The Spanish organized Sinaloa as part of the gobierno of Nueva Galicia. In , the Jesuits' movement into the eastern part of Sinaloa led to the Acaxee going to war. The Spanish eventually managed to reassert authority in the Sierra Madre Occidental region and executed 48 Acaxee leaders. Geography and environment[ edit ] The coastal plain is a narrow strip of land that stretches along the length of the state and lies between the Gulf of California and the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, which dominates the eastern part of the state.
Sinaloa is traversed by many rivers, which carve broad valleys into the foothills. Sinaloa has a warm climate on the coast; moderately warm climate in the valleys and foothills; moderately cold in the lower mountains, and cold in the higher elevations. Its weather characteristics vary from subtropical, found on coastal plains, to cold in the nearby mountains. Its average annual precipitation is millimetres.
Notable among the tree species is the elephant tree, Bursera microphylla. The ritual ballgame was central in the society, religion and cosmology of all the great Mesoamerican cultures including the Mixtecs , Aztecs , and Maya. The Sinaloa version of the game is called ulama and is very similar to the original.
