrounding plateau. The cliff-shaded canyon was an inhospitable place in the winter, lacking firewood and subject to flash floods. Three hundred people were crowded onto about 518 acres. The Bureau of Indian Affairs closed its small elementary school in 1955, forcing all students to attend boarding schools, and started a formal program of relocation the following year.
In the 1970s, under the new government policy of Indian self-determination, the situation began to improve for the Havasupai. On January 3, 1975, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act was signed by President Gerald Ford, giving back some of the plateau to the Havasupai. Over 180,000 acres of Indigenous land were returned to the Havasupai. In the same year, they took over the management of their elementary school.
As late as the 1990s, Havasupai students were still required to attend Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools in California or Arizona for high school. By the mid-2020s, that was no longer in practice, although problems with education access lingered for the group's children. The village had electricity and telephone service, but by choice, there was still no road to the village. Supai was accessible only by helicopter, walking, or riding a mule or horse down an 8-mile trail. While the Havasupai still practiced a small amount of irrigation farming, in the 2020s, the economy was based on running a campground, motel, store, and restaurant for tourists visiting the Grand Canyon's scenic waterfalls a few miles from the village.
Bibliography
Gerke, Sarah Bohl, and Paul Hirt. "Havasupai Reservation." Nature, Culture, and History at the Grand Canyon, grcahistory.org/sites/beyond-park-boundaries/havasupai-reservation. Accessed 16 Dec. 2024.
"Havasupai Tribe." Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, itcaonline.com/member-tribes/havasupai-tribe. Accessed 16 Dec. 2024.
Henderson, Earl Y. The Havasupai Indian Agency, Arizona. US Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1928.
Hirst, Stephen. I Am the Grand Canyon: The Story of the Havasupai People. Grand Canyon, 2006.
“Indigenous Voices of the Colorado Plateau - Havasupai.” Northern Arizona University, library.nau.edu/speccoll/exhibits/indigenous‗voices/havasupai/overview.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2024.
Official Havasupai Tribe Website, theofficialhavasupaitribe.com. Accessed 16 Dec. 2024.
Tikalsky, Frank D. The Sacred Oral Tradition of the Havasupai: As Told by Elders and Headmen Manakaja and Sinyella 1918–1921. University of New Mexico Press, 2011.