Cahita

Cahita is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of the Gulf of California coast, whose surviving members are Yaqui, or Yoem Noki, of the Rio Yaqui valley in Sonora, and the closely related Mayo language. Early Jesuits recorded the name Cahita for the Hiaki, Mayo and Tehueco together; perhaps ten mutually intelligible varieties once covered much of Sonora and Sinaloa.

In 1608 the Yaqui and their Mayo allies defeated Spanish forces, and after the peace of 1610 they invited the Jesuits in 1617. The mission relationship let the Yaqui keep their lands and settle into eight towns while taking wheat, cattle and horses into their economy.

Silver finds from 1684 drew settlers, and in 1740 the Yaqui, Mayo, Opata and Pima rose together and cleared the colonists out by 1742; the Jesuit expulsion of 1767 ended the mission order.