01/12/2012
THE WEST:
THE TARASCAN (1200 to 1530 CE)
by Juan Manuel Galvan, ABD
Fall 2012
Cultural Areas of Mesoamerica
Outline
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Sources
Archeological Phases
Ethnic composition
Language
Legendary History
Cazonci (Kings)
Conclusion
References
1
01/12/2012
Introduction
•
•
•
The Tarascan were the last great Mesoamerican civilization of Western
Mesoamerica. They were the dominant culture of Western Mexico during the
Postclassic. From c. 1,000 to 1530 they dominated most of today’s Michoacan and
parts of Guerrero, Guanajuato, and Jalisco. Truly Mesoamerican, they shared a
culture based on cultivation of maize, squash, and beans, used irrigation, and had
a pantheon of deities similar to those of the Uto-Aztecan and Maya speakers.
There is little knowledge of their origins, but seemingly they were the result of the
mixing of indigenous people of the region and Chichimec migrants who arrived in
the early Postclassic (900-1200 CE).
Approximately 1300 CE the late-arriving Chichimecs uacúsecha founded the
dynasty of Cazonci that ruled the area until the Spanish conquest. There is no
evidence that they had a system of writing, although they might have had one.
They developed advanced brass and copper metallurgy, and they were a
formidable foe to the Mexica of the Valley of Mexico. Both Mexica and Tarascan
nations learned the difficult art of co-existing and maintaining a balance of power.
Sources
-No surviving written records
-Extrapolation from the early Hispanic period
(1520-1550)
-Evidence from archaeology
-Evidence from ethnohistorical records
-Fray Jerónimo de Alcalá, Relación de Michoacán
(1541).
-Relación de Cuitzeo (1579)
Western Mexico:
Archeological Phases
•
•
•
•
•
•
Capacha (2,000 to 1,200 BCE)
Chupícuaro (800 BCE to 200 CE)
Los Morales (400 BCE to 250 CE)
Teotihuacán (200 to 900 CE)
Toltec (900 to 1200 CE)
Tarascan (1200 to 1525 CE)
2
01/12/2012
Tingambato, Michoacán
Toltec Phase (900 to 1200 CE)
Tarascan Phase
Lake Patzcuaro Region
3
01/12/2012
4
01/12/2012
Ethnic composition
-Indigenous Basin people who occupied
the region since c. 2,000 BCE.
Migrations:
- Early 11th Century. Early-arriving Chichimecs and
Nahuatl speakers (naguatatos)
- Late 12th Century. Late-arriving Chichimecs, the
uacúsecha, who founded the dynasty of Cazonci that
the Spanish encountered.
Language
• The uacúsecha spoke Purhepecha.
• Closest cognates are Zuni, in the North American
Southwest, and Quechua, in the Andes.
• Linguistic similarities and commonalities in
metallurgical technology with Andean peoples.
• Notable differences in both from other
Mesoamerican cultures such as the Mexica and the
Maya.
Their name
• Their name is unknown
• Tarascue (“son-in-law”or “father-in-law”)
• Marriages of Spanish with the daughters of
the caciques.
5
01/12/2012
Legendary History
• c. 1200. The uacúsecha begin to dominate the region
after the fall of the Toltec.
• c. 1250. Taríacuri – one of the uacúsecha, unified
eight city-states around Lake Patzcuaro, became Lord
of the region and established the city Patzcuaro as
his capital.
• His nephews became secondary rulers: Hiripan at
Ihuatzio, and Tangáxoan at Tzintzuntzan.
• Late 1300s. The uacúsecha established their capital
city at Tzintzuntzan.
Legendary History (continued)
• c. 1350. Tariacuri, Hiripan, and Tangaxoan led
successful military conquests in and around the
Pátzcuaro Basin, which continued to the area around
Lake Cuitzeo after Tariacuri’s death.
• Over time they came to dominate an extensive
empire.
• Extensive territorial conquests by 1460.
• Resources: honey, cotton, feathers, copal, and
deposits of salt, gold, and copper.
Tariácuri
O´Higgins MNA.
6
01/12/2012
Cazonci (Rulers)
Taríacuri
(~1300–~1350)
Hiquingaje
(~1350–?)
Hiripan
(?–~1430)
Tangáxoan I (1430–1454)
Tzitzipandáquare (1454–1479)
Zuangua
(1479–1520)
Tangáxoan II (1520–1529)
Colonial rulers
Corregidor de Michoacan: Don Pedro de Arellano (1530–1543)
Governors of Michoacán:
Don Francisco Taríacuri (1543–1545)
Don Antonio Huitziméngari (1545)–1562)
Tzintzuntzan
•
•
c. 1000. Founded as a ceremonial center .
Late 1300s. Established as capital of the Tarascan state by the uacúsecha
dynasty.
