Bolsón de Mapimí
The Mapimí desert ( Spanish Bolsón de Mapimí ) in the Mexican states of Coahuila , Chihuahua and Durango is one of the two large desert areas in the Mexican highlands; sometimes it is also considered part of the Chihuahua Desert . The town of Mapimí is on its southern edge .
geography
The desert area overgrown by tufted grass about half a meter high is located in the central northern highlands of Mexico between the mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental at altitudes around 1100 m to 1600 m. The climate is dry with a rainy season in spring. The rain falls mainly in the form of heavy but brief downpours; in the five-year mean (1979-1984) fell about 265 mm of precipitation with minima at 81 mm and maxima at 513 mm during this time. Temperatures are over 35 ° C in summer and drop below 4 ° C in winter, which results in an annual mean of around 20 ° C.
There are no surface waters such as rivers, streams or even lakes; however, they can arise temporarily during heavy or prolonged rainfall.
Nature reserve
In the Bolsón de Mapimí there is an approximately 103,000 hectare nature reserve (Reserva de la Biósfera Mapimí) , the core area of which is approximately 35,000 hectares . The area is worthy of protection, among other things, because of the native, rare yellow-tinged gopher tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus) and other endemic species.
Indigenous peoples
Before the Spaniards invaded northern Mexico, various semi-nomadic and nomadic gatherers and hunter groups lived in what is now the Mapimí area. This group of mountain people, the small mobile settlements (Rancherias) of residential and shrub huts (known. Wickiups or Jacales ) lived among the Tarahumara , the Pima Bajo ( "Lower Pima"), as well as the Tobosos. These tribes were able to evade Spanish and Mexican influence for a long time and successfully fight all invaders, as they were able to retreat into the Mapimí and the adjacent mountain ranges again and again. In the constant fighting and uprisings, the Tarahumara and Tobosos in particular stood out and were feared by the Spaniards. But even these groups found it difficult to protect themselves against the warlike Apaches advancing south , especially Chiricahua , Mescalero and Lipan , since they were now deprived of the advantage of the desert and mountain ranges that they had enjoyed over the Spaniards. The Apaches themselves were semi-nomadic predatory and persistent mountain dwellers and, besides the Tarahumara, the fastest runners and excellent riders. Again and again there were bloody clashes between mounted Apaches and the unmounted mountain tribes, who also had to fight the Spaniards in order not to be forced to live in the missions . By 1750, the Tobosos were either exterminated, settled in Spanish settlements and missions, or joined the Apaches. From then on, the Mapimí belonged to the hunting and residential area of the Mescalero Apaches and from around 1865 to some groups of the Lipan Apaches. It was not until 1881 that the Apaches living in the Mapimí were no longer able to undertake major wars and raids, but sporadic raids on Spanish and Indian settlements (the Tarahumara and Pima Bajo) took place until the 1930s.
Others
- The Mapimí desert is the setting for some scenes in Karl May's Wild West novels (e.g. in Winnetou II or in the story Das Waldröschen ).
- In the last decades of the 20th century, numerous dinosaur skeletons were discovered and transported away in the area, which was badly affected by erosion .
- The Zona del Silencio applies some ufologists as an area classified military or even extraterrestrial activities.