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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — ^PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



composed of the aboriginal common people or 

 fishermen and farmers (originally known as 

 yslenos or islanders) who became known as 

 Purepecha or plebians. In time the terms 

 "Tarascan" (derived from a Spanish mistake) and 

 "Purepecha" became synonymous and were ap- 

 pHed to all individuals of the speech which is now 

 termed "Tarasca" or "Purepecha." After the 

 lake area was fuUy conquered and pacified, 

 Hiripan and Tangaxoan placed caciques (an 

 aUen term used by the Spaniards) or lords (senores) 

 in all of the pueblos and barrios to supervise the 

 collection of wood for the temple fires, to lead the 

 people in time of war, to gather people for the 

 public works, and to take the census and collect 

 tribute. The kings and the caciques or lords 

 were also the sacrificial priests. This would 

 indicate that there was an integrated upper class, 

 comprising the royal and noble families of Chichi- 

 mec ancestry, who also constituted the priesthood, 

 the government, and the leading warriors. Just 

 how the land was divided is uncertain. There is 

 mentioned an official who knew aU the land titles 

 and who attended to disputes over lands. Proba- 

 bly the peoples of the pueblos owned and worked 

 certain specific lands, which lands also belonged 

 to the lords through allotment of usufruct. Also, 

 probably there was a feudal hierarchy of lords. 



ENCOMIENDAS 



When Crist6bal de Ohd conquered Michoacan 

 for Herndn Cortez in 1522, a census was made of 

 the pueblos, and one or more pueblos were 

 assigned (repartimiento) and the people were 

 entrusted (encomienda) to each of a number of the 

 conquerors. Apparently Cortez had assigned to 

 himself all of the pueblos or barrios immediately de- 

 pendent on or belonging to the lord of Michoacan- 

 Tzintzuntzan, which included all of the settlements 

 in the lake region. Cortez, during his period of 

 control from 1522 to about 1528-29, was repre- 

 sented by a Spanish mayordomo in Tzintzuntzan 

 who collected the tribute. When Cortez was dis- 

 possessed by the first audience, a representative of 

 the audience collected the tribute until about 

 1531-34 when a corregidor was established in 

 Tzintzuntzan to supervise and protect the Indians 

 and collect the tribute. The fimctions of the 

 corregidor were merged with those of the alcalde 

 mayor in Pdtzcuaro some time between 1542 and 



1554. It must be assumed that during all of this 

 time Cocupao paid its tribute to the representative 

 (of Cortez, of the audience, and then of the king) 

 in Tzintzuntzan. However, it is apparent that 

 the royal and noble Tarascan lords continued in 

 possession of their villages, and merely shared the 

 usufruct with the Spaniards. This is indicated 

 in various land titles, from 1522 into the seven- 

 teenth centiu-y, which show the Puruata, Guanga 

 or Cuinierangari, Paranguarende, and Huitzimen- 

 gari families (all descended fi'om kings of Micho- 

 acdn) selling or maldng grants of lands which 

 comprised most of the territory from the Hacienda 

 of Chapultepec northwestward to San Jerdnimo 

 Purenchecuaro. In this coimection there is an 

 interesting sequence of probably related facts. In 

 the legendary period a Zinzuni was lord of Itzi- 

 paramuco, and another Zinzuni was lord of 

 Tariaran (Tzintzuntzan) ; and these lords were 

 related to the lords of Curinguaro and to the 

 Chichimec lords who finally established their 

 capital in Tzintzuntzan. The descendants of the 

 Tarascan kings, of the above-mentioned family 

 names, were Indian governors of Tzintzuntzan 

 and Pdtzcuaro under the Spaniards. Much or all 

 of the lands which became the Hacienda of Itzi- 

 paramuco in the seventeenth century, and out of 

 which was derived the Hacienda of Atzimbo of the 

 eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, belonged to 

 Don Luis de CastUleja y Paruata and his sisters 

 Mariana and Beatriz in the early part of the 

 seventeenth century. Therefore, it seems possible 

 that the lands that now constitute the eastern 

 parts of the municipalities of Quiroga and Tzin- 

 tzuntzan were held by the same Indian (and later, 

 mestizo) family from the fifteenth into the 

 seventeenth century. 



The encomienda system was never very weU 

 established in the Patzcuaro region. After the 

 Cortez period (1522-29), all of the Indians in the 

 basia were tributary directly to representatives of 

 the crown excepting for the Juan Infante period 

 (1539-54). Under some pretext Infante in 1539 

 obtained a number of the western and northern 

 pueblos of the lake basin, and he continued to hold 

 these pueblos in encomievda until Bishop Quiroga 

 in 1554 won a suit which held that all of the villages 

 in the basin were barrios or suburbs of the City of 

 Michoacan (Tzintzuntzan, and later Patzcuaro) 

 and were not subject to separation from the 

 jurisdiction of that city. From the Suma de 



