thumb|300px|Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert
The Pimería Alta (translated to 'Upper Pima Land'/'Land of the Upper Pima' in English) was an area of the 18th century New Navarre province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, that encompassed parts of what are today southern Arizona in the United States and northern Sonora in Mexico.
The area took its name from the Pima and closely related O'odham (Papago) peoples residing in the Sonoran Desert. Pimería Alta was the site of the Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert established by the Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. A significant Pima rebellion against Spanish rule occurred in 1751.
Terminology
The term Pimería Alta first appeared in Spanish colonial documents (especially produced by those in the Catholic Church) to designate an ethno-territorial expanse that spanned much of what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora. The term derives from the name of the Pima indigenous peoples native to the region. This term, along with the term ‘Pimería Baja’, was a designation used by the Spanish in the Viceroyalty of New Spain to create a geographic distinction between where the different dialects of the Pima language were spoken. While the region was not a political entity, its geographic contours have been described as:
Pre-contact history
Before the first Spanish incursions into the region in the late 17th century, what would come to be the Pimería Alta was home to a diverse array of indigenous tribes. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, these tribes included: