The ethnic groups of Chihuahua are the Tarahumara, Tepehuanes of the north, Guarijíos or"makuráwe", pimas or"o'oba". It is estimated that in Chihuahua they inhabit a total of 93,709 indigenous people, who represent 3.8% of the total population.
85% of the indigenous population of Chihuahua is distributed in 23 municipalities of the sierra. Some of them are: Guadalupe and Calvo, Urique, Guazapares, Guachochi, Balleza, Bocoyna, Batopilas and Morelos.
In addition, according to UNESCO, the Catholic religion is the predominant among the indigenous population, with 78.1%.
Indigenous groups of Chihuahua, Mexico
In the state of Chihuahua there are 6,998 registered indigenous communities. Of these, 86% have less than 50 inhabitants, which are divided into four groups. The locations of these ethnic groups are located in territories that are difficult to access.
As for the language, the predominant in the entity is the Tarahumara with 84.2%, or 85,316 people.
Then there is Tepehuán with 7.3%, approximately 8,396 Indians. Finally, the Nahuatl with 1.2%, which equals 1,286. The rest speak some language from the Mixtec languages.
Guarijios
The Guarijíos continue to inhabit in their original territory, that is to say, in the surroundings of the border that delimits to Sonora and Chihuahua. They lived there since before the arrival of the Spaniards.
As for the language, this community speaks variants belonging to the yuto Nahua language family.
Guarijío or guarijó means"people", also translated as"the people who speak the guarijía".
Rarámuri
The Tarahumara Indians call themselves"rarámuris", which means"runners on foot".
Its language is part of the Aztec yuto family, the same that expands from the state of Utah and goes to Central America.
The territory that is known as Sierra Tarahumara is located in the mountainous system that crosses from north to south to the Sierra Madre Occidental in the state of Chihuahua.
In addition, it limits to the west with the mountainous zone of the state of Sonora, in the east with Chihuahua and to the south with the entity of Durango.
Northern Tepehuanes
The Tepehuanes of the north or ódami, usually live in the municipality of Guadalupe and Calvo, although they are also found in smaller numbers in the municipality of Guachochi.
Tepehuano translates as"people of the mountains". They live north in the Sierra Madre Occidental. They are distributed in rancherías between summits and ravines of the Sierra Tarahumara, in the south of Chihuahua.
At the time of colonization, the Tepehuanes were evangelized by Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries. According to some of the missionaries, the Tepehuanes were warlike and polytheistic.
Pimas
The main pimas communities are in the municipality of Madera and in the community of Yepachi, belonging to the municipality of Temósachi.
During the colonization, whenever the Spaniards asked the o'odham speakers something, they responded pi'ma, whose meaning may be"does not exist","I do not have", or"I do not understand".
The conquerors confused, they decided to use the expression and Spanish to refer to this tribe, as a gentilicio.
References
- National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (April 2017). "Ethnography of the Tarahumara people". cdi.gob.mx
- Government of Chihuahua (SF). "Development of ethnic groups". ihacienda.chihuahua.gob.mx/tfiscal
- National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (December 2003),"Guarijíos", Indigenous Peoples of Contemporary Mexico. gob.mx
- National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Mexico (December 2004),"Tepehuanes del norte", Indigenous Peoples of Contemporary Mexico. gob.mx
- INI (1994),"Indigenous Peoples of Mexico: Pimas, Mexico", Andrés Ortiz Garay.