Purépecha Empire

The Purépecha Empire was contemporary with and an enemy of the Aztec Empire, against which it fought many wars. The Purépecha Empire blocked Aztec expansion to the northwest, fortifying and patrolling their frontiers with the Aztecs, possibly developing the first truly territorial state of Mesoamerica.

Due to its relative isolation within Mesoamerica, the Purépecha Empire had many cultural traits completely distinct from those of the Mesoamerican cultural group. It is particularly noteworthy for being among the few Mesoamerican civilizations to use metal for tools, and even weapons.^[7]

Etymology and definitions

The word "Purépecha" in modern usage is the Hispanicized form of the then and still used term "P'orhépicha", meaning "commoner/s" in the Purépecha language. The term is derived from the root "P'orhe-", meaning "to visit" or "to go", alluding to strolling of the people to and from their daily duties.

Another word by which the Purépecha people have been called is "Tarascan", from Spanish "Tarasco" derived from the Purépecha word "Tarhaskwa", meaning "parent-in-law/child-in-law". This term is pejorative to the Purépecha when not used in its correct definition.

Ethnic groups

The empire included different groups, primarily

The territory that would eventually form the setting of the Purepecha Empire is the high volcanic region constituting the western extension of the Mexican

Early archaeological evidence

The Purepecha area has been inhabited at least since the early

The most useful ethnohistorical source has been the Relación de Michoacán,[9] written around 1540 by the Franciscan priest Fray Jeronimo de Acalá, containing translated and transcribed narratives from Purepecha noblemen. This Relación contains parts of the "official Tarascan history" as carried down through oral tradition: one part focuses on Purepecha state religion, the second on Purepecha society, and the last on Purepecha history and the Spanish conquest. Unfortunately the first part is only partly preserved. Other sources include a number of small pictorial manuscripts, the best known being the Lienzo de Jucutacuto.^{[citation needed]}

Foundation and expansion

In the late classic, at least two non-Purépecha ethnic groups lived around Lake Pátzcuaro: Nahuatl speakers in Jarácuaro, and some Chichimecan cultures on the northern banks, with the Nahua population being the second largest.

According to the Relación de Michoacán a visionary leader of the Purépecha named Tariácuri decided to gather the communities around Lake Pátzcuaro into one strong state. Around 1300 he undertook the first conquests and installed his sons Hiripan and Tangáxuan as lords of Ihuatzio and Tzintzuntzan respectively, himself ruling from Pátzcuari city. By the death of Taríacuri (around 1350), his lineage was in control of all the major centers around Lake Pátzcuaro. His son Hiripan continued the expansion into the area surrounding Lake Cuitzeo.

Hiripan and later his brother Tangáxuan I began to institutionalize the tributary system and consolidate the political unity of the empire. They created an administrative bureaucracy and divided responsibilities of and tributes from the conquered territories between lords and nobles. In the following years, first the sierra and then the Balsas River was incorporated into the increasingly centralized state.

Under the rule of cazonci

Between 1480 and 1510, the Iréchikwa occupied parts of present day Colima and Jalisco in order to secure Nitratine (Chile saltpeter) mines in the region. Throughout the occupation, the people's of Colima, Sayula, Zapotlán, Tapalpa, and Autlán resisted Purepecha rule in the Saltpeter War. By the end of the 30 year long occupation, the Iréchikwa was forced out of the area permanently.

Religion

Like most Mesoamerican cultures, the Purépecha were polytheists who worshipped a large array of deities. Chiefly was Curicaveri/Kurikaweri, the god of the sun.^[10]

Metallurgy

Historian Robert West states, "The Tarascans and their neighbors near the Pacific coast were the foremost metallurgists of pre-Conquest Mexico." This included

It has been speculated that Purepecha metallurgy was developed due to contact with South American cultures.[14]

Spanish conquest of Purepechan Empire

After hearing about the fall of the Aztec Empire, cazonci Tangáxuan II sent emissaries to the Spanish victors. A few Spaniards went with them to Tzintzuntzan where they were presented to the ruler and gifts were exchanged. They returned with samples of gold and Cortés' interest in the Iréchikwa was awakened. In 1522 a Spanish force under the leadership of Cristóbal de Olid was sent into Purepecha territory and arrived at Tzintzuntzan within days. The Purepecha army numbered many thousands, perhaps as many as 100,000^{[citation needed]}, but at the crucial moment they chose not to fight. Tangáxuan submitted to the Spanish administration, but for his cooperation was allowed a large degree of autonomy. This resulted in a strange arrangement where both Cortés and Tangáxuan considered themselves rulers of Michoacán for the following years: the population of the area paid tribute to them both. When the Spanish found out that Tangáxuan was still de facto ruler of his empire but only supplied the Spanish with a small part of the resources extracted from the population they sent the ruthless conquistador Nuño de Guzmán, who allied himself with a Purepecha noble Don Pedro Panza Cuinierángari, and the cazonci was executed on February 14, 1530.^{[15][16][17][18]} A period of violence and turbulence began. During the next decades Purepecha puppet rulers were installed by the Spanish government, but when Nuño de Guzman had been disgraced and recalled to Spain, Bishop Vasco de Quiroga was sent to the area to clean up. He rapidly gained the respect and friendship of the natives who ceased hostilities towards the Spanish hegemony.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

References

• Covarrubias, Miguel (1957). Indian Art of Mexico and Central America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Gorenstein, Shirley (1993). "Introduction". In Helen Perlstein Pollard (ed.). Taríacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State. The Civilization of the American Indian series, vol. 209. Norman:
  OCLC 26801144
  .
• OCLC 26801144
  .
• OCLC 55237579
  .
• Silverstein, Jay (2001). "The southeastern extent of Tarascan imperialism". Abstract of a paper presented at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Warren, J. Benedict (1963). "The Caravajal Visitation: First Spanish Survey of Michoacán". Americas. 19 (4): 404–412.
  JSTOR 979507
  .
• ——— (1985). The Conquest of Michoacán: The Spanish Domination of the Tarascan Kingdom in Western Mexico, 1521–1530. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
• ——— (1970–1971). "Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá: Author of the Relación de Michoacán?". 27, Americas: 307–327. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Weaver, Muriel Porter (1993). The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica (3rd ed.). San Diego, California:
  OCLC 25832740
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tarascan.

• Tarascan Civilization – World History Encyclopedia
• Smu.edu: Article about the Tarascan state — by Julie Adkins.