Tzintzuntzan
7
01/12/2012
Tzintzuntzan
Military Science
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bow and arrow
Lances
The atlatl
Maces and slingshots
Weapon points of metal or obsidian, or a combination of both
Shields and cotton armor
Non-Tarascan auxiliary soldier units were encouraged to use
their traditional weapons.
-
The Chichimecs at Acámbaro were skilled archers
The Otomi were expert with the macana and slings, and in hand-to-hand
combat .
Bronze
• Tarascans used this alloy to manufacture
agricultural implements (spades, hoes) and
tools for work (axes, chisels, punches, fishhooks, needles, etc.)
8
01/12/2012
Brass and Copper P'urhépecha axe and bells excavated from
the city of Tzintzuntzan.
Mexica-Tarascan Wars (1469-1478)
• 1469. The Mexica attack the Tarascan, penetrate into
Taximaroa
• 1469-1478. Bloody stalemate
• 1478. Battle of Taximaroa (today’s city of Hidalgo).
Mexica Tlatoani Axayácatl led the Mexica 32,000
men army against the Tarascan 50,000 men army.
Daylong battle. The Mexica lost 20,000 warriors.
• The Tarascan had one major advantage over the
Mexica, in their use of copper for spear tips and
shields.
Mexica-Tarascan Wars (1517-1518)
• 1517. The Mexica attack the Tarascan, penetrate into
Acambaro. Mexica troops led by Tlahuicale.
• 1518. The Tarascan repell the Mexica attack.
9
01/12/2012
Mural by Juan O’Gorman
Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra, Patzcuaro
Social Classes
Social class was essentially determined at birth.
Little social mobility.
Three social classes:
- the Cazonci,sometimes also called irecha; and the royal lineage
(lords, señores)
- Nobility, also known as principales, caciques, señores naturales;
who were connected with and had responsibility in certain
settlements
- Commoners, also called purépecha, la gente baja, and gente
común
- Slaves
10
01/12/2012
Religion
• Tarascan religion centered on adoration of the god Curicaueri
(Great Bonfire), who was identified with the sun.
- Cuerauáperi (she who causes to be born). The goddess who
produces clouds, and who apparently also controls fertility.
- Xaratanga, an agricultural goddess.
- Innumerable other deities as well, a veritable pantheon of
gods of the heavens, the earth, and the underworld
Cuerauáperi
(she who causes to
be born).
The goddess who
produces clouds, and
who apparently also
controls fertility.
Xaratanga, an agricultural goddess
11
01/12/2012
Pre-Columbian coyote statuette attributed to the Tarascan
culture, likely a representation of the coyote
god Uitzimángari. Height: 43.5 cm (17 in).
A Tarascan incense burner showing a deity with a "Tlaloc
headdress", 1350–1521 CE.
12
01/12/2012
Spanish Conquest
• 1520. A slave infected with smallpox had
come ashore with the army of Pánfilo de
Narvaez triggered an epidemic that was quite
widespread amongst the Tarascan, killing also
the Tarascan cazonci Zuangua (Tzuiangua) .
• February 23, 1521. The first Spanish soldier
appeared on the borders of Michoacán.
• Measles epidemic brought by the Spanish.
Spanish Conquest
•
•
•
•
•
•
1525. The newly-invested cazonci Tangaxoan II submitted to the Spanish
without a fight, accepted baptism taking the Spanish name Francisco, and
brought Franciscan missionaries into the region.
Other Tarascan lords fought, and were defeated, by the Spanish and their
indigenous allies.
1529. Nuño de Guzmán accused Tangaxoan II of apostasy, dragged him
with a horse, and burned him at the stake.
Tarascan rebellion.
According to legend, Erendira, daughter of Tangaxoan, led the Tarascan
against the Spanish.
Tangáxoan’s son, Don Antonio Huitzimengari, succeeded him as cacique of
Pátzcuaro.
Mural by Juan O’Gorman
Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra, Patzcuaro
13
01/12/2012
Mural by Juan O’Gorman
Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra, Patzcuaro
Conclusion
• The Tarascan are one of the least studied
cultures of ancient Mesoamerica. Their
achievements, especially the balance of power
they maintained with the Aztec empire, were
remarkable.
• Like the Mexica, the Tarascan suffered from
disease and exploitation brought by the
Spanish.
14
01/12/2012
References
•
•
•
•
•
•
Julie Adkins, "Mesoamerican Anomaly? The Pre-Conquest Tarascan State",
Robert V. Kemper, Faculty papers, Southern Methodist University. Web.
Malmstrom, Vincent H., “Geographical Origins of the
Tarascans”, Geographical Review, January 1995. Web.
Helen Perlstein Pollard, “El imperio tarasco en el mundo mesoamericano.”
Relaciones v. XXV, numero 099. 2004.
Helen Peristein Pollard, Tariacuri’s Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1993.
Susan Toby Evans, Ancient Mexico and Central America. Thames and
Hudson, 2004.
Michael Coe and Rex Koontz, Mexico: From the Olmec to the Aztec.
Thames and Hudson, 2006.
15