Bacobampo | |
---|---|
Town | |
Coordinates: 26°59′20″N 109°39′00″W / 26.98889°N 109.65000°W | |
Country | Mexico |
State | Sonora |
Municipality | Etchojoa |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 8,539 |
Time zone | UTC-7 (Pacific MST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (No DST) |
Postal code | 85287 |
Area code | 647 |
Bacobampo is a town in Etchojoa Municipality in the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. It is situated on the west bank of the Mayo River,[1] 20 km north of Huatabampo and 25 km southwest of Navajoa. It is an agricultural town, surrounded by fields. Bacobampo is 22 meters above sea level.[2]
According to the 2010 INEGI census, the town's population was 8,539 inhabitants,[3] making it the second most populated settlement in the municipality.
The Mayo people have continuously inhabited the valley since pre-Hispanic times. The name Bacobampo comes from the local Mayo language, meaning "Baco" (Snake) + "Bampo" (Water), or "Snake in/near the Water".[4] The original name of the settlement was Cumbrocoa or Cumbrocobe, but was changed to its current name in 1895 – when the Mayo River would dry up, the natives noticed snakes in the puddles left behind.[5]
In 1903, the Salido brothers arrived from Álamos and began working the land.[5] Two years later, the settlement classification of Bacobampo was upgraded from ranchería to delegación.[5] In 1920, the brothers decided to split up their land: Ildefonso and Epifanio got their own part in Bacobampo while José María went to Basconcobe .[5] They found success cultivating wheat, maize, beans and chickpeas.[6] Bacobampo was then established as a comisaría on 1 January 1929.[5]
In the 1930s, the federal government invested in the northern border states, building several dams to develop the region's agriculture.[7] The subsequent agricultural boom caused a population surge in Sonoran towns near these dams such as Bacobampo and Colonia Irrigación (which would become Villa Juárez).[8] In 1938, the hacienda of Bacobampo was redistributed to 802 peasants as a part of President Lázaro Cárdenas's land reform policies, and a collective ejido system was set up.[5][6] Although the cooperative arrangement seemed to work well at first, the group divided into two groups: "collectivists" that were in favor of continuing to share the profits and "individualists" that preferred to break away from the group.[6] Violence broke out and the problem got so serious that Cárdenas visited the town in June 1939 to restore the peace.[6]
There are two middle schools, Lázaro Cárdenas del Río and Gregorio Ahumada,[9][10] as well as one high school, CECYTES.[11]