Hopis

In the late 1200's a massive drought forced 36 of 47 villages on the Hopi mesas to be abandoned. Following the drought, the 11 remaining villages grew in size, and increased population saw three new villages established.
             All of the land within today's northeastern Arizona was once a part of the Hopi tutsqua (territory), the ancestral and sacred homeland of the Hopi. It is estimated the tutsqua covers over 18 million acres.
             Hopi people are the longest authenticated history of occupation of a single area by any Native American tribe in the United States, but most of their territory has been expropriated. From the18 million acres that they first had, the modern Hopi Reservation is 9% of the original tutsqua. They occupied a vast territory stretching from the Grand Canyon to Toko'navi (Navajo Mountain), toward the Lukachukai Mountains near the New Mexico/Arizona border, and south to the Mogollon Rim.
             The arrangements of Hopi villages typify eastern pueblo village layouts, with dense room-blocks surrounding a central plaza. Traditionally, houses served multiple purposes: shelter for families, work and storage space, and a variety of ceremonial roles. In the past, Hopi stored several years supply of corn and other staples in interior rooms.
             The Hopi have adapted to the desert climate by perfecting a cultivation method known as dry farming, which has sustained their communities for well over 1,000 years. Dry farming depends completely on natural precipitation -- winter snows or summer monsoons. Corn and bean fields are usually located in areas to maximize surface moisture: at the foot of the mesas, on sand slopes, in small canyons, along alluvial plains in washes, and in the valleys between mesas. Most farmers have several small fields in different locations in order to ensure that at least one field produces sufficient harvest from the localized thundershowers that occur during the growing season.