Atil (also ÃÂtil) is a small town in Atil Municipality in the northwest of the Mexican state of Sonora. The total area is 400.43 km<sup>2</sup> and the population of the municipality was 734 in 2005, of whom 699 lived in the municipal seat (2000). Neighboring municipalities are Tubutama, Trincheras, Oquitoa, and Altar.
The first inhabitants were Pima Alto or Nebome Indians, who before conversion had led a nomadic or semi-nomadic life. It is said that Atil means "Arrow Point", in the Pima language.
The town was founded in 1687 as a Jesuit mission called Los Siete PrÃÂncipes del ÃÂtil (The Seven Archangels of ÃÂtil). It was intermittently a of Mission San Pedro y San Pablo del Tubutama, and had Mission San Antonio Paduano de Oquitoa as a .
Some buildings were constructed by Jesuit missionary Jacobo Sedelmayer. The name of the mission was changed to San Francisco de ÃÂtil when the Franciscans arrived in 1768.
Missionaries stationed in Atil included:
Atil is one of the smallest municipalities in the state.
The terrain is desert and mostly flat. Summer temperatures average 25.6 ðC but daytime extremes are frequently above 40 ðC. The winter average is 12.8 ðC.
There is one tarmacked road crossing the municipality linking Altar with Tubutama. There are several dirt roads crossing the desert.
The economy is based primarily on agriculture with lands irrigated by the Cuauhtémoc Reservoir located in the north of the municipality. Cattle raising is also practised.