Mocorito and San Benito. Missionary action and Hispanic settlement in the south of the Province of Sinaloa 1592-1767.

Abstract

By contrast of historical sources, this article offers an account of the founda-tion of Mocorito as a mission pueblo and of San Benito as an alternative settlement of Hispanic residents. We follow the historical process of the mission and the context of the settlement around it, until the establishment of a parish in San Benito in the early 1730s. One of our primary sources for characterizing the mission and its life are two inventories of Mocorito’s mission that provide a religious’ goods detailed account of both temples, and that help us to evoke the final time of the Jesuits in Sinaloa. We be-lieve that following the history of a specific mission can contribute to the understanding of the history of the Society of Jesus in New Spain, as well as the relations of the mem-bers of the Order with the Indians under their religious administration and with the sur-rounding Hispanic population.