The legendary history of Phoenix, Arizona, goes back millennia, starting with nomadic paleo-Indians who lived in the Americas until about 6,000 BC. Around 1,000 BC, the nomadic peoples of the area saw the addition of farmers introduced maize into the culture.The Hohokam civilization first settled the area around 1 AD, and in about 500 years, they had begun to establish the canal system which enabled agriculture to flourish in the area. They disappeared suddenly by around the year 1450, for reasons unknown even until today, and the first Europeans arrived in the early 16th century. While the first explorers were Spanish, their settlements were limited to the Tucson areas and the south before 1800. Almost all of central Arizona was settled during the early 19th century by American settlers from the East. The city of Phoenix’s more current history begins as people from those 19th century settlements expanded southward, at the same time a military outpost was built to the east of current day Phoenix.
The town of Phoenix was incorporated in 1881 as the City of Phoenix and the city served as an agricultural area until World War II, boosting the US economy based on the ‘Five C’s’: cotton, citrus, cattle, climate, and copper. Following World War II, the city beginning to grow rapidly as many men who had trained in military installations in the area, returned with their families. While currently ranked the 5th largest city in the United States by population, it is predicted that Phoenix will rank 4th by 2020.