Phoenix is the capital and the largest city of the US state of Arizona, as well as the most populated city of in the US. However, it isn’t a new city. This city was also known as the valley of sun and it first became populated some 1200 years ago. Since then, it has faced many things, like drought, dissertation, wars and it was even captured by the military several times. In other word this city has quite an extensive and interesting history. This article will tell a brief history of the city of Phoenix, that is how it came in to beings, what happened across the years, and how it became the most populous, largest and capital city of US state of Arizona.
The people who came to this land and settled here were Native American, known as Hohokam Indians. They were farmers and irrigated the land to grow crops. They dug out roughly 135 miles (217 km) of irrigation canals, making the desert land arable. Even today the canals that are made in this city are made on the same places and ways the Native’s made at their time. However, the land was abandoned by these peoples between 1300 and 1450. It is believed that the cause was the long drought. However, the land was totally abandoned except for a wandering mountain man or an occasional traveler. Moreover, before the 1860s the place remained depopulated and nobody tried to settle here.
The history of phoenix as a city began with Jack Swilling, an American civil war veteran who came to west to seek wealth. It was in 1857 that he set foot in this valley and saw its potential, that if there was a proper supply of water in the city, it would bloom. Hence he Swilling developed several irrigation canals which largely followed the ancient ruins and channel ways left by the Hohokam; his plan worked and soon a thriving settlement was formed with Swilling acting as general postmaster and leader of the small community. The community would have remained isolated but for the fact that in 1881 or so, a rail road track was laid down near the city, hence, city became a stop for the people and many people especially worker came to the city and the city started to grow and develop, its economy revolutionized and by the end of 1881 it has passed its original size as that in the time of the Native’s.
In 1902, thanks to Theodore Roosevelt, dams started to be built in the city, first dam was completed in 1911 and several lakes were formed in the surrounding mountain range. On February 14th, 1912, it became the capital of Arizona and soon outgrew the other cities in the state. In 1913, it adopted a new government of council mayor, making it one of the first cities in US of this type of City government. During World War II, Phoenix’s economy shifted to that of a distribution center, rapidly turning into an embryonic industrial city with mass production of military supplies. However, in 1942 riots broke out between the white people and white people. Since then there had be few riots and skirmishes, but the city continued to grow economically and population wise and today is one of the most advanced city of US.