QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MUNICIPIO^ — BRAND 



11 



Visitas (Paso y Troncoso, 1905) and from Quiroga's 

 lawsuit against Infante we know that among the 

 villages held by Infante were Xaracuaro, Eronga- 

 ricuaro, and Purenchecuaro, and that attached to 

 Purenchecuaro were Hazcuaro (not identified but 

 probably San Andres Zirdndaro since it was stated 

 to be on a promontory extending into the lake), 

 Guanimao or Guarameo (probably Santiago 

 Ai'ameo east of present Cuenembo since it was 

 stated to be between Tzintzuntzan and Tiripitio), 

 Chupicuaro, Cutzaro, and Zirandangacho. This 

 would mdicate that Infante held all of the lands 

 along the northern shores of Lake Patzcuaro, 

 excepting those obtained for Santa Fe in 1534 and 

 1538 by Quiroga. Since the Suma de Visitas lists 

 Capula, Jasso, and Tiripitio as bordering Ziran- 

 dangacho and the lake pueblos of Juan Infante 

 administered from Xaracuaro, it appears that 

 Cocupao must have been Lncluded within the 

 encomienda of Infante. We have no records from 

 this period, but probably it made little difference 

 to the inhabitants of Cocupao whether they paid 

 their tribute to the crown or to an individual 

 Spaniard. After 1554 there were no pueblos held 

 in encomienda in the P§,tzcuaro Basin or in the 

 adjoining areas to the north and east, such as 

 Teremendo, Jasso, Capula, and Tiripitio. Since 

 there were no mines of precious metals in the area, 

 and no encomiendas after 1554, it is evident that 

 the colonial history of land settlements and land 

 holdings in the area consists principally of the 

 parts played by the Indian villages, the missionary 

 orders, the Indian nobOity, and the Spanish (and 

 later, mestizo) vecinos or citizens of Tzintzuntzan, 

 Patzcuaro, and ValladoUd-Morelia. 



THE INDIAN VILLAGE OR PUEBLO 



At the time of the Conquest the Tarascan Indians 

 were a basically agricultural people distributed in 

 many settlements of various sizes, the smaller of 

 which were attached as barrios (uapatzequa in 

 Tarascan) to more important places. Location of 

 these settlements was determined by the occur- 

 rence of water, wood, and arable land. The 

 remains of two prehistoric "temples" or ydcatas 

 (literally, mounds or heaps of stones) in the town 

 of Quiroga, various areas of concentrations of 

 potsherds and obsidian knives, and the occasional 

 find of vessels, figurines, grinding stones, muTors, 

 stamps, beads, and other artifacts thi-oughout the 

 terrain testify to the ancient presence of a number 



of settlements within the area subject to the 

 modern town of Quiroga. Similar structures and 

 artifacts are to be found throughout the munici- 

 pality and the entire region. The number, size, 

 and pattern of these prehistoric settlements are 

 uncertain because we made only a limited arche- 

 ologic survey, and we had the time to excavate 

 only a small area near the Yacata del Calvario 

 in the upper part of Quiroga. From the arche- 

 ologic evidence, the unpubhshed and published 

 Illustrations to the Kelaci6n de Michoacan, and 

 various accounts of the middle sixteenth century, 

 it would appear that the typical settlement con- 

 sisted of about 38 houses and 190 inhabitants 

 (ranging from 4 houses up to more than 200, and 

 averaging about 5 persons to the house). The 

 isolated homstead did not exist, but the pattern 

 of settlement was open and without evident plan 

 excepting that there was a tendency to cluster 

 around the temple moimd or the source of potable 

 water. All settlements had a permanent or nearly 

 permanent source of water near at hand, but only 

 the larger places possessed temples — as indicated 

 by the presence of yacata ruins. From the arche- 

 ologic evidence, and from the maps and records 

 of the sixteenth century, it would appear that there 

 were important settlements, within the Quiroga 

 region, at San Andres Zir6ndaro, San Jer6nimo 

 Purenchecuaro, Chupicuaro, Guayameo-Santa Fe, 

 Cutzaro, Huarapo, Cuinario-Quiroga, Calvario- 

 Quiroga, La Tu-imicua, Icuacato, Sajo, Arameo- 

 Itziparamuco-Cuenembo, and the original loca- 

 tions of Sanambo and Zu-andangacho. All of these 

 settlements were considered to be parts or barrios 

 of Tzintzuntzan, and each settlement possessed a 

 number of small dependencies which perhaps were 

 established for the more efficient exploitation of 

 soU, water, woods, and minerals. 



After the Spanish Conquest the larger settle- 

 ments became known as pueblos de Indios, and the 

 smaller places were either lumped in with the 

 larger or were called pueblecitos. The larger 

 pueblos de Indios became the basic governmental 

 and tributary units under the term republica de 

 Indios, and in these communities the missionary 

 orders established their convents, or if there were 

 no resident friars there would be at least a chapel 

 or small church erected which would be visited 

 periodically. Dm-ing the sixteenth century the 

 settlement pattern became less open and disperse. 

 This was due primarily to the great reduction in 



