Description
The Pima Bajo (Lower Pima or Mountain Pima) people are indigenous people of Mexico who reside in a mountainous region along the line between the states of Chihuahua and Sonora in northern Mexico. They are related to the Pima and Tohono O’odham of Arizona and northern Sonora. "Bajo" or "Lower" as part of the name refers to the geographic location in the southern part of the traditional Pima homeland. Some peoples identifying themselves as Pima and speaking the Pima language formerly lived farther west in the lowlands of Sonora, but they have long been absorbed into mainstream Mexican society. At present, the Pima Bajo are located in rugged, mountainous terrain in the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Language
Pima Bajo (Mountain Pima, Lowland Pima, Nevome) is a Mexican indigenous language of the Piman branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family
Culture
Pima worked both Jesuit farmlands and Spanish mines, as well as their own farms. Sometimes mine officials removed Pima from the mission without consulting the missionaries and made the Pima work for goods and clothing assessed at inordinately higher prices, creating a form of debt peonage. In addition, Spanish settlers invaded Indian property for more land for cattle grazing. Pima Bajo live in small scattered clusters and migrate in search of temporary work in surrounding mines, mills, and lowland towns for work in agriculture.