The Fort Mojave Indian Tribe app is now availablenow availablefree to downloadon iPhone and Androidin your pocket

The Fort Mojave Indian Tribe calls itself Pipa Aha Macav, "the People by the River." The reservation covers nearly 42,000 acres across Arizona, California and Nevada, with tribal headquarters in Needles, California. The traditional homeland reached from Laughlin and the Mojave National Preserve down to Needles and Blythe, California. Spirit Mountain, northwest of the present reservation, was once part of the Tribe's ancestral lands and is seen as its place of origin. In Mojave teachings, the Colorado River was created by Mutavilya, the spirit who placed the plants and animals.

Clans are part of Mojave culture. Traditionally, children took their father's clan name, and there were 22 clan names. The Mojave language belongs to the Yuman language family. The Tribe works to keep it strong through language recovery programs and a project to document, transcribe and archive Mojave bird songs.

The War Department created the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation on August 4, 1870, near a military outpost the United States set up on the east bank of the Colorado River in 1859. After the fort closed in 1891, it became a boarding school that operated until 1930. Many Mojave people were moved to the Colorado River Reservation, but the families at Fort Mojave stayed on their land.

Today the Tribe has 1,448 enrolled members, and about three quarters of them live on the reservation. An elected Tribal Council led by a Chairman governs the Tribe, which is a member of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. The Tribe's businesses and services include:

• Avi Kwa'Ame Farms, which mainly grows cotton
• Avi Resort and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada
• A USDA food distribution program
• Education and health services