Tiburón Island
Tiburón Island is the largest island in the Gulf of California and the largest island in Mexico, with an area of. It is uninhabited and it was made a nature reserve in 1963 by President Adolfo López Mateos.
Etymology
Tiburón is Spanish for 'shark'. Although the Seri name, Tahejöc, was first recorded by Alphonse Pinart in 1879, its etymology is unknown.Geography
Tiburón Island is part of the Mexican state of Sonora, as well as the Hermosillo Municipality, and is located at approximately the same latitude as the city of Hermosillo. It is located along the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, opposite Isla Ángel de la Guarda. It is part of the chain of islands known as the Midriff Islands or Islas Grandes.The island has a prominent mountain system of volcanic origin.
History
Tiburón Island is part of the traditional homeland of some bands of the Seri people, for many centuries if not millennia. Author Charles Marion Tyler described the island in his 1885 book The Island World of the Pacific Ocean, saying that "little is known , a hostile tribe of Indians being in possession." Californian writer De Moss Bowers remarked in 1909 that Tiburón was "almost inaccessible" and that it had an "interior of which no white man has ever explored".In 1905, three members of a U.S. gold expedition went missing, resulting in what is known as the Tiburón Island Tragedy. Although never confirmed by the sole survivor, it was suspected the Seri people were responsible for the disappearances, as it was not the first time an incident of this nature had occurred. American writer R.E.L. Robinson and explorer George Porter also went missing on the island in the 1890s, with it being theorized at the time that they were cannibalized by the natives. On 25 December 1906, one of the missing gold expeditioners corpses was found, and it was confirmed that they had died from dehydration. The remains of the other missing gold expeditioner were never found.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, a small hunting and fishing camp on the northern end of the island was operated by Jesus Olivas, a resident of Hermosillo. He constructed several buildings, a dock and an airstrip near the historic Seri encampment at Tecomate. The camp was popular with American visitors to the area. The remains of the structures and airstrip are still in place. The Mexican government, through a decree by President Echeverría, gave the Seri "recognition and title of communal property" with respect to Tiburón Island in 1975.
The island is currently uninhabited and is administered as an ecological preserve by the Seri tribal government in conjunction with the federal government. Bighorn sheep were introduced to the island in the 1980s; hunting is managed by the tribal government in coordination with Mexican federal authorities. It is also home to a unique subspecies of coyote and mule deer that are endemic to the island.