Xawiƚƚ Kwñchawaay

The Cocopah, who call themselves Xawiƚƚ Kwñchawaay, the people of the cloudy river, and are also known as Kwapa, are a Yuman people of the lower Colorado River delta, where the river meets the Gulf of California between Arizona, Sonora and Baja California.

Their Patayan ancestors farmed the annual floodplain and combined maize and bean planting with hunting, fishing and gathering, and the historic Cocopah kept this riverine life, paddling tule-reed rafts through the delta and walking upland trails to visit Paipai and Kumeyaay kin.

In 1540 Hernando de Alarcón became the first European to meet them, finding tall warriors armed with clubs and bows who greeted the ships with gifts of shells and food; Oñate's expedition recorded their name in 1605. Their Cocopah language belongs to the Delta-California branch of the Yuman family, within the wider Hokan grouping.