Place · mountain

Sierra Madre Occidental

The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in north-western Mexico, running about 1,250 km from near the United States border to Jalisco. Cut by deep canyons such as the Copper Canyon, it is home to the Rarámuri (Tarahumara), Tepehuán and other peoples. Its silver deposits drew Spanish miners and Jesuit missions from the 16th century, provoking revolts such as the Tepehuán rising of 1616.

Sierra Madre Occidental
Image: Christian Frausto Bernal · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Nueva Vizcaya

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sierra Madre Occidental. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sierra-madre-occidental
MLA
“Sierra Madre Occidental.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sierra-madre-occidental. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Sierra Madre Occidental.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sierra-madre-occidental.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sierra Madre Occidental’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/sierra-madre-occidental (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