Halyikwamai
# Halyikwamai

The Halyikwamai were a Native American tribe who lived along the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley between the 16th and 19th centuries in what is modern day region around San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora and San Luis, Arizona. The tribe spoke an extinct variation of the Cocopah language. The tribe was incorporated into the Maricopa in the middle of the 19th century.

## History

At the time of Spanish mediation between the Quechan and the 'Opa' and 'Cocomaricopa' Maricopa tribes on the Gila River in the early 1770s, the Halyikwamai were engaged in armed conflict aligned with the Maricopa. The Halykwamai were aligned with the Maricopa, along with the Akimel O'odham, Tohono Oʼodham, Cocopah, Paipai, Halchidoma, Cahuilla, Kohuana, Hualapai, and eastern Havasupai tribes against the Quechan, Mojave, Yavapai, Kumeyaay, Chemehuevi, and other small groups along the Colorado River. According to Francisco Garcés, the Halyikwamai had a population of about 2,000 in 1776.

The Halyikwamai were once again caught in conflict during the Second Yuma War in 1853, where they joined the Cocopah and Paipai and mobilized against the Quechan at Fort Yuma and the Mojave across the US-Mexican border. Following the war, the Halyikwamai were absorbed into the Maricopa.

