Culture of Arizona
The culture of Arizona is a Western culture and most clearly has its roots in the culture of the United States. As a southwestern state, its culture has been greatly influenced by several large immigrant populations, especially those from Latin America. Arizona is becoming a major hub to the character of the US; many high tech corporations are located there.
In terms of socio-cultural mores and national politics, Arizonans are perceived as somewhat Conservative.
Arizona has long been a subject of interest in the public mind and has often been promoted by its boosters as a kind of paradise. In the early 20th Century, fueled by the efforts of state and local boosters, many Americans saw the state as an ideal resort destination, sunny and dry all year round with easy access to the mountains.
Arizona is a composite culture derived from, historically in this order:
- Indians, most of whom now live on reservations
- Hispanos from Spain and Mexico who came to colonize Arizona
- Anglos from The Midwest, who moved for a more favorable climate in the Southwestern United States
- Hispanics from Sonora, in northern Mexico
- African Americans, who accompanied the Texians, internally migrated from other states, or were stationed by the military.
- Asian Americans and other immigrants who came for economic opportunity or to escape persecution
Latter-day Saints led in establishing many communities in Arizona during its formative phases in the second half of the 19th century, especially in Northern Arizona and parts of southeastern Arizona. When in 1849 Church leaders in Salt Lake City sent proposals to the federal government to establish a state, the State of Deseret, most of Arizona was included in the proposal. However, it was quickly rejected by the federal government and Utah and New Mexico Territories were established in its stead. Eventually New Mexico Territory was split and the western portion was renamed Arizona Territory. Despite this political separation of Utah and Arizona, Latter-day Saints remain an important aspect of Arizonan culture, and Arizona makes up part of the "Mormon Belt", the largest concentration of Latter-day Saints in the country.
Arizona's "Five Cs" are Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, Copper and Climate. These are the traditional economic interests, thus having much in common with the initial Southern pioneers, as all of those are to be found abundantly in their home region, except for copper, as coal mining is more predominant in the South, or oil well drilling for Texas in particular. In tandem to chiefly Anglo-Texan foundations, Arizona was not a slave territory and more Blacks accompanied these people here, than in New Mexico, although the largely Hispanic hacienda environment in Santa Fe did approve of slavery there, having already enslaved the Indians, before the Civil War began.
