User:Cornsnek/sandbox/Purépecha Empire

This is the user sandbox of Cornsnek. A user sandbox is a subpage of the user's user page. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is not an encyclopedia article. Create or edit your own sandbox here. Other sandboxes: Main sandbox | Template sandbox Finished writing a draft article? Are you ready to request review of it by an experienced editor for possible inclusion in Wikipedia? Submit your draft for review!

Purépecha Empire Iréchikwa
c.1300–1530
Glyph
Patzcuaro Ihuatzio Tangáxuan II
History
• Established	c.1300
•  Conquered	1530
Area
1450[1]	75,000 km2 (29,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1519[2]	1,500,000
Succeeded by Viceroyalty of New Spain
Today part of	Mexico

The Purépecha Empire, also known by the term Iréchikwa, was a polity in

The empire was founded in the early 14th century and lost its independence to the Spanish in 1530. In 1543 it officially became the governorship of Michoacán, from the

Nahuatl

exonym for the Purépecha Empire, Michhuahcān from michin ("fish"), -huah ("possessor of"), and -cān ("place of") and means "place of fishers."

The Purépecha empire was constituted of a network of tributary systems and gradually became increasingly centralized, under the control of the ruler of the state called the Irecha. Its capital was located at

LiDAR

technology.

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.[what]

The Purépecha had many cultural traits distinct from those of others in Mesoamerica, and their language, an isolate, has been the subject of much debate to whether or not it is within the

though others used metal axeheads too, even as currency.

Tlaloc

headdress", 1350–1521 CE.

Terminology

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 it's correct definition.

The entity was first referred to as Michhuacān or Mechuacán

michhuah (possessor of fish), and -cān (place of), "place of fishers". In later years, Spanish chroniclers and writers began using the term Tarascan for both the P'urhepecha and their state, though it was until very recently that the word entered general academia and specifically english-language texts. The word has a disputed etymology and is considered a slur by the community.

Recently, the word Iréchikwa (meaning kingdom) combined with the capital city at the time has been used to describe the state. Along with this, Purépecha kingdom and variations therefrom have also surged as a means to describe the entity, particularly referring to the later stage of it when its capital was in Tzintzuntzan.

Ethnic groups

The empire included different groups, primarily

).

The people of the Iréchikwa were mostly of

Chichimec

peoples. These ethnic groups were gradually assimilated into the Purépecha majority group.

Geography and lithic occupation

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

basin.

History of the Iréchikwa

Early archaeological evidence

The Purepecha area has been inhabited at least since the early

influence in the Michoacán region.

Ethnohistorical sources

The most useful ethnohistorical source has been the Relación de Michoacán [es],^[7] 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

Tangáxuan II (1520–1530)

Colonial rulers of Michoacan Corregidor Pedro de Arellano (1530–1543) Governors Francisco Taríacuri (1543–1545) Antonio Huitziméngari (1545–1562)

National Museum of Anthropology

(Mexico)

In the late classic at least two non-Purépecha ethnic groups lived around Lake Pátzcuaro:

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 Tangáxoan 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.

Expansion and conflict with the Triple Alliance

Under the rule of

. In the 1470s, the Triple Alliance, led by tlahtoani

Tangáxuan II

.

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.

Fall of the Iréchikwa

After hearing about the fall of the Aztec Empire, 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.^[6] 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 irecha was executed^{[note 1]} on February 14, 1530.^{[10][11][12][6]} 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.

Metallurgy

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]

Notes

References

• 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
  .

See also

• Purépecha religion

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tarascan.

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

* Category:Mesoamerican cultures Category:Pre-Columbian cultures Category:History of Michoacán Category:History of Guanajuato Category:History of Guerrero Category:History of Jalisco Category:14th century in Mexico Category:15th century in Mexico Category:16th century in Mexico Category:States and territories established in the 14th century Category:14th-century establishments in Mexico Category:States and territories disestablished in 1530 Category:1530s disestablishments in Mexico Category:1530 in New Spain Category:16th-century disestablishments in New Spain