It is one of eight mission villages founded in the early seventeenth century by colonial Spanish Jesuit missionaries for the Indian Reductions of the Yaqui people.
In 1949 the Yaqui River overflowed its banks, causing severe damage to agriculture and livestock raising.
The municipality's main economic activity is intensive agriculture, with more than 300 square kilometers under irrigation by canal.
[citation needed] The municipality's coastline south of the town is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long.
Industries are small, and consist chiefly of packing houses for vegetables and liquid fertilizer production.