Oquitoa is a small town surrounded by

Oquitoa Municipality Oquitoa Municipality is a municipality in Sonora in north-western Mexico. Area and population The municipal area is 636.64 km2 with a population of 402 registered in 2000Most of this population lives in the small municipal seat. It is locat ...

in the northwest of the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of 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 d ...

History

It was founded in 1689 by the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary:

Eusebio Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino ( it, Eusebio Francesco Chini, es, Eusebio Francisco Kino; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer born i ...

. One theory is that the name Oquitoa means "white woman" in the

Piman Piman (or Tepiman) refers to a group of languages within the Uto-Aztecan family that are spoken by ethnic groups (including the Pima) spanning from Arizona in the north to Durango, Mexico in the south. The Piman languages are as follows (Campb ...

language. Another, taken from the 1910 publication "New Trails in Mexico" by Karl Lumholtz is that the name Oquitoa is taken from the O'odham or Piman Phrase, Hukit'o, "next to" or "nearby"(Lumholtz, p. 391, 1990) in reference to the nearby San Ignacio river. Louis Alphonse Pinart's Vocabulario de la Lengua Papaga, 1897, collected in Pitiquito Sonora Mexico from Trinidad Peralta and the Papago governor, Mattias Parra of the Papago community of Pitiquito corroborates Lumholtz's definition of Oquitoa as "hukit'o" Oks Toha, or Oquitoa as defined by the first theory as white woman, literally means 'woman white' that even in the structure of Piman grammar is awkward and is therefore highly unlikely.

Health and education

There were only two primary schools and one doctor in a small health clinic in 2000

Economic activity

Agriculture covered 901 hectares (2000), most of which were not irrigated. Main crops are alfalfa, beans, corn and the production of fodder for the cattle industry

Cattle raising was carried out by most of the work force (2000).

Tourist sights

Of touristic importance is the San Antonio Paduano del Oquitoa mission, the only still-used church in the region of Jesuit (pre-1767) construction. Oquitoa is considered by many to be the gem of the Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert, Kino missions. Padre Kino first makes mention of San Antonio de Uquetoa on January 19, 1689, when the Father Visitor Manuel Gonzales assigned Father Antonio Arias as its first priest. The church apparently had a facelift by the Franciscans between 1788 and 1797, and was restored in 1920 Tumacacori NHP: Mission Oquitoa
/ref> This simple adobe hall church stands atop a small hill in the midst of the village cemetery

References

Enciclopedia de los Municipios de Mexico

INEGI

External links

{{coord, 30, 44, N, 111, 44, W, type:city, display=title Populated places in Sonora Populated places established in 1689 Populated places in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico 1689 establishments in New Spain