Did you know Tucson, Arizona, is older than the United States? Built on the northern frontier of New Spain, the fort founded in 1775 connected the region to larger struggles shaping North America.
Today, Tucson is in southern Arizona, but when it was established in 1775, the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón was part of a plan to secure the northern frontier of territory claimed by the Spanish. The soldiers and settlers of early Tucson lived at the edge of an empire, shaping a community in ways that still echo through the region today…