AZ: The History of Arizona podcast

David Rookhuyzen

A podcast tracing the history, events, people and places that made the Grand Canyon State.

  1. Episode 1

    Episode 1: Where are we?

    Arizona is a name that evokes images in everyone's minds, but where did that name come from? We explore the possible Spanish, Native American, Basque and even Aztec roots for the word and how it's all wrapped up in a 1736 discovery of silver in Mexico. As an added bonus, we also learn what "Connecticut" means.

  2. Episode 2

    Episode 2: All the pretty rocks

    Arizona’s history wouldn’t be quite the same without the magnificent stage it plays out on. That’s why we need to answer the question of why the state has so many great-looking holes in the ground.

  3. Episode 3

    Episode 3: Thorns and stingers

    From the outside, Arizona - with its venomous snakes, scorpions and lizards; barbed cactus and spiked trees; and imposing geography - looked primed to kill anyone foolish enough to come close. But that impression doesn't do justice to the complex evolutionary forces that have shaped the state's flora and fauna.

  4. Episode 4

    Episode 4: The first Arizonans

    At some point, humans entered North America. And the ones that made Arizona their home produced marvels that still capture the imagination today.

  5. Episode 5

    Episode 5: A priest, a slave and a conquistador walking into a state...

    No, this isn't the start of a joke. For Coronado and his expedition, the search for glory and gold in Arizona and New Mexico turned out to be no laughing matter.

  6. Episode 6

    Episode 6: Pay for it yourself

    Spanish North America was a costly, unproductive project. So you can perhaps forgive King Felipe II for telling a new wave of explorers to keep their hands out of his treasury.

  7. Episode 7

    Episode 7: The padre on horseback

    The missions were a key part of Spanish rule along the North American frontier. And no one represents the missions in southern Arizona like math-student-turned-priest Eusebio Kino.

  8. Episode 8

    Episode 8: Captain Anza, or, meet the new bosses

    After the Spanish Habsburg dynasty gave way to the Spanish Bourbons, a young Basque man would immigrate to the New World, where he would quickly show he had the chops to rise to the top. It’s time to welcome Juan Bautista de Anza the Elder back to the podcast.

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A podcast tracing the history, events, people and places that made the Grand Canyon State.

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