Gila River

Catchment area and the course of the Gila River

The still young Gila River in New Mexico

The Gila River [hi ː lə ɹɪvɚ ] is a river in the southwestern United States. It rises in New Mexico and flows after 1044 km in Yuma, Arizona in the Colorado River.

The river was established in 1848 in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, as the boundary between the United States and Mexico and fulfilled this function until 1853, when the U.S. government on the territories south of the Gila River was extended with the Gadsden Purchase.

The term " Gila " also appears in Gila County, in the Gila Mountains, and the, also called Gila National Forest in the name of an endemic species of the area, the Gila Monster Gila Monster, as well as the Gilaspecht (Melanerpes uropygialis ) on.

Different names

The Gila River was in the past by a number of other names:

• Apache de Gila
• Brazo de Miraflores
• Cina ` ahuwipi
• Hela River
• Jila River
• Rio Azul
• Rio Gila
• Rio de las Balsas
• Rio del Nombre Jesus
• Rio de los apostoles
• Zila River
• Xila River