The Quechan are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the Mexican border. Members are enrolled into the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation. The federally recognized Quechan tribe's main office is located in Fort Yuma, Arizona. Its operations and the majority of its reservation land are located in California, United States.PrehistoryThe term Patayan is used by archaeologists to describe the prehistoric Native American cultures who inhabited parts of modern day Arizona, California and Baja California. These areas included territory near the Colorado River Valley, the nearby uplands, and north to the vicinity of the Grand Canyon. The prehistoric people may have been ancestral to the Quechan. They practiced floodplain agriculture where possible, but relied heavily on hunting and gathering. Subgroups include the River Yuman, Delta–Californian, and Upland CaliforniaHistoryThe historic Yuman-speaking people in this region were skilled warriors and active traders, maintaining exchange networks with the Pima in southern Arizona and with peoples of the Pacific coast.
