100 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



century) Juan Infante held in encomienda, all of 

 the island pueblos and those of the west shore of 

 Lake P^tzcuaro, and also Purengecuaro (to be 

 identified with modern San Jer6nimo Purenche- 

 cuaro) and its dependencies Hazcuaro on a 

 peninsula (San Andres Zirdndaro), Serandanguacho 

 (Zirandangacho) near the lake, Guanimao (?) 

 between Tzintzuntzan and Tiripitio, and Cuzaro 

 (Cutzaro) near Sante Fe and in view of the lake. 

 Sante Fe is not listed because that was a pueblo 

 and hospital of Indians founded by the oidor 

 Quiroga about 1534. Cocupao may possibly have 

 been included in the above encomienda. Through 

 court action Quiroga, after he had become bishop 

 of Michoacdn, proved that these and other com- 

 munities were barrios of the City of Michoaciin 

 and Infante was forced to give them up in 1554. 

 As mentioned previously, in 1603 three villages 

 were congregated with Cocupao. After that date 

 they no longer appear as villages or pueblos, and 

 at a much later date Zirandangacho and Sanambo 

 reappear as ranches of Tzintzuntzan and of Quiroga 

 respectively. In the meantime the Pueblo de 

 San Diego de Cocupao continued as a pueblo and 

 republica de Indios until the Mexican Republic was 

 formed, when the Indian element of Cocupao was 

 reconstituted as a comunidad de indigenas holding 

 its lands in common. By 1S52 Cocupao was 

 easUy the largest and most important community 

 in the northern portion of the lake basin, and con- 

 sequently it was elevated to the rank of villa, with 

 the surname of Quiroga, which rank it stUl 

 possesses. 



Here it should be mentioned that only the State 

 congress has the power to decide the official name 

 and rank of a community in Michoacan. In 

 general, size and wealth of the population deter- 

 mine the position of a community {poblacion, 

 lugar, or pueblo in the broad sense) within the 

 hierarchy of pueblo, villa, and ciudad. Surnames 

 are derived commonly from historical events and 

 notable persons. When Michoacan became a 

 state there were the cities of Tzintzuntzan (a city 

 only in name), P^tzcuaro, and Valladolid-Morelia, 

 and the town of Zamora and possibly Charo. All 

 other settlements were pueblos, haciendas, miner- 

 ales, and other lower and functional classifications. 

 By 1837 Zamora had become a city, and Purusin- 

 diro, Tacambaro, Uruapan, and Zitacuai-o were 

 villas. The next advancement to town class 

 within tlie State was that in 1852 of San Diego 



de Cocupao, Villa de Quiroga. After that, espe- 

 cially 1858 to 1862, there were many promotions. 

 We may logically assume from the above evidence 

 that about a century ago Quiroga was the eighth 

 or ninth most important place in Michoacan. It 

 is claimed locally that the great liberal and martyr 

 governor of MichoacAn (Melchor Ocampo, who 

 provided the state its surname in 1861) often met 

 with his liberal associates in pleasant Cocupao to 

 plan political and sociological reforms, and partly 

 because of pleasant memories of "liberar' Cocupao 

 he threw the weight of his governorship to support 

 the advance in rank. Cocupao derived its sur- 

 name from the great oidor and bishop Don Vasco 

 de Quiroga. Although Quiroga may have made 

 the first congregation of Cocupao, he is better 

 known as the founder and defender of neighboring 

 Santa Fe de la Laguna, which village was Cocupao's 

 bitterest enemy throughout the colonial period. 

 Ironically enough, in the title of 1534 Quii-oga was 

 enjoined from disturbing or taking lands away 

 from Cocupao (" . . . y que no venga Senor Don 

 Vasco de Quiroga a quitar las tierras a estos 

 naturales de San Diego Cocupa"). Examples of 

 other surnames in the region are: Pueblo de 

 Coeneo to Villa de la Libertad in 1858, Villa de 

 Uruapan to Ciudad del Progreso in 1858, Pueblo 

 de Zacapu to Villa de Mier in 1859, Poblaci6n de 

 Tzintzuntzan to Ciudad Primitiva de Tzintzuntzan 

 in 1861, Pueblo de Huaniqueo to Villa de 

 Morelos in 1861, and Pueblo de Cuitzeo to Villa 

 del Porvcnir in 1861. Sometimes the entire earlier 

 portions of the name became lost, as in the case of 

 (San Diego Cocupao de) Quiroga, and Santa Clara 

 de los Cobres (later Santa Clara de Portugal) 

 which is now ViUa Escalante. More often, the 

 surname is used only officially, as in Zacapu de 

 Mier and Coeneo de la Libertad. 



The Municipio de Cocupao, according to the 

 Martinez de Lejarza report (1824), originally con- 

 tained the Pueblo de San Diego de Cocupao, the 

 two dependent pueblos of San Jeroninio Puren- 

 checuaro and San Andres ZLr6ndaro, and four 

 dependent haciendas and five dependent ranchos 

 (not named). By 1831 (by legal record), and as 

 early as the 1820's (from various implications), 

 the Pueblo of Santa Fe de la Laguna was added 

 to the group. This comprehension, which is 

 essentially that of today, continued without 

 change until May 7, 1874, when Tzintzuntzan 

 and its dependencies were added to the municipio. 



