Aritpa

Aritpa, or Arizpe, stands in the upper Sonora River valley amid a landscape of cultivated riverbanks and dry mountain ranges. The valley was inhabited by Ópata peoples before Spanish settlement. Its position on the river made the town an important centre of the northern colonial frontier.

Jesuit missionaries established a mission at Arizpe in the seventeenth century. In 1776 the Spanish crown created the Commandancy General of the Interior Provinces, and Arizpe became its capital under Teodoro de Croix. From this northern seat officials sought to coordinate the defence and administration of a vast frontier. Its importance changed as the commandancy’s headquarters moved, but Arizpe remained a significant town on the Sonora River. It also served as a base for the administration of Sonora and neighbouring provinces.