Bácum is a small city and the county seat of

Bácum Municipality Bácum Municipality is a Municipalities of Mexico State, municipality of southwestern Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The population was 21,322 in 2005. Geography Bácum Municipality is located in one of the two valleys of the Yaqui River. The ...

, located in the south of the Mexican state of Sonora at . It is one of eight mission villages founded in the early seventeenth century by colonial

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Jesuit missionaries for the

Indian Reductions Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such re ...

of the

Yaqui people The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United St ...

. The Yaqui developed their own syncretic form of the religion.

History

The town of Bácum is one of the eight historical Spanish mission towns of the

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United Sta ...

Indians, founded in 1617 by the Jesuit missionaries Andrés Pérez de Ribas and Tomás Basilio. They called it Santa Rosa de Bácum. In 1930 the town was incorporated into the municipality of Cajeme, and it was granted autonomy within the new Bácum Municipality in 1931. In 1949 the Yaqui River overflowed its banks, causing severe damage to agriculture and livestock raising. The river is now controlled by the Álvaro Obregón Dam upriver.

Geography

Bácum Municipality is bounded by the Municipalities of

Cajeme Cajeme is one of the 72 municipalities of the northwestern state of Sonora, Mexico. It is named after Cajemé, a Yaqui leader. The municipality has an area of 3,312.05 km2 (1,278.79 sq mi) and with a population of 433,050 inhabitants as of 20 ...

in the east and

Guaymas Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Cali ...

in the west — and the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...

in the south. ;Area and population The area of the municipality is 1,409.7 km² (544.3 mi²); and the population was 21,322 in 2005. Of these, 3,600 resided in the town of Bácum. The town is situated at an elevation of 50 meters (160 ft) above sea level.

Economy

The municipality's main economic activity is intensive agriculture, with more than 300 square kilometers under

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

by canal. The main crops are wheat, corn, soybeans, barley, cotton, and garden vegetables, as well as seasonal crops such as alfalfa and some fruits. The municipality's coastline south of the town is long. Some fishing is practiced. Industries are small, and consist chiefly of packing houses for vegetables and liquid fertilizer production.

Sources

Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia, e InformáticaEnciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico

External links

Bácum, Ayuntamiento Digital
''(Official Website of Bácum, Sonora)''
Gobierno de Sonora article on Bácum
panish

Spanish

Spanish {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacum Populated places in Sonora Populated places in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico Populated places established in 1617 1617 establishments in the Spanish Empire

History

Geography

Economy

See also

Sources

External links