The first European visitors to the Tucson area were Spaniards who passed through over 450 years ago.  Since at least the late 1600s, when Father Kino established the first church at Mission San Xavier del Bac, there has been a regular Hispanic presence.

 Many of the early miners and ranchers of southern Arizona were Mexican.  The Presidio San Augustin del Tucson, completed in 1783, was manned at first by Spanish and later Mexican soldiers.  For the next hundred years, Tucson was essentially a Mexican town.  In 1860, several years after Tucson officially came under American sovereignty, Hispanics still represented 71% of the population.  A unique culture evolved, shaped by Spanish heritage, the desert, and the frontier isolation.  Immigrants from the United States came in force only after the Mexican-American War of 1848.  When they did, there was often intermarriage and the new Arizonans adopted much of the Hispanic way of life and attitudes.

 

 Today you will hear Spanish being spoken at many public places in Tucson.  Tucson is a hub for a great deal of trade with Mexico and sees many American and Mexican tourists traveling to and from Mexico.

 

 There are many showcases for Hispanic culture in Tucson, besides the passing parade of human life.  Mission San Xavier del Bac discussed in previous paragraphs is one of the finest examples of Spanish missionary architecture in the New World.  The Arizona Heritage Museum has interesting exhibits about the settlement of the Tucson area, which necessarily focus on the Hispanic influence of the early settlers from Mexico.

 

 For living heritage, there is nothing that is more fun than the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.  This is a fiesta of musicians, most of whom travel here from all over Mexico.  The people are wonderful, the costumes are gorgeous, the music stirring and food authentic.  Don’t miss it.

 

 Speaking of food, the Mexican restaurants along South 4th and 6th Avenues in the city of South Tucson provide an excellent taste of Hispanic culture.  There is a good listing of restaurants in the Tucson Official Visitors Guide.

 

 There are several old neighborhoods reflecting Tucson’s Hispanic origins.  The architecture of northern Mexico was adopted here as a practical way to deal with the desert heat.  Interior courtyards allowed privacy and outdoor living.  The Barrio Historico features good examples of this adaptive architecture.