Tarahumara

The Tarahumara are a Native American people of northern Mexico, renowned for their long-distance running ability.

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Originally inhabitants of much of the state of Chihuahua, the Tarahumara retreated to Copper Canyon in the Sierra Madre Occidental on the arrival of Spanish explorers in the sixteenth century.

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Current estimates put the population of the Tarahumara in 2003 at between 50,000 and 70,000 people. Most still practice a traditional lifestyle, inhabiting natural shelters such as caves or cliff overhangs, as well as small cabins of wood or stone. Staple crops are corn and beans; and goats and cattle are also raised for food.

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With widely dispersed settlements, the people have developed a tradition of long-distance running for intervillage communication and transportation. Their word for themselves, Raramuri, means runners or flying feet in their native tongue.

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The Tarahumara language is in the Uto-Aztecan family. Although it is in decline, with pressure from Spanish, it is still widely spoken.

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Mexico: The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or M?xico; regarding the use of the variant spelling M?jico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. It is the nort...

Chihuahua: :Chihuahua is the name of both a state of Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the state; for the city, see Chihuahua, Chihuahua. For other uses, see Chihuahua (disambiguation)....