P'urhépecha - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The P'urhépecha, normally spelled Purépecha in Spanish and in English and traditionally referred to as Tarascans, are an indigenous

Indigenous peoples of Mexico

Mexico, in the second article of its Constitution, is defined as a "pluricultural" nation in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it, and in which the indigenous peoples are the original foundation...

people centered in the northwestern region of the Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

state

States of Mexico

The United Mexican States is a federal republic formed by 32 federal entities .According to the Constitution of 1917, the states of the federation are free and sovereign. Each state has their own congress and constitution, while the Federal District has only limited autonomy with a local Congress...

of Michoacán

Michoacán

Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...

, principally in the area of the cities of Uruapan

Uruapan

Uruapan is a city and municipality in the west-central part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the municipal seat of the municipality...

and Pátzcuaro

Pátzcuaro

Pátzcuaro is a large town and municipality located in the state of Michoacán. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Tarascan state and later its ceremonial center...

. There is an ongoing discussion about which term should be considered as the correct one.

Territory

In pre-Hispanic times, the Purépecha Indians – also referred to as the Tarascan Indians – occupied most of the state of Michoacán

Michoacán

, but they also occupied some of the lower valleys of both Guanajuato

Guanajuato

Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....

and Jalisco

Jalisco

Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...

. Celaya

Celaya

Celaya is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The municipality for which the city serves as municipal seat, had a...

, Acámbaro

Acámbaro

Acámbaro is a city and municipality in the southeastern corner of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, on the banks of the Lerma River, and the oldest of the 46 municipalities of Guanajuato. Acámbaro is noted as a major railway junction, a local transport hub, and the origin of the nationally famous...

, and Yurirapúndaro were all in Purépecha territory.

History

The Tarascan state

Tarascan state

The Tarascan state was a state in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, roughly covering the geographic area of the present-day Mexican state of Michoacán. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico it was the second-largest state in Mexico. The state was founded in the early 14th century and lost its...

was one of the pre-Columbian

Pre-Columbian

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...

civilizations of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...

. Their capital city was Tzintzuntzan

Tzintzuntzan

Tzintzuntzan was the ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Tarascan state capital of the same name. The name comes from the P'urhépecha word Ts’intsuntsani, which means "place of hummingbirds". After being in Pátzcuaro for the first years of the Tarascan empire, power was consolidated in...

. Tarascan architecture is noted for step pyramid

Step pyramid

Step pyramids are structures which characterized several cultures throughout history, in several locations throughout the world. These pyramids typically are large and made of several layers of stone...

s in the shape of the letter "T". Pre-Columbian P'urhépecha artisans made feather mosaics making extensive use of hummingbird

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds that comprise the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring in the 7.5–13 cm range. Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings...

feathers which were a highly regarded luxury good throughout the region. The P'urhépecha were never conquered by the Aztec

Aztec

The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

Empire, despite several attempts by the Mexica to do so, including a fierce war in 1479. This was probably due to the fact of P'urhépecha's knowledge of metal working, an advantage over the Mexica, and still widely regarded today, in particular their coppersmith

Coppersmith

A coppersmith, also known as a redsmith, is a person who makes artifacts from copper. The term redsmith comes from the colour of copper....

s. Even though they were enemies, the Mexica still traded with them, mainly for copper axes. After hearing of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and having the native population much diminished by an epidemic of smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

, Tangaxuan II

Tangaxuan II

Tzimtzincha-Tangaxuan II was the last monarch of the Tarascan state, the kingdom of the P'urhépecha from 1520–1530. He was baptized Francisco when his realm made a peace treaty with Hernán Cortés. He was executed by burning by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán....

, pledged his allegiance as a vassal

Vassal

A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...

of the King of Spain

Spanish monarchy

The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as The Crown and commonly referred to as the Spanish monarchy or Hispanic Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and an historic office of Spain...

without a fight in 1525. It is believed that the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

explorer Cristóbal de Olid

Cristóbal de Olid

Cristóbal de Olid was a Spanish adventurer, conquistador and rebel who played a part in the conquest of Mexico and Honduras.Born in Zaragoza, Olid grew up in the household of the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. In 1518 Velázquez sent Olid to relieve Juan de Grijalva, but en route a...

, upon arriving in the Kingdom of the Purépecha in present-day Michoacán

Michoacán

, probably explored some parts of Guanajuato

Guanajuato

in the early 1520s. A legend relates of a 16–17 year old Princess Erendira

Princess Erendira

Princess Eréndira of the P'urhépecha was the princess of the P'urhépecha or Tarascan people from about 1503-1519. She was 16-17 when the Spanish came to Mexico...

of the P'urhépecha led her people into a fierce war against the Spanish. Using the stolen Spanish horses her people learned to ride into battle. Then in 1529–1530, the forces of Nuño de Guzmán entered Michoacán

Michoacán

and some parts of Guanajuato

Guanajuato

with an army of 500 Spanish soldiers and more than 10,000 Indian warriors. In 1530 the Governor and President of the Primera Audiencia

Real Audiencia of Mexico

The Royal Audience of Mexico was the highest tribunal of the Spanish crown in the Kingdom of New Spain or the Kingdom of Mexico...

, Nuño de Guzmán, plundered the region and ordered the execution of Tangaxuan II, provoking a chaotic situation and widespread violence. In 1533 the Crown sent to Michoacan the experienced oidor (audiencia judge) and later bishop, Don Vasco de Quiroga

Vasco de Quiroga

Vasco de Quiroga was the first bishop of Michoacán, Mexico and one of the judges in the second Audiencia that governed New Spain from January 10, 1531 to April 16, 1535....

, who managed to establish a lasting colonial order. The Spanish took it as their name, for reasons that have been attributed to different, mostly legendary, stories.

Religion

Many traditions live on, including the "Jimbani Uexurhina" or new year that is celebrated on February 1. The celebration has traditional indigenous and Catholic elements. The community lights a fire called the chijpiri jimbani or "new fire" as part of a ceremony that honors the four elements. Mass is also celebrated in the P'urhépecha language, and this is the feast day of "San Jerónimo Purechécuaro." The P'urhépecha calendar, like that of the Aztecs for the counting of days called "Xiuhpohualli," had 18 months of 20 days (veintenas) a year with 5 additional feast days. The new year used to be celebrated on the day that the constellation Orion

Orion (constellation)

Orion, often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellations in the night sky...

appeared.

Language

P'urhépecha, previously referred to as "Tarascan", is also often used as a name for the P'urhépecha language

P'urhépecha language

P'urhépecha is a language isolate or small language family spoken by more than 100,000 P'urhépecha people in the highlands of the Mexican state of Michoacán...

which is still spoken by more than 100,000 people in Michoacán

Michoacán

. Recent attempts have been made to introduce the instruction of the language in the local school systems. The P'urhépecha (and more recently some Spanish-speaking Mexicans) refer to themselves as "P'urhépecha". The name "Tarascan" (and its Spanish-language equivalent, "tarasco") comes from the word "tarascue" in their own language, which means indistinctly "father-in-law" or "brother-in-law". The Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

name for the Tarascans was "Michihuàquê" ("those who have fish"), hence the name of the state of Michoacán (Michihuacán).

External links

P'urhépecha WEB Page and Community
P'urhépecha Literature
Beautiful P'urhépecha women
P'urhépecha mother with her son
Learn about archaeological research with a P'urhépecha Community
Chap. 9: The Twilight of the Gods: The Arrival of the Purépecha (Cycles of the Sun, Mysteries of the Moon; includes area map)

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Territory

History

Religion

Language

See also

External links