Editing Sonora (section)

=== Viceroyalty of New Spain ===
Little reliable information remains about the area in the 16th century following the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]]. Some state that the first Spanish settlement was founded by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1530, near [[Huépac]]. Others state that Francisco Vásquez de Coronado founded a village on the edge of the Yaqui River in 1540 on his way north.<ref name="gorenstein19"/><ref name="gorenstein252"/><ref name="enchistoria">{{cite web |url=http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_sonora |title=Historia |year=2010 |work=Enciclopedia de Los Municipios y Delegaciones de México Estado de Sonora |publisher=Instituto para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal |location=Mexico |language=es |trans-title=History |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-date=December 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201232501/http://www.e-local.gob.mx/wb2/ELOCAL/EMM_sonora }}</ref> Another source states that the first Spanish presence was not until 1614, by missionaries such as [[Pedro Méndez (missionary)|Pedro Méndez]] and [[Pérez de Rivas]], working with the Mayo.<ref name="rincones37">Gonzalez, p. 37</ref> Unlike in central Mexico, no central social or economic centralization occurred in the Sonora area, given the collapse of population centers in the 15th century. The five traditions of the past had broken down to a number of fractured ethnicities. No empire or other system was present for the Spaniards to co-opt for domination purposes.<ref name="gorenstein19"/><ref name="gorenstein252"/> In addition, the Yaqui people resisted European intrusion on their lands, effectively keeping the Spaniards out of their area until the 17th century.<ref name="hamnett105">Hamnett, p. 105</ref> While exploration of the area happened through the expeditions of the 16th century, significant permanent Spanish settlement did not become possible until the establishment of the mission system.<ref name="gorenstein19"/><ref name="gorenstein252"/><ref name="gorenstein">Foster</ref><ref name="gorenstein241">Foster, p. 241</ref>

Jesuit priests began to work in Sonora in the 1610s in the lowlands near the coast. Originally, these missionaries worked out a peaceful compromise with the 30,000 Yaquis allowing for the establishment of more than fifty mission settlements in the Sonora river valleys. This broke down when the Jesuits opposed the native [[shaman]]ic religious tradition. The Opata were more receptive to the missionaries and allied with them. After this, the Jesuits began to move into [[Pima people|Pima]] and [[Tohono O'odham]] territories.<ref name="hamnett105"/> Spanish exploration and missionary work was sufficient to consider the territory part of [[New Spain]]. An agreement between General {{ill|Pedro de Perea|es}} and the [[viceroy]] of New Spain resulted in the general shaping of the province, initially called ''Nueva Navarra'' in 1637, but renamed ''Sonora'' in 1648.<ref name="rincones37"/>

The most famous missionary of Sonora, as well as much of what is now the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]], was [[Eusebio Kino]].<ref name="turhistoria">{{cite web |url=http://www.sonoraturismo.gob.mx/conoce-sonora/historia-de-sonora/ |title=Historia de Sonora |publisher=Government of Sonora |location=Sonora Mexico |language=es |trans-title=History of Sonora |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202081817/http://www.sonoraturismo.gob.mx/conoce-sonora/historia-de-sonora/ |archive-date=February 2, 2011 }}</ref> He arrived in Sonora in 1687 and started missionary work in the [[Pimería Alta]] area of Sonora and Arizona. He began his first mission at Cucurpe, then established churches and missions in other villages such as [[Spanish missions in the Sonoran Desert|Los Remedios, Imuris, Magdalena, Cocóspera, San Ignacio, Tubutama and Caborca]]. To develop an economy for the natives, Father Kino also taught them European farming techniques.<ref name="enchistoria"/><ref name="rincones38">Gonzalez, p. 38</ref>

The initial attraction of Sonora for the Spaniards was its fertile farmlands along the river valleys<ref name="yetman4"/> and its position as part of a corridor linking the central Mexican highlands around [[Mexico City]] up the Pacific coast and on into Arizona and points north. This corridor still exists in the form of [[Mexican Federal Highway 15|Federal Highway 15]].<ref name="gorenstein139">Foster, p. 139</ref> After the establishment of the mission system, Spanish colonists followed. Indigenous response was a mixture of accommodation and violence, as different strategies were employed by different groups at different times. The sporadic violence, which would continue throughout the colonial period, resulted in the Spanish building [[presidio]]s and other fortifications to protect missions and Spanish settlements.<ref name="enchistoria"/><ref name="hamnett105"/> While the colonization process was not especially violent, the impact on the indigenous of the area was severe, as it almost completely disrupted their formerly very independent lives, forcing them to conform to an alien centralized system. One consequence of this was alcoholism among the native peoples.<ref name="rincones37"/>

In 1691, what are now the states of Sonora and Sinaloa were joined into an entity called the ''Provincias de Sonora, Ostimuri, y Sinaloa''. They would remain as such through the rest of the colonial period until 1823.<ref name="rincones38"/> At this time, about 1,300 Spanish settlers were in the area.<ref name="hamnett107">Hamnett, p. 107</ref> Colonization increased in the 18th century, especially from 1700 to 1767, when mineral deposits were discovered, especially in [[Álamos]]. This led to the establishment of a number of royally controlled mining camps, forcing many natives off their agricultural lands. Loss of said lands along the [[Yaqui River|Yaqui]] and [[Mayo River (Mexico)|Mayo River]]s led to native uprisings during this time.<ref name="rincones37"/> A major [[Seri people|Seri]] rebellion took place on the coast area in 1725–1726, but the largest uprising was by the Yaquis and Mayos from 1740 to 1742 with the goal of expelling the Spaniards. Part of the reason for the rebellion was that the Jesuits, as well as the secular Spaniards, were exploiting the indigenous. This rebellion destroyed the reputation of the Jesuit mission system. Another Seri rebellion occurred in 1748, with Pima and Tohono O'otham support and lasted into the 1750s. This kept the settlement situation in disarray. With population of the Mexican split half indigenous and half Spanish, about one-quarter of the indigenous population lived in Sonora alone.<ref name="hamnett108">Hamnett, p. 108</ref> In 1767, the king of Spain expelled the Jesuits from Spanish-controlled territories, ending the mission system.<ref name="rincones3738">Gonzalez, pp. 37–38</ref>