A locality in the municipality of Mocorito
Mocorito
CityA city, the seat of the municipality of Mocorito, in north-central Sinaloa. The Jesuit mission of San Miguel de Mocorito, founded in 1594, gave rise to the town; a Pueblo Mágico since 2015.
Key facts
- Municipality
- Mocorito
- Population
- 5,926 · 2020
- Occupied dwellings
- 1,645 · 2020
- Settlement type (INEGI)
- Urban
- Elevation
- 90 m
- INEGI code
- 250130001
Overview
Mocorito sits at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental, beside the river of the same name. It keeps a colonial-era historic centre, with cobblestone streets and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings.
It holds the municipal government and concentrates the commerce and services of the surrounding farming region.
History
The locality grew out of the Jesuit mission of San Miguel de Mocorito, founded in 1594 by fathers Juan Bautista de Velasco and Hernando de Santarén, in territory historically associated with the macoritos, speakers of a Cahita dialect.
The origin of the name "Mocorito" has been read differently by Sinaloan historians: Héctor R. Olea links it to "place of those who speak a Cahita dialect"; Eustaquio Buelna, to "place of the dead"; and Pablo Lizárraga, of Tahue origin, to "in the owl's pen."
Since 2015 the town has been part of the federal Pueblos Mágicos program.
Location and geography
Related topics
- History
- Colonial history
- Tourism
Sources and data
The figures on this page come from public sources. Each data point shows its year and origin.
- Mocorito y San Benito. La acción misionera y el poblamiento hispano en el sur de la provincia de Sinaloa 1592-1767 — IHS: Antiguos Jesuitas en Iberoamérica, vol. 5, no. 2 (2017)
- Historia — H. Ayuntamiento de Mocorito — Gobierno Municipal de Mocorito
- Mocorito, Sinaloa — Secretaría de Turismo, Programa Pueblos Mágicos — Gobierno de México
- Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020 — Principales resultados por localidad (ITER), Sinaloa — Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía