Tag: Maricopa

The Maricopa or Piipaash, are a Native American tribe, who live in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and Gila River Indian Community along with the Pima, a tribe with whom the Maricopa have long held a positive relationship. The Maricopa, mostly Xalychidom Piipaash, at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are concentrated in Lehi, while the Maricopa at the Gila River Indian Community are concentrated in Maricopa Colony. The Maricopa were a former Yuma River group, living along the banks of the Colorado River.
The neighboring Akimel O’odham and future allies, called them Kokmalik’op (‘enemies in the big mountains’), and the Spanish rendered it as Maricopa. They call themselves Piipaa, Piipaash or Pee-Posh (‘people’). Many descendants of the Halchidhoma, which had sought refuge at the Maricopa in 1825, today identify themselves in English as Maricopa, although they could preserve their own identity and therefore call themselves Xalychidom Piipaa or Xalychidom…