Vorlage:Tarascan state The Tarascan state was a state in precolumbian Mesoamerica roughly covering the geographic area of the present day mexican state of Michoacan. At the time of the Spanish conquest it was the second largest state in Mexico. The state was founded in the early 14th century and lost its independency to the spanish in 1530. In 1543 it was officially turned into the governorship of Michoacan, Michoacan "place of those who have fish" being the Nahuatl name for the Tarascan state. In P'urhépecha, language of the Tarascans the name of the state was Irechecua Tzintzuntzani, the "lands of Tzintzuntzan".
The people of the Tarascan empire was mostly of P'urhépecha ethnic affiliation but also other ethnic groups of Nahua, Otomi, Matlatzinca and Chichimec ethnicity inhabited the Tarascan state, but were gradually assimilated to the P'urhépecha majority group.
The Tarascan state was a constituted by a network of tributary systems and gradually became increasingly centralized, with the control of the empire governed by the "Caconzi", the ruler and king of the state. The Tarascan capital was located at Tzintzuntzan on the banks of Lake Pátzcuaro, Michoacan., and, according to tarascan oral tradition was founded by the first caconzi Taríacuri and dominated by his lineage the "Uacúsecha" ("Eagles" in P'urhépecha).
The Tarascan state was contemporary with and enemy of the Aztec Empire, with which it fought many wars. The Tarascan empire was an effective hindrance to Aztec expansion to the north west, and the Tarascans fortified and patrolled their frontiers with the aztecs possibly developing the first truly territorial state of Mesoamerica.
The Tarascan empire is particularly noteworthy for being among the few Mesoamerican civilizations to use metal for tools and ornamentation. And due to it's relative isolation within Mesoamerica it had many cultural traits completely distinct from those of the Mesoamerican cultural group.
Geography and Lithic occupation
The territory which would eventually form the setting of the Tarascan state is the high volcanic region constituting the western extension of the Mexican Mesa Central, in between the two large rivers Lerma and Balsas. Including temperate, subtropical and tropical climate zones it is dominated by Cenozoic volcanic mountains and lake basins all above 2000 meters of altitude, but which falls towards the South western coastal regions. Most common soil types in the central plateur are young volcanic Andosols, Luvisols and less fertile Acrisols. The vegetation is mainly Pine, Pine-oak and Fir. Human occupation has focused on the lake basins which are abundant in resources. In the north near the Lerma river there are Obsidian resources and thermal springs. The Tarascan state was centered around the Lake Pátzcuaro basin.
History of the Tarascan state
Early Archeological evidence
The Tarascan area has been inhabited at least since the early preclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology . Early lithic evidence from before 2500 B.C. like fluted points and stone utensils are found at some Megafauna killsites. The earliest radio-carbon dates of archeological sites fall around 1200 B.C. Early Pre-classic cultures of Michoacan include the Chupicuaro culture, the Chumbícuaro culture. Chupícuaro sites are mostly found on lake islands which can be seen as a sign of it having traits relating it to the later Tarascan cultural patterns. In the early classic period Teotihuacan influence is found in the Michoacan region, and ballcourts and other artefacts showing a beginning influence of Mesoamerican cultural traits on Tarascan culture begins to be seen.
Ethnohistorical Sources
The most useful Ethnohistorical source to the History of the Tarascan state is the Relacion de Michoacan composed around 1540 by the Fransiscan priest Fray Jeronimo de Acalá, containing translated and transcribed narratives from Tarascan noblemen. This Relacion contains parts of the official tarascan history as carried down through oral tradition: one part focus on Tarascan state religion, the second on Tarascan society, and the last on Tarascan history and the spanish conquest, unfortunately the first part is only partly preserved. Also a number of small pictorial manuscripts exist the best known being the Lienzo de Jucutacuto.
Foundation and expansion
Vorlage:Tarascan rulers In the late classic at least two non P'urhépecha 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 Relacion de Michoacan a visionary leader of the P'orhépecha named Taríacuri 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 responsabilities of and tributes from the conquered territories to lords and nobles. In the following years first the Tarascan sierra and then the Balsas basin 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 confronted with Aztec expansion. In 1460 the Tarascan state reached the pacific coast at Zacatula and also advanced into the valley of Toluca and on the northern rim reaching into the present day state of Guanajuato. In the 1470's Aztecs under Axayacatl captured a series of Tarascan frontier towns and closed in on the Tarascan heartland, but where eventually defeated. This experience however prompted the Tarascan ruler to further fortify the Aztec frontier with military centers along the border, 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 also supporting attacks on tarascan lands by other ethnic groups allied or subjugated to the Aztecs such a Matlatzincas, Chontales and Cuitlatecs. The Tarascans reppeled the attacks but further Tarascan expansion was halted until the arrival of the Spaniards.
Fall of the Tarascan state
When hearing about the fall of the Aztec Empire the Tarascan Caconzi Tangáxuan II sent emissaries to the spanish victors. A few spaniards went with them to Tzintzuntzan were they were resented to the ruler and gifts were exchanged. They returned with samples of of gold and Cortés interest in the Tarascan state was awakened. In 1522 a spanish force under the leadership of Cristobal de Olid was sent into Tarascan territory arriving at Tzintzuntzan within days. The Tarascan army numbered m any thousands, perhaps as many as 100,000 but at the crucial moment they chose not to fight [1]. Tangáxuan submitted to the Spanish administration but for his cooperation was allowed a large degree of autonomy. This resulted in the strange arrangement that both Cortés and Tangáxuan considered themselves rulers of Michoacan for the next 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 extraxcted from the population they sent the ruthless conquistador Vasco Nuñez de Gúzman who allied himself with a Tarascan noble Don Pedro Panza Cuinierángari and the Caconzi was executed[2]. A period of violence and turbulence began. During the next decades tarascan puppet rulers were installed by the spanish government but eventually after the arrival to the area of the Bishop Vasco de Quiroga who rapidly gained the respect and frienship of the natives they ceased hostilities towards the spanish hegemony.
Notes
References
- Gorenstein, Shirley, 1993, Introduction. In "Taríacuri’s Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State", by Helen Perlstein Pollard. Pp. xiii-xx. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Pollard,Helen Perlstein,1993, "Taríacuris Legacy: the prehispanic Tarascan state". University of Oklahoma Press.
- 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.
- Weaver, Muriel Porter, 1993," The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica", 3rd ed., San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0012639990.