Acaxee
Ethnic group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Acaxee or Acaxees[2] were an Indigenous people of the Sierra Madre Occidental in eastern Sinaloa and northwestern Durango. They spoke a Taracahitic language in the Uto-Aztecan language family. Their culture was based on horticulture and the exploitation of wild animal and plant life. They no longer exist as an identifiable ethnic group.[3]
History
Before Spanish colonization, the population of the Acaxee was roughly 20,000 organized into many smaller independent chiefdoms. They lived in very low-density farms with homes separated by up to half a kilometer.[4] Early accounts by Jesuit missionaries allege continual warfare and cannibalism among the Acaxee, Tepehuan, and Xixime who inhabited Nueva Vizcaya.[5]
The Spanish conquered Sinaloa from 1529 to 1531 which included conquering the Acaxee. They were devastated by Spanish introduced diseases and the encomienda system.[4] In December 1601, the Acaxees, under the direction of an elder named Perico, began an uprising against Spanish rule. This revolt was called the Acaxee Rebellion, but eventually ended in a defeat of the Acaxee.[5]
They are said to have been converted to the Catholic faith by the society of Jesuits in 1602.[5] Over the centuries of Spanish rule, the Acaxee were gradually assimilated into Mexican society, and while no longer a separate ethnic group, many in Sinaloa are descendants of the Acaxee.[4]
Culture
Ethnographer Ralph Beals reported in the early 1930s that the Acaxee played a ball game called "vatey [or] batey" on "a small plaza, very flat, with walls at the sides".[6]
Language
Subdivisions
- Acaxee (proper)
- Sabaibo
- Tebaca
- Papudo
- Tecaya