Pimería Alta
Pimería Alta was the site of the Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert established by the Jesuit missionary Eusebio Kino in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
The term Pimería Alta first appeared in Spanish colonial documents (especially produced by those in the Catholic Church) to designate an ethno-territorial expanse that spanned much of what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora.
Neighboring groups along the region’s periphery included Jocomes, Apaches, Yumas (Quechan); Quíquimas (Halyikwamai), Cocopah, Seris, Nébomes (Eudeves), and Ópatas.
Missionaries governed through the councils, in a form of indirect rule, and their presence was indispensable in implementing religious observance and work discipline; that is, for Christian indoctrination and the production of surpluses destined for circulation among the missions and for sale in colonial markets.
[6]In this case, cabildos both entrenched Spanish control while also granting indigenous peoples living on missions a certain degree of autonomy within the colonial structure.
In the words of scholars John G. Douglass and William M. Graves: [t]he mission system in the Pimería Alta had two fundamental duties: to represent the Spanish Crown and convert native groups to Christianity.
[1]Despite the initial success of several missions in the area at converting indigenous peoples to Christianity and turning them to sedentary lifestyles, the incursion of the Spanish in the region was oftentimes met with native resistance.
In the words of a Spanish traveler recounting his observations of the region during the second half of the 18th century: En el valor son todos los pimas muy inferiores a los ópatas, pues solo su número suele a veces infundirles osadía y atrevimiento, lo que se ha visto claramente en su último ya varias veces citado alzamiento de 1751, cuando primero solo se defendieron solo diez hombres, y de estos la mitad sin saber manejar las armas con acierto, de todo su gran numero, y porfiada rabia con que quisieron beberles la sangre, y a los padres Jacobo Sedelmayr y padre rector Juan Nentuig asaltaron por dos días la casa del misionero de Tubutama, hasta dejarla con su nueva y bien alhajada iglesia reducida en cenizas...[7]Translated, the account reads: In valor all of the Pimas are very inferior to the Opatas, since often only their large numbers fill them with audacity and daring, which has been seen clearly in their last, numerously cited uprising in 1751, when first only ten men defended themselves, and of these half of them without knowing how to handle the weapons with certainty, of all their great numbers, and obstinate rage with which they wanted to drink their blood, and to the fathers Jacobo Sedelmayr and the padre rector Juan Nentuig they attacked for two days the house of the missionary of Tubutama, until leaving it with its new and well-built church reduced to rubble.
We have seen the pride of these tribes [Janos, Jocomes, Mansos, Sumas, Chinarras, Apaches], and we have also seen that due to their instigation the Pima Indians have frequently rebelled against the royal crown, killing the missionary padres of the Society of Jesus, some Spaniards, and some natives of this same province.
Many indigenous peoples in the Pimeria Alta found ways to adapt within the new conditions imposed by Spanish settlement and conquest and made use of official institutions to seek redress when necessary.
As noted by Cynthia Radding: Provincial markets remained small and basically local in scope, shifting with different mining bonanzas.
[12] This was compounded by the fact that landholding (in turn determined by access to water) became “an instrument of social control.”[12] The problems that this stratification produced proceeded well into the independence period.
Through its inhabitants, remnants of Spanish and native indigenous cultural customs would become a part of life in the Pimería Alta even after the end of the colonial period in 1821.
[14]: 334–342 These policies collectively went against practices established by missionaries in the colonial period, such as communal agricultural production and political organization with a relative degree of autonomy from Spanish authorities.
When these policies failed, the Mexican state often used deportations of indigenous peoples of the region (see Yaqui Wars) to other parts of the country as a last response to resistance.
This approach was in line with patterns of settlement by Anglo-Americans in the newly incorporated Southwestern territories, which alienated indigenous peoples from their prior landholdings.
Significantly, the landholding claims of Mexican settlers in the region were, while technically respected under the clauses of the Gadsden Purchase, frequently violated and conceded to Anglo-settlers.
Cultural and economic exchanges across national frontiers persisted even after US incorporation of the northern Pimeria Alta region, especially as the result of migration patterns.
The ecological impact of European and American colonization in the region has been heavy, with many sources of water (including rivers) having dried out over time due to overuse, manipulation of the environment, and climate change.
