Tiburón Island
Encyclopedia
Seri language
Seri is a language isolate spoken by the Seri people by between 716 and 900 people in two villages on the coast of Sonora, Mexico.-Classification:...
: Tahejöc is both the largest island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the Gulf of California
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
and the largest island in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, with an area of abbr=on 464. It was made a nature reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
in 1963 by President Adolfo López Mateos
Adolfo López Mateos
Adolfo López Mateos was a Mexican politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964...
. Tiburón is Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
. The etymology of the Seri name is unknown. The Seri name was first recorded by the Alphonse Pinart
Alphonse Pinart
Alphonse Pinart was a French explorer, philologist, and ethnographer. He was an early champion of the theory that the Americas were first populated by migration across the Bering Strait. To support his research, he made extensive travel in the Pacific, from Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to...
in 1879.
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
, as well as the municipality
Municipalities of Mexico
Municipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico, making the average municipality population 45,616...
of Hermosillo, and is located at approximately the same latitude as the city of Hermosillo
Hermosillo
Hermosillo is a city and municipality located centrally in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the capital and main economic center for the state and region. It contains almost all of the state's manufacturing and has thirty percent of its population...
. It is located along the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, opposite Isla Ángel de la Guarda
Isla Ángel de la Guarda
Isla Ángel de la Guarda, also called Archangel Island, and called Xazl Iimt east of Bahía de los Ángeles, and separated from the Baja California Peninsula by the Canal de Ballenas . It is the second largest of the eleven Midriff Islands or Islas Grandes. It is part of the state of Baja California,...
. It is part of the chain of islands known as the Midriff Islands or Islas Grandes.
Tiburón Island is part of the traditional homeland of some bands (or clans) of the Seri people, probably for many centuries if not millennia. In 1975 the Mexican government, through a decree by President Echeverría, gave the Seris recognition and title of communal property ("reconocimiento y titulación de terrenos comunales") with respect to Tiburón Island.
The island is presently uninhabited (except for a military installation on the eastern side of the island) and is administered as an ecological preserve by the Seri tribal government, in conjunction with the federal government. Bighorn sheep
Bighorn Sheep
The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to , while the sheep themselves weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae...
were introduced to the island a few years ago; hunting permits are highly restricted.
The island can be reached from Punta Chueca
Punta Chueca
Punta Chueca is a Seri town located on the Gulf of California in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located 16 miles north of the fishing and tourist town of Bahía de Kino...
, which is the nearest community, inhabited by members of the Seri tribe, and from Bahía de Kino, a (non-Indian) community abbr=on 34 to the south. The distance from Punta Chueca to Punta Tormenta, the nearest point on the island is abbr=on 3. The channel between the mainland and the island is called Canal del Infiernillo ("Hell's Channel"), due to the strong tidal currents and shoal
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
water that occur there, which can make for challenging navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
. The island has a prominent mountain system of volcanic origin.
External links
- Tiburón Island at gotosonora.com
- Map of Sonora at e-local.gob.mx