The Opata people are believed to have originated in Mesoamerica, likely from the region around the present-day states of Chihuahua and Sonora in northern Mexico. They were a semi-nomadic people who practiced a combination of agriculture, hunting and gathering. The Opata migrated northward into the American Southwest in the late 16th century, settling in the Pimería Alta region of present-day Arizona and Sonora.