Acaxee was a tribe or group of tribes in the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...

in eastern Sinaloa and NW Durango. They spoke a Taracahitic language in the Southern Uto-Aztecan language family. Their culture was based on

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

and the exploitation of wild animal and plant life. They are now extinct as an identifiable ethnic group., accessed 1 Feb 2011

History

In December 1601, the Acaxees, under the direction of an elder named Perico (elder), Perico, began an uprising against Spain, Spanish rule. This revolt was called the Acaxee Rebellion. They are said to have been converted to the Catholic Church, Catholic faith by the society of Jesuits in 1602. Early accounts by Jesuit missionaries allege endemic warfare, continual warfare and cannibalism among the Tepehuan, ''Acaxee'', and Xiximes, Xixime who inhabited Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain, Nueva Vizcaya. Ethnographer Ralph Beals reported in the early 1930s that the Acaxee tribe from western Mexico played a ball game called "''vatey'' [or] ''batey''" on "a small plaza, very flat, with walls at the sides".Kelley, J. Charles. "The Known Archaeological Ballcourts of Durange and Zacatecas, Mexico" in Vernon Scarborough, David R. Wilcox (Eds.): ''The Mesoamerican Ballgame''. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press. , 1991, p. 98. Kelley quotes Beals: Beals, Ralph J. ''The Acaxe, A Mountain Tribe of Durango and Sinaloa'' (Iberoamerican 6) University of California Press, Berkeley: 1933.

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