The Xixime were an indigenous people who inhabited a portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in the present day states of

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

and

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...

, Mexico. The Xixime are noted for their reported practice of cannibalism and resistance to Spanish colonization in the form of the

Xixime Rebellion The Xixime were an indigenous people who inhabited a portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in the present day states of Durango and Sinaloa, Mexico. The Xixime are noted for their reported practice of cannibalism and resistance to Span ...

of 1610.

Language

The Xixime spoke Xixime, a poorly documented, now-extinct

Uto-Aztecan Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...

language. Dialects of Xixime included Hine and Hume (to the north and south of the Xixime territory, respectively). The exact classification of the language is unknown although it may belong to the

Taracahitic The Taracahitic languages (occasionally called Taracahita or Taracahitan) form a putative branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family of Mexico. The best known is Tarahumara. Languages *Tarahumaran :: Tarahumara :: Guarijío (Huarijio, Varihio) ...

branch.

Cannibalism

A considerable amount of the scholarship and media attention devoted to the Xixime has focused on the group's reported practice of cannibalism. While a variety of colonial Spanish accounts of the Xixime report the culture engaged in frequent, ritual consumption of enemy peoples, the historical accuracy of the allegations is disputed. A number of historians including Susan M. Deeds apply theories developed by

Gananath Obeyesekere Gananath Obeyesekere is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and has done much work in his home country of Sri Lanka. His research focuses on psychoanalysis and anthropology and the ways in which personal symbolism is relat ...

on Aztec sacrifice to suggest that the practice of cannibalism was "exaggerated or contrived" by the Xixime to intimidate their Spanish enemies. In 2011 José Luis Punzo argued that newly discovered bones from

Cueva del Mague Cuevas or Cueva (Spanish for "''cave(s)''") may refer to: Places * Cueva de Ágreda, a municipality located in the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain * Cuevas Bajas, a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonom ...

, Durango constituted proof of the practice, citing evidence of "boiling and defleshing."

Relationship with the Spanish

Impressions

Conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

Nuño de Guzmán Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán (c. 14901558) was a Spanish conquistador and colonial administrator in New Spain. He was the governor of the province of Pánuco from 1525 to 1533 and of Nueva Galicia from 1529 to 1534, and president of the first Royal ...

first documented the existence of the Xixime via reports collected by scouts during a 1530 expedition. In comparison with their neighbors, the Xiximes were regarded as relatively civilized by the Spanish given their urban settlements and stone buildings.

Xixime Rebellion of 1610

Despite initially tolerating the presence of Spanish missions in neighboring territories, the Xiximes, in 1610, began organizing violent resistance to colonial incursions. The Xiximes solicited help from the

Acaxee Acaxee was a tribe or group of tribes in the Sierra Madre Occidental in eastern Sinaloa and NW Durango. They spoke a Taracahitic language in the Southern Uto-Aztecan language family. Their culture was based on horticulture and the exploitation of ...

s (their northern neighbors and historical enemies) and Tepehuán arguing that Jesuit churches were "temples of disease" and that destroying them would bring immortality. In response to Acaxee unwillingness to cooperate in anti-Spanish rebellion, the Xiximes began organizing attacks on Acaxee villages. Francisco_de_urdinola

To fend off the attacks, the Acaxee requested protection from the Spanish. In response, Francisco de Urdiñola attempted to secure peace through diplomatic means, though such efforts were spurned by the Xiximes. Aided by 200 Spanish soldiers and 1,100 indigenous allies, Urdiñola attempted to quell the Acaxee-led. By October, the surrender of key rebel leaders had effectively ended the uprising.

Tepehuán Revolt

The Tepehuán Revolt of 1616, which proved significantly harder to contain than the Xixime Rebellion, enjoyed widespread Xixime support.

References

{{Reflist Indigenous peoples of Aridoamerica Indigenous peoples in Mexico Extinct ethnic groups Cannibalism in North America