Sonora was a crucial region of the Mexican Revolution, with its main leaders called the Sonoran Dynasty or the Sonoran Triumvirate, that collectively ruled Mexico for fifteen years from 1920 to 1935. The northwestern state of Sonora was geographically and culturally distinct from other states of Mexico, including other parts of northern Mexico. Because of its geographical isolation from other parts of Mexico, its close ties with the United States, its large-scale export agriculture, its distinct indigenous populations, and its broad-based participation in the Revolution its leaders had a different worldview from central Mexico. Four Sonorans became Presidents of Mexico, Adolfo de la Huerta, Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Abelardo L. Rodríguez. Seven other important figures of the revolution also come from Sonora or in nearby states, José María Maytorena and Benjamín G. Hill, both middle class; Manuel Diéguez, Salvador Alvarado, and Juan G. Cabral; and Francisco R. Serrano and Arnulfo R. Gómez. Although not formally a member of the Sonora Dynasty, Michoacan-born General Lázaro Cárdenas, later President of Mexico, was part of the revolutionary circle of Plutarco Elías Calles, right until the point that President Cárdenas forced former President Calles into exile in 1936. Only in recent years have historians begun focusing on the role of Sonora and the Sonoran Dynasty in Mexican Revolution, shifting from an emphasis on populist leaders like Francisco Villa of Chihuahua and Emiliano Zapata of Morelos. The Sonoran leaders sought greater material betterment for impoverished Mexicans, sought to centralize authority, and diminish the role of the Catholic Church. As with Díaz's Científicos, they believed in the importance of material progress, public education (as one way to counter the influence of the Catholic Church), and rationalism.
