All of Arizona and western New Mexico lie within the Intermontane Plateaus, most of the north in the Colorado Plateaus and the south--plus the very northwest--in the Basin and Range Province. In north central New Mexico is the end of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Wheeler Peak is just over 4000 meters. Eastern New Mexico is at the west of the continent's Interior Plains.
The Colorado River cuts across the northwest of Arizona forming the wide and deep Grand Canyon, and then forms the border with California. The Rio Grande flows north to south across New Mexico.
These states are in the part of North America in which English-speakers and Christians are the majority.
Arizona's capital, Phoenix, sits on a tributary of the Gila River(1) in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.
The Athapascan group--part of the Na-Dene languages, was spoken in parts of the two states and farther east. These languages still have more speakers than most pre-contact languages--though still relatively few. Navajo is spoken by more than 100,000 and the Apache dialects, here and elsewhere, by 15,000.
The Hokan languages are spoken, among other places, in western and central Arizona (surrounded by speakers of Uto-Aztecan and Na Dene languages). The Arizonans are thought by some to be descendents of the early Patayan physical culture.
Uto-Aztecan languages are spoken northwest of Navajo lands and north of Yuman lands, as well as in the Sonoran Desert. Among the languages which still have a few thousand speakers (including some beyond these two states) are Ute, Comanche, and Hopi. Some theorize that the Hopi, amont others, are descendents of the Anaszi physical culture (100 C.E. to the beginning of the second millenium). The Hopi religion includes a belief in benevolent spirits: katchinas. The Pima group is similarly speculated to be descendents of the Hohokan physical culture that ended about 1500 C.E. Smallpox and cholera killed many in the first half of the 19th century. Two post-contact religions arose among these groups and spread geographically: I. The Comanches spread peyote use northward where--in Indian Territory and among divers groups--the Native American Church was founded by Quanah Parker; II. Wovoka, a Paiute, founded the Ghost Dance Religion, which futilely resisted Anglo dominance and ended in its adherants deaths at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
The Spanish invaded the area in the 17th century, killing, enslaving and forcibly converting indiginous peoples living near their settlements. The English-speaking United States annexed the area after defeating Mexico in a 19th century war, but the Spanish heritage is still a substantial presence.
north of New Mexico
east of northernmost New Mexico
east of New Mexico generally, and south of eastern New Mexico
south of western New Mexico
south of Arizona and western New Mexico
west of the southwest corner of Arizona
west of southwest Arizona
north of Arizona
northwest of Arizona
(1) A tributary of the Colorado.