In 1991 the Ak-Chin Indian Community opened Him Dak, a name that means “Our Way” in O’odham, as the first ecomuseum in the United States. The Him-Dak Eco-Museum is printed on this map, along with the Ak-Chin Community Court, the Ak-Chin Community Library, Hohokam Skate Park and the Ak-Chin Circle Entertainment Center. Look for Milton “Paul” Antone Memorial Park too, and for Santa Rosa Wash, Smith Wash and Vekol Wash crossing the desert around them.
The Ak-Chin Indian Community is in Pinal County, about 37 miles south of Phoenix and next to the city of Maricopa.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of the land comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The reservation sits in the Sonoran Desert at an average elevation of 1,186 feet. The 2020 census counted 1,070 people living on it, and the community has more than 1,100 citizens, on and off the reservation. You can see the print and its frames here.
The mouth of the arroyo
Ak-Chin is an O’odham word meaning “mouth of the arroyo,” and the community has its own written form of the O’odham language. Its people are mainly Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham, with some Hia-Ced O’odham. The federal government set aside the Maricopa Reservation in 1912, under President William Howard Taft, at 47,600 acres. Within months, after opposition from non-Native farmers, his administration cut it to 22,000 acres. In the middle of the 20th century the community adopted a constitution, bylaws and an elected government, and it gained federal recognition in 1961. Another milestone came with the November 2016 election, the first time tribal citizens voted directly for their chairman and vice chairman; before a 2016 amendment, both were chosen from among the council members.
Farming the desert
Much of the reservation’s land is good for farming, and 15,000 acres are under irrigation. Ak-Chin Farms Enterprises, the community’s agricultural business, controls those acres, and the tribe’s page calls it one of the largest agricultural communities in the country. A 1984 federal settlement gave the tribe rights to 75,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water, which let it keep irrigating its fields. The farms raise mostly cotton, barley, wheat and milo.
Our Way
Him Dak opened after a five-year educational program guided by the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Museum Studies, with the Canadian museologist René Rivard among its consultants. An ecomuseum rests on a community’s own agreement to keep and explain its heritage, and the ecomuseum page says Him Dak became a community education center that led to the study of the Ak-Chin people’s ancient presence in the Sonoran Desert and of how they have built a life in that dry country.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Around the community
Most people live in Ak-Chin Village, in the western part of the reservation, and part of the city of Maricopa lies within reservation land. The Ak-Chin Community Library, the Ak-Chin Community Court and Hohokam Skate Park are printed on the map. Milton “Paul” Antone Memorial Park is nearby. Children here are served by the Maricopa Unified School District.
The tribe opened Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino in 1994, in Maricopa. A $20 million expansion in July 2011 added a 152-room hotel tower, and a 2011 study called the resort the largest contributor to the Pinal County economy. In November 2012 the tribe opened a $50 million entertainment complex at the edge of the reservation next to Maricopa, with a multi-theater cinema, a bowling alley, restaurants and an arcade. Gaming and resort revenue has paid for a new fire station, a water reclamation facility and a surface water treatment plant on the reservation. In 2006 the community bought the former Phoenix Regional Airport, now Ak-Chin Regional Airport, with a 5,000-foot runway.
This map of the Ak-Chin Indian Community is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Ak-Chin Indian Community home, from Ak-Chin Village to the banks of Vekol Wash, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the land as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Ak-Chin Indian Community map.
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