Seri

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This article discusses the Mexican ethnic group. For other meanings, see Seri (disambiguation).

Seri (Comcáac)


Total population	215 (1951) 800 (2000)
Regions with significant populations	Mexico (Sonora)
Language	Seri, Spanish
Religion

The Seris are an indigenous group of the Mexican state of Sonora. The majority reside on the Seri communal property (Spanish, ejido), in the towns of Punta Chueca (Seri Socáaix) and El Desemboque (Seri Haxöl Iihom). Tiburón Island (Tahéjöc) and San Esteban Island (Coftéecöl and sometimes Hast) were part of their traditional territory, but some also lived in various places on the mainland. They were historically seminomadic hunter-gatherers who maintained an intimate relationship with the Gulf of California and adjacent land.

The name Seri is an exonym of uncertain origin. Their own name for themselves is Comcáac (IPA [koŋˈkɑːk]; singular: Cmiique [ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ]).

1 Bands
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Bands

The Seri were formerly divided into six bands. They were:

Xiica hai iic coii ("those that are towards the wind"), who inhabited a large area to north of the other bands.
Xiica xnaai iicp coii ("those that are to the south"), who inhabited the coast from Bahía Kino to Guaymas.
Tahéjöc comcáac ("Tiburón Island people"), who inhabited the coasts of Tiburón Island, and the coast of Mexico opposite it, north of the xiica xnaai iicp coii.
Heeno comcáac ("desert people"), who inhabited the central valley of Tiburón Island.
Xnaamótat ("those that came from the south"), who inhabited a small strip between the xiica hai iic coii and the Tahéjöc comcáac.
Xiica Hast ano coii ("those that are in San Esteban Island"), who inhabited San Esteban Island and the southern coast of Tiburón Island.

Three of the bands were further subdivided. Relations between bands were not always friendly, and internal fights sometimes occurred.

After the Seri population was greatly reduced by conflicts with the Mexican government and the Tohono O'odham, and epidemics of smallpox and measles, the remaining Seris grouped together and the band system was lost.

[edit] References

Bowen, Thomas (1983.). "Seri.". Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Southwest. Alfonso Ortiz, volume editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: 230–249.
Bowen, Thomas (2001). Unknown Island: Seri Indians, Europeans, and San Esteban Island in the Gulf of California. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Davis, Edward H., Dawson, E. Yale (Mar. 1945). "The Savage Seris of Sonora—I". The Scientific Monthly 60 (3): 193–202.
Davis, Edward H., Dawson, E. Yale (Apr. 1945). "The Savage Seris of Sonora—II". The Scientific Monthly 60 (4): 261–268.
Johnston, Bernice [1970] (1980). The Seri Indians of Sonora Mexico. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.
Felger, Richard, Mary Beck Moser (Jul. 1973). "Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in the Gulf of California: Discovery of Its Nutritional Value by the Seri Indians". Science 181 (4097): 355–356.
Felger, Richard, Mary B. Moser. (1985). People of the desert and sea: ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Ives, Ronald L. (Jul. 1962). "The Legend of the “White Queen” of the Seri". Western Folklore 21 (3): 161–164.
Moser, Edward W. (1963). "Seri Bands". The Kiva 28 (3): 14–27. (online Spanish version)
Moser, Mary B., Stephen A. Marlett (2005). Comcáac quih yaza quih hant ihíip hac: Diccionario seri-español-inglés (in Spanish and English). Hermosillo, Sonora: Universidad de Sonora and Plaza y Valdés Editores.
McGee, W. J. (Mar. 1896). "Expedition to Papagueria and Seriland: A Preliminary Note". American Anthropologist 9 (3): 93–98.
McGee, W. J. (Apr. 1896). "Expedition to Seriland". Science 3 (66): 493–505.
McGee, W. J. (1898). The Seri Indians: Seventeenth annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
Nabhan, Gary (2003). Singing the Turtles to Sea: The Comcáac (Seri) Art and Science of Reptiles. University of California Press.