Acaxee

The Acaxee lived in independent chiefdoms in the Sierra Madre Occidental, in what are now eastern Sinaloa and northwestern Durango. They cultivated crops and gathered wild plants and animals.

Spanish forces conquered their lands between 1529 and 1531, imposing encomiendas and bringing disease. In 1601 the elder Perico led a revolt against Spanish rule and forced labor, halting silver mining in Acaxee territory. Spanish forces and Indigenous allies defeated the rebels in 1603 and executed most of their leaders. Subsequent smallpox epidemics killed most survivors.