TARAHUMARA

The Tarahumara peoples live in the remote regions of the Sierra Madre in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. They are also called Raramuri (Ones that run) - they are renowned world wide for their superb physical ability to run long distances. They are known to pursue deer until the deer drops from exhaustion.
Geographically, their territory, before the Spanish came, consisted of the Sierra Madre, extending south to central Mexico. The Tarahumara shared culture with the Huichol to the south (in the present Mexican state of Nayarit), with the Yaqui in Sonora, with the Mayos and Tepehuanes to the south and southwest (in the present states of Durango and Sinaloa), and to the north and northeast with the Pimas, Anazasi, Guarojios, and Tepehuan, as well as several Apache nations, including the Toboso, Mescalero, Chiricagua, Chihuahua, and Mesquiteros (in a range sweeping clockwise from the north to the southeast). Earlier neighbors to the east and southeast included the Conchos and Julimes who were exterminated by the conquering Spaniards, and the Tigua, who were greatly decimated.

Since Mexico became independent from Spain during the period between 1809 and 1821, the Tarahumara and many of these neighbors have remained in this same region. However, through the centuries, encroachment by the politically and technologically stronger groups of Spanish derivative (gachupines, criollos, and mestizos) has pushed the Tarahumara further into a hostile, although beautiful, area of deep canyons and high rocky mountains of the Sierra Madre. These spectacular canyons are as much as four times the size of the Grand Canyon of southwest United States.