This exhibit illustrates and describes a selection of original rare and historic maps chosen from the Map Collection of the University of Arizona Library. They portray a region of New Spain once called PimerÍa and chronicle four centuries of mapping from the earliest map of the region in the collection, a 1556 view of North and South America, up to the Gadsden Purchase of 1854 when PimerÍa Alta--or southern Arizona--was acquired by the United States from Mexico. PimerÍa was a province or region--never precisely defined--of Spanish colonial Mexico encompassing what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora, the name being derived from the Pima Indians who live in the region. The use of the term PimerÍa dates from the late seventeenth century, first appearing on a 1696 map prepared by the indefatigable explorer Fr. Eusebio Kino. The term appeared on eighteenth century maps, and on a few early nineteenth century maps. The name PimerÍa was one of five names proposed for the new Territory of Arizona established in 1863. [self-description]