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Mexico Travel :: The Colonial States

State of Michoacan

Michoacan, which means 'Place of the Masters of Fish' in Nahuatl, was originally inhabited by tribes of the Chupicuaro culture from Guanajuato. In the 12th century, a group that called themselves the Purepecha, now known as the Tarascans, arrived in the region of Lake Patzcuaro and became 'Masters of the Fish'. They established capitals at Patzcuaro, Ihuatzio and Tzintzuntzan, all around the lake, and developed advanced political, economic and religious systems. At Tzintzuntzan, the last Tarascan capital, one can still see their yacates, rectangular stepped platforms attached to circular stepped pyramids. Their kings, called Kasonsis, were buried with elaborate rites reminiscent of Ancient Egypt, during which their servants were sacrificed and interred with them. In the 15th century, the Aztecs attacked Michoacan and were repeatedly defeated, thereby increasing Tarascan prestige and power. In 1520, Cuitlahuac, the penultimate Aztec emperor, appealed to the Tarascans for help in defeating the Spanish, but the Tarascan Kasonsi Zuangua declined.

After Cortes' victory, he sent emissaries to Tzintzuntzan to initiate peaceful relations (his forces were too weak for another war). Later, Zuanga's successor, Tangaxoan II, recognized the Spaniards' power and traveled to Cortes' palace in Coyoacan in order to give the conquistador vassalage. In 1528, Cortes was directed to return to Spain and power fell into the hands of Nuno Beltran de Guzman, who ordered Tangaxoan to Mexico City and executed him. Beltran de Guzman then led a bloody expedition into Michoacan in which he burned villages and murdered or enslaved thousands of Indians. In 1538, Vasco de Quiroga, a humanist judge and later bishop of Michoacan, moved to the territory to try and heal some of the wounds opened by Beltran de Guzman. In Patzcuaro he founded one of the first hospitals in Mexico, and he formed Utopian communities in which Indians were taught crafts and self-government. He is still affectionately called 'Tato Vasco' and worshipped as a saint in Michoacan. Nevertheless, many Indians died of famine and disease. Morelia, founded in 1541 as Valladolid, contained many religious colleges that turned into centers of intellectual ferment.

By 1800, Michoacan was a center of mining, sugar cane plantations, textile and furniture manufacture, and educated criollos could turn their attention to more important things, like independence from Spain. A brilliant local priest, Miguel Hidalgo, became rector of the Colegio de San Nicolas in Valladolid before moving to Dolores, Guanajuato, in order to start the rebellion. When Hidalgo's army approached the city in November 1810, the residents joyfully welcomed him. After Hidalgo's execution, an old student of his named Jose Maria Morelos took up his banner and started a revolutionary army that marched victoriously all the way to Oaxaca; however, in 1815 he was captured and executed. A third Michoacan native, Agustin Iturbide, became the commander of a royalist army, changed sides and then named himself Emperor of Mexico after the ouster of the Spaniards; he was exiled in disgrace in 1823. Valladolid was renamed Morelia in 1828 (not Iturbide).

Of all those heroes remembered in Michoacan, the name of Lazaro Cardenas, Micho-acan's governor between 1928 and 1932, is most revered today. He restructured the state's politics and economy, personally opened hundreds of rural schools, redistributed the lands of the huge estates and encouraged direct contact with the people, particularly Indians and peasants. Cardenas went on to become the most popular president in Mexican history. His son, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, was also Michoacan's governor and is now seeking to become president as the leader of a left-wing opposition party.

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