page_title: Tarascan state
section_title: Foundation and expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Tarascan state / Foundation and expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Fourth yacata pyramid on the south end of the line in Tzintzuntzan
context_page_description: The Tarascan state was a state in pre-Columbian Mexico, roughly covering the geographic area of the present-day Mexican state of Michoacán, parts of Jalisco, and Guanajuato. At the time of the Spanish conquest, it was the second-largest state in Mesoamerica.
  The state 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 name for the Tarascan state, Michoacán.
  The Tarascan state was constituted of a network of tributary systems and gradually became increasingly centralized, under the control of the ruler of the state called the cazonci. The Tarascan capital was located at Tzintzuntzan on the banks of Lake Pátzcuaro, and, according to Purépecha oral tradition was founded by the first cazonci Tariácuri and dominated by his lineage, the "Uacúsecha"; however the largest city may have been Angamuco, extensive ruins of which were discovered in 2012 using LiDAR technology.
  The Tarascan state was contemporary with and an enemy of the Aztec Empire, against which it fought many wars.
context_section_description: 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 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 Tarascan Sierra and then the Balsas River was incorporated into the increasingly centralized state.
  Under the rule of cazonci Tzitzipandáquare a number of regions were conquered, only to be lost again by rebellions or strategic retreats when confronted with Aztec expansion. In 1460 the Tarascan state reached the Pacific coast at Zacatula, advanced into the Toluca Valley, and also, on the northern rim, reached into the present day state of Guanajuato.  In the 1470s Aztecs under Axayacatl captured a series of Tarascan frontier towns and closed in on the Tarascan heartland, but were eventually defeated. This experience prompted the Tarascan ruler to further fortify the Aztec frontier with military centers along the border, such as at Cutzamala. He also allowed Otomies and Matlatzincas who had been driven out of their homelands by the Aztecs to settle in the border area under the condition that they took part in the defense of the Tarascan lands. From 1480 the Aztec ruler Ahuitzotl intensified the conflict with the Tarascans. He supported attacks on Tarascan lands by other ethnic groups allied with or subjugated to the Aztecs such as Matlatzincas, Chontales, and Cuitlatecs. The Tarascans, led by the cazonci Zuangua, repelled the attacks but further Tarascan expansion was halted until the arrival of the Spaniards two years into the rule of the last cazonci of an independent Tarascan state, Tangáxuan II.
caption: Fourth yacata pyramid on the south end of the line in Tzintzuntzan.
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