Geographical Origins of the Tarascans

Abstract

After the destruction of the Aztec empire, the Spanish learned that the Tarascans, or Purepecha, of Michoacan were culturally different from their neighbors. The origin of the Purepecha continues to intrigue. Clues include linguistic affinity and long-established trade links with the Andean region and overseas contact to the south. The evidence indicates a South American back- Shortly after Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, fell to the Spanish in 1521 the conquistadores turned their attention westward to Michoacan, which was reputed to be rich in gold and silver. At that time the inhabi- tants of the region received the name by which they are generally known today, Tarascan, although this misnomer perpetuates a misuse by the Spanish. On the demand of their conquerors, the hapless natives prof- fered their daughters to the Spanish with the word tarhdskua (father-in- law) to legitimize the relationship. However, when the Spanish at best insensitively and at worst derisively used the word to identify the natives, they quickly came to regard it as a term of derogation and a cause of embarrassment. Perhaps only after the conquest of Michoacan was completed did the Spanish begin to perceive how different the people were from their neighbors to the east. In some ways the former were far more primitive than the Aztecs. They depended on hunting and fishing to the degree that the Aztec term for the region, Michoacan, meant place of the fishermen. Their religion centered on the worship of fire and of the moon, and they had a rudimentary counting system based on five. Their calendar was a simplistic copy of that used by their neighbors. The temples they con- structed looked like nothing else in Mesoamerica; their language was unrelated to that of any people in the region; and their manner of dress differed markedly from all other indigenous peoples in Mexico. Yet in one impressive way they were more advanced than any of their neighbors. They were skilled workers of gold, silver, and copper who possessed weapons and tools of metal, in contrast with all other Mesoamerican peoples who employed obsidian and flint for those purposes. Already perplexed by attempts to reconcile the presence of people in the New World with Biblical accounts of the lost tribes of Israel, the Spanish realized that the Tarascan question added an entirely new dimension to the debate about human origins in the western hemisphere.

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