CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA—WEST 17 
Tarascan to Spanish was also low. Only one 
isolated area of solid native speech existed north- 
east of Apatzingdn (the fruit-growing villages of 
Acahuato and Pardcuaro). The 18th-century pop- 
ulation figures for the sparsely inhabited, highly 
dissected hot country south of Morelia are not 
extant, but it was probably entirely Tarascan in 
language. In 50 years percentages of native 
speech had decreased, but the outer limits of the 
language remained practically unchanged. In 
1850, however, only scattered islands of indig- 
enous speech remained: along the Balsas at the 
southeastern extremity of the old Tarascan are: 
(Tanganhuato, Pungarabato); a disjunct are 
extending from the Balsas northeast to near 
Zitacuaro (San Nicolds, Purechucho, Cutzeo, 
Pungeo, Tiquicheo, Tuzantla, and Susupuate); the 
Acahuato-Pardcuaro district; and the pueblo of 
San Juan de los Plitanos, west of Apatzingdn 
(map 10). By 1940 Tarascan speech in the 
tierra caliente had entirely disappeared; only the 
small fruit town, San Angel Zurumucapio, repre- 
sented the last remnant of Tarascan speech in the 
tierra templada. Again, as in the northern 
plateau, the sudden collapse of native speech in 
the south came in the first half of the 19th century. 
There, the Tarascans have lost most heavily 
territorially, for the hot country, although a 
colonial area and probably lightly held in terms of 
population, comprised more than half of the old 
empire. 
The present distribution of Tarascan speech is 
confined mainly to the tierra fria—Lake Patzcuaro 
and the Sierra. These regions, together with La 
Canada, appear to be a resistant core in which the 
Tarascans are making a last stand against com- 
plete loss of their native tongue. In the maps of 
1750, 1800, and 1850 these regions stand out as 
the only large purely indigenous part of Tarasca. 
The failure of Spaniards and their mulatto 
laborers to settle in the Sierra and in some sections 
of the Lake district cannot be attributed to in- 
accessibility, for those areas are open country 
with few impediments to horse travel.2* The 
Sierra was simply unattractive to Spanish ex- 
ploitation. Neither it nor the Lake area con- 
tained mineral wealth. The pine-oak forests, 
with little palatable grass and numerous predatory 
animals, offered few attractions for the stockman. 
2% Vhe camino real from México to Nueva Galicia, via Patzeuaro, traversed 
the center of the Sierra, passing through Pichdétaro, Sevina, Nahuatzen, 
Cheran, and Chilchota. 
Nor was the region’s winter climate an induce- 
ment.” The religious had penetrated all Indian 
settlements in the Sierra and Lake areas; every 
pueblo was under an absentee encomendero to 
whom tributes in money, grain, or handicrafts 
were paid periodically. But the Indians had 
little contact with the Spanish tongue. By 1750, 
however, some Spanish families, probably traders, 
had settled in a few Sierra market towns (Pat- 
amban, Paracho, Nahuatzen, Corupo), and in 
1800 the towns of Charapan and Parangaricutiro 
also contained one or two Spanish families... A 
large part of the inhabitants of those pueblos today 
speak only Castilian (map 12). After independ- 
ence in 1822, a few Spaniards or mestizos estab- 
hshed agricultural settlements on the Sierra, e. 2. 
the rancho of Arato, now a pueblo 10 km. west 
of Paracho. 
Although the Tarascan area first to harbor 
Spaniards was the Lake region (P&tzcuaro, Tzint- 
zuntzan), some of its pueblos have succeeded in 
preserving the native tongue. Such towns are 
located on the islands and in isolated positions on 
the shore (northwestern edge of the lake, and the 
Taaiu-k‘éri Peninsula). By 1750 numerous Span- 
ish haciendas and mestizo ranchos existed along 
the southern, southwestern, and northeastern 
borders of the lake. Cocupao (modern Quiroga), 
Tzintzuntzan, and Erongaricuaro at that time 
were approximately 50 percent Spanish-speaking, 
and the city of PAtzcuaro, the colonial adminis- 
trative and economic center of the Lake area, was 
less than 25 percent Tarascan in speech. Today 
the language of the former colonial hacienda dis- 
tricts around the lake is completely nonindigenous. 
These include the entire southern shore, the north- 
eastern section, and many points along the western 
border. 
The history of the southern shore represents a 
typical example of the influence of haciendas on 
the hispanicization of native populations. By the 
mid-18th century large Spanish holdings had 
enveloped most of the native pueblos, contrary to 
laws which insured Indians a block of land (for 
27 The Sierra’s unattractiveness to Spanish settlement is aptly described 
by the Franciscan friar, Diego Munoz, writing in 1603 on the cultivated land 
near Capacuaro: ‘. . . y no son tierras para mas que yndios criados alli que las 
tienen cursados y experimentados; que espanoles las apeticen poco por ser tenple 
rriguroso el mas frio de mechoacan acresentandolo el ayre caso ordinario desabrido 
rrecio y delgado y la yerua es aspera, ynutil para ganado.”’ (AGN Congregac- 
iones, f. 14). 
2 AAM, siglo XVIII, leg. 235 (1746); leg. 277 (1759). In 1798, 19 gente de 
razon lived in Charapan, 6 in Parangaricutiro, 40 in Corupo (AAM siglo 
XIX, leg. 175). 
