Phoenix, Arizona, was named to symbolize a city rising from the ruins of an ancient settlement.
The name was proposed by surveyor Darrell Duppa, who compared the new community to the mythical phoenix, a bird that rises renewed from its ashes. The comparison referred to the Hohokam canals and settlements that had existed in the Salt River Valley centuries earlier.
Jack Swilling helped establish the modern settlement in 1867, and the town was incorporated in 1881. Phoenix became Arizona Territory’s capital in 1889, replacing Prescott, and remained the capital when Arizona entered the Union in 1912.
A common mix-up is confusing Phoenix with Tucson, Arizona’s oldest major city and an earlier territorial capital. Phoenix is also the most populous city in Arizona and the state’s central governmental, commercial, and cultural hub.