The conquest of the province of Sinaloa and the evangelization of the Zuaque Indians of Mochicahui

Abstract

The conquest of northern Sinaloa and southern Sonora, known in the early years of the colonial era as the Province of Our Lady of Sinaloa, was a very difficult undertaking for the Spanish, due to the indomitable character of the nations or tribes that inhabited these lands. The attempts to subdue the Indians by military means were unsuccessful; the Spanish had to resort to the Catholic religion as their main weapon, through the Jesuits and the founding of mission towns, to achieve the conquest and colonization that they could not consolidate in more than half a century of European presence. The evangelization and founding of the mission town of Mochicahui is a clear example of the pacification of the rebellious tribes that had to accept, by conviction or by force, the military and spiritual conquest.