Oasisamerica

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Oasisamerica is a cultural region of Indigenous peoples in North America. Their precontact cultures were predominantly agrarian,^[1] in contrast with neighboring tribes to the south in Aridoamerica.^[2] The region spans parts of Northwestern Mexico and Southwestern United States and can include most of Arizona and New Mexico; southern parts of Utah and Colorado; and northern parts of Sonora and Chihuahua. During some historical periods, it might have included parts of California and Texas as well.^[3]

The term was first proposed by German-Mexican anthropologist Paul Kirchhoff, who also coined Mesoamerica^[4] and Aridoamerica,^[5] and is used by some scholars, primarily Mexican anthropologists, for the broad cultural area defining pre-Columbian southwestern North America.^[6] It extends from modern-day Utah down to southern Chihuahua, and from the coast on the Gulf of California eastward to the Río Bravo river valley. Its name comes from its position in relationship with the similar regions of Mesoamerica and mostly nomadic Aridoamerica.^[7][4] The term Greater Southwest is often used to describe this region by American anthropologists, while Oasisamerica is more used by Mexican scholars.