Walapai
The Walapai, also known as Hualapai, are a Native American tribe belonging to the Yuman language family, historically divided into seven autonomous bands. They share a close relationship with the Yavapai tribe. Traditionally, Walapai men engaged in hunting deer, elk, antelope, and bear, while women gathered various plant resources, including acorns, which were a vital food source. The Walapai demonstrated a keen understanding of their territory and its natural resources, utilizing a range of baskets for storage and cooking.
The tribe's interactions with Europeans began in the sixteenth century, but post-contact diseases significantly reduced their population from an estimated 700 in 1680 to around 450 by 1937. The Walapai also experienced conflict during a war against European Americans from 1865 to 1870, resulting in substantial loss of life. Established in 1883, the Walapai Reservation is located in northwest Arizona. Today, the tribe sustains itself through various means, including wage labor, cattle raising, and tourism, with attractions such as the Grand Canyon Skywalk drawing over a million visitors annually.
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Hualapai
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Southwest
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Yuman
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Colorado
- POPULATION SIZE: 2,300 (2025; Hualapai Tribe)
The Hualapai (or Walapai) of the Yuman language family were historically divided into seven autonomous bands. One of these bands, the Havasupai, was split off into a separate group by US government policy. The Hualapai are also closely related to the Yavapai.
Hualapai men hunted deer, elk, antelope, and bear, and women gathered seeds, nuts, berries, tubers, and roots. Acorns were an important food, storing well in winter granaries. A wide range of insects, particularly grasshoppers and locusts, were gathered in communal hunts. Their technology, partially specialized for leaching tannic acid from acorns, had other applications as well. A variety of types of baskets were used daily for stone-boiling, storage, burden, and other utilitarian purposes. The Hualapai had a high degree of mobility and were intimately aware of their territory and where to find plant resources within it.
The area inhabited by the Hualapai was probably visited in 1540 by Spanish explorer Hernando de Alarcón and later in 1598 by Marcos Farfan de los Godos. In 1776, Francisco Garcés made contact with the Hualapai but recorded scant ethnographic data. Population decline is attributed mostly to post-contact disease; from an estimated 700 in 1680, the population fell to around 450 in 1937. The Hualapai also fought a war against European Americans from 1865 to 1870; it is estimated that one-third of the Hualapai population at the time died during this conflict. The Hualapai Reservation was established in northwest Arizona in 1883.
In the twenty-first century, Hualapai income is gained from wage labor, cattle raising, government employment, and urban jobs. The Hualapai are also involved in the tourism industry; the reservation offers outdoor activities, including hunting, river rafting, and tours of the section of tribal land adjacent to the Grand Canyon. The Hualapai own the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a glass-bottomed walkway that extends over the edge of the Grand Canyon, which receives over one million visitors annually.
Bibliography
“About the Hualapai Tribe.” Hualapai Tribe, hualapai-nsn.gov/about-2. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Gerke, Sarah Bohl. "Hualapai Reservation." Nature, Culture, and History at the Grand Canyon, grcahistory.org/sites/beyond-park-boundaries/hualapai-reservation. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
“Hualapai Tribe.” Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, itcaonline.com/member-tribes/hualapai-tribe. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
Shepherd, Jeffrey P. We Are an Indian Nation: A History of the Hualapai People, University of Arizona Press, 2010.