When the Spaniards arrived, numerous indigenous peoples lived in the sierra, including the Témoris, Guazapares, Chínipas, Tarahumaras, Tepehuanes, Pimas, Varohíos, Jovas, Conchos, and Batopilas, who engaged in agriculture and hunting. At the present time, only the Tarahumaras , Tepehuanes, pimas and Varohíos survive.

Spanish Colonization.

Between 1601 and 1767 Jesuit missionaries penetrated the Sierra Tarahumara, evangelizating most of the indigenous groups.

The first Europeans who arrived in the land of the canyons were probably part of Francisco de Ibarra´s expedition, in 1565. they reached Paquimé by way of Sonora, and on their return trip, went through the Madera region and finally departed from Sinaloa. The oldest written records of a Spanish incursion, however, is that of Gaspar Osorio in 1589, who entered Chínipas Canyon from Sinaloa, looking for precious metals.

The Jesuit priest Pedro Méndez, who arrived in Chínipas in 1601 along with Captain Diego Martínez de Urdaide, made the earliest contacts between missionaries and the Rarámuri people. The Catalonian Joan de Font, a Jesuit missionary to the Tepehuanes, was the first to enter the Sierra Tarahumara from the east slope, establishing contact with the Tarahumara people in 1604 upon arriving in San Pablo Valley, which is the current residence of the Balleza community. The missionaries advanced slowly from the mountain but finally established the Santa Inés de Chínipa Mission in 1626, which was destroyed in 1632 during an indigenous uprising that took the lives of several missionaries, thus interrupting the evangelical mission in the mountains.

In 1673, Missionaries José Tardá and Tomás de Guadalajara reinitiated the evangelizing efforts, and for the next hundred years established the most important missions in the sierra. In 1676, fathers Fernando Pécoro and Nicolás Prado reestablished the Chínipas Mission, thereby reopening the western region.

INDIGENOUS REBELLIONS

The response to the imposition of Western culture upon indigenous groups in the sierra was a resistance movement that lasted throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It extended throughout most of the mountains and interrupted the advance of the missionaries during long periods. The Tepehuanes initiated some of the most important rebellions in 1616 and 1622 in the south, then the Guazapares and Varohíos in 1632 in the Chínipas region. The Tarahumara rebelled again from 1648 to 1653, and the Janos and Sumas in 1689 along the Sonora border. The Tarahumaras held a general uprising in 1690-1691, followed by another from 1696 to 1698. The Batopilas and Guazapares rose up in 1703, followed by the Cocoyomes in 1723 in the southern part of the mountains. The Apaches staged attacks in the sierra for most of the second half of the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, there were several uprisings, which were generally less intense.

MINING EXPANSION

The discovery of mineral resources in the mountains was the determining factor in the Spanish conquest of the Tarahumara people. Colonizers in search of precious metals gave rise to many towns that still exists today. In 1684, the Coyachi mine was discovered followed by mines at Cusihuiriachi in 1688, Urique in 1689, Batopilas in 1707, Huaynopa in 1728, Uaruachi in 1736, Maguarichi in 1748, Carichi in 1749, Dolores (Madera) in 1722, Candameña and Ocampo in 1821, Pilar de Moris in 1823, Morelos in 1825, and Guadalupe y Calvo in 1835. Mining activity in the sierra is still one of the pillars of the economy.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND THE REVOLUTION

In 1824, the state of Chihuahua was established, and people in this territory participated in the country’s conflicts throughout the nineteenth century. In 1833, the secularization of the missions led to the dispossession of Indian communal lands, provoking widespread discontent. The struggle between liberals and conservatives, which dived Mexico for many years, left its imprint on the sierra, where a number of confrontations occurred, especially in the Guerrero region. The war with the United States obliged the state governor to seek refuge in Guadalupe y Calvo. The French intervention also impacted the region, and at that time the government sought refuge in the sierra once more.

The re-election of Benito Juárez in 1871, was the motive of armed opposition by Porfirio Díaz, who marched towards the sierra from Sinaloa in 1872, attracting popular support. He reached Guadalupe y Calvo and continued onto Parral, receiving support from the mountain people in the military contest that placed him in the power in 1876. In 1891 during the Porfirian regime, the Temochi rebellion ended with the annihilation of the entire people.

The Porfirian government encouraged the penetration of foreign capital, especially the forestry and mining, giving rise to large private landholdings. Enormous landed estates called latifundios were formed in Chihuahua and extended up to the mountains. In the first years of the twentieth century, massive railroad construction took place and trains soon reached the towns of Creel and Madera.
In the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the sierra Tarahumara was the scene of many of the events that would transform the country, and mountain people became participants in this drama. Both Francisco Villa and Venustiano Carranza conducted strategic maneuvers in the mountains.

EXPLOTATION OF THE FORESTS.

At the end of the nineteenth century the exploitation of the sierra Tarahumara´s magnificent forests began, stimulating the local economy. At the beginning of the twentieth century the railroad came to the sierra, leading to the establishement of communities like Creel, San Juanito, Madera and others whose economy is centered around lumbering. We now live with the consequences of the overexploitation of the forests, which has adversely affected the region’s economy activity. Protection of the forest is more important than ever as new economic alternatives such as tourism are opening up.