Tepehuán people
 |
| In 1616, the Tepehuán lived primarily in Durango State on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental |
| Total population |
|---|
| approximately 25,000 |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Mexico (Jalisco, Zacatecas, Nayarit) |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
The Tepehuán (Tepehuanes or Tepehuanos, from Nahuatl “People from the Mountains”) are a indigenous ethnic group in northwest Mexico, whose villages at the time of Spanish conquest spanned a large territory along the Sierra Madre Occidental from Chihuahua and Durango in the north to Jalisco in the south. The southern Tepehuán community included an isolated settlement (Azqueltán) in the middle of Huichol territory in the Bolaños River canyon. The southern Tepehuán were historically referred to as Tepecanos.
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[edit] Language
The Tepehuán languages are part of the Uto-Aztecan language family, within which it is grouped with O'odham to form the Piman family.
[edit] Name
The name is pronounced [tepeˈwan] in Spanish, and is often spelled Tepehuan without the accent in English-language publications. This can cause confusion with the languages called Tepehua ([teˈpewa] in Spanish) and collectively referred to as Tepehuan in English. These are spoken on the other side of Mexico, and are closely related to Totonac and not at all to Tepehuán. The names of both groups come from Nahuatl and mean 'mountain dwellers' or 'mountain people'.[1]
[edit] History
The Tepehuán Revolt from 1616 to 1620 was a bloody and ultimately futile attempt by the Tepehuán, inspired by a messianic leader named Quautlatas, to rid their territory of the Spanish.
[edit] Tepehuán groups
The following groups of Tepehuán live in Mexico today:
[edit] Northern Tepehuán
Odami, meaing "People", live north of the Rio Verde in Chihuahua and in northern Durango and Sinaloa.
- Baborigame (about 6,200 speakers, some use a dialect variant similar to the Tarahumara)
- Nabogame (about 1,800 speakers)
[edit] Southern Tepehuán
Dami, meaning "People", live in the Sierra Madre Occidental in southern Durango and northern Nayarit and Jalisco.
- Southeastern Tepehuán (about 10,600 speakers, live in southeast Durango and adjacent areas, their cultural and religious center was Santa Maria Ocotán)
- Southwestern Tepehuán (about 8,700 speakers, live in southwest Durango and adjacent areas)
They still retain some of their traditional customs.[2] The northern Tepehuán numbered 6,200 in 2005; the southeastern, 10,600, and the southwestern, 8,700.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Tepehuán Language and the Tepehuan Indian Tribe (Tepecano, Tepehuano)
- ^ Gradie, 17-183
- ^ "Tepehuan." Native Languages. Accessed Feb 13, 2011
[edit] Further reading
- Deeds, Susan. Defiance and Deference in Mexico's Colonial North: Indians Under Spanish Rule in Nueva Vizcaya. (2003) University of Texas Press, Austin, TX. ISBN 0292705514
