Bácum is a small city and the county seat of Bácum Municipality, located in the south of the

Mexican state A Mexican State (), officially the Free and Sovereign State (), is a constituent federative entity of Mexico according to the Constitution of Mexico. Currently there are 31 states, each with its own constitution, government, state governor, a ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

at . It is one of eight mission villages founded in the early seventeenth century by colonial

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

for the Indian Reductions of the Yaqui people. The Yaqui developed their own syncretic form of the religion.

History

The town of Bácum is one of the eight historical Spanish mission towns of the

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are an Indigenous people of Mexico and Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe, who speak the Yaqui language, a Uto-Aztecan language. Their primary homelands are in Río Yaqui valley in the no ...

Indians, founded in 1617 by the

missionaries Andrés Pérez de Ribas and Tomás Basilio. They called it Santa Rosa de Bácum. In 1930 the town was incorporated into the municipality of Cajeme, and it was granted autonomy within the new Bácum Municipality in 1931. In 1949 the Yaqui River overflowed its banks, causing severe damage to agriculture and livestock raising. The river is now controlled by the Álvaro Obregón Dam upriver.

Geography

Bácum Municipality is bounded by the Municipalities of

Cajeme Cajeme is one of the 72 Municipalities of Mexico, municipalities of the northwestern List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Sonora. It is named after Cajemé, a Yaqui people, Yaqui leader. The municipality has an area of 3,312.05 km2 (1 ...

in the east and

Guaymas Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the List of states of Mexico, state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the Mexico – United States border, U.S. ...

in the west — and the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

in the south. ;Area and population The area of the municipality is 1,409.7 km² (544.3 mi²); and the population was 21,322 in 2005. Of these, 3,600 resided in the town of Bácum. The town is situated at an elevation of 50 meters (160 ft) above sea level.

Economy

The municipality's main economic activity is intensive agriculture, with more than 300 square kilometers under

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

by canal. The main crops are wheat, corn, soybeans, barley, cotton, and garden vegetables, as well as seasonal crops such as alfalfa and some fruits. The municipality's coastline south of the town is long. Some fishing is practiced. Industries are small, and consist chiefly of packing houses for vegetables and liquid fertilizer production.

Sources

Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia, e InformáticaEnciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico

External links

Bácum, Ayuntamiento Digital
''(Official Website of Bácum, Sonora)''
Gobierno de Sonora article on Bácum
panish

Spanish

Spanish {{DEFAULTSORT:Bacum Populated places in Sonora Populated places in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico Populated places established in 1617 1617 establishments in the Spanish Empire Missions in Sonora

History

Geography

Economy

See also

Sources

External links