The Political Rivalry of Patzcuaro and Morelia, an Item in the Sixteenth Century Geography of Mexico

Abstract

HE promise of quick wealth lured the Spaniards into the News World. As it was fulfilled generously for a few, it encouraged great numbers of others to explore remote, sometimes unknown, often dangerous regions. The imllpact upon such regions was twofold. In some places native societies were obliterated or drastically altered; in others a new society was established where there had been either little or no permanent settlement previously. Thus the settlement pattern of the New World was radically changed during the sixteenth century, the period of time in which the theme of precious metals was the most notable. It should be observed at the outset that the effects of newly gained mineral wealth extended far beyond the regions of mining. It is with such a region that this paper is concerned, a part of the present state of Michoacaitn. (Fig. 1.) Michoacan, located due west of Mexico City, was a political unit of importance before the Spaniards knew of the Americas.' It submitted to Spanish authority without a struggle and became, with somne additions of territory, under Spanish civil and ecclesiastical administration, the province of Michoaca'i. At the end of the period of Spaniish control it emerged, with reduction to approximately its preColumbian size, as the present state of Michoaca'n. It is obvious that the choice of a capital city for such an important area would be a matter of serious decision, especially as the native capital, the Indian city of Tzintzuntzaiiwas considered unfit by the Spaniards. If the Spaniards could have agreed upon a site for the new capital as readily as they agreed upon the insufficiency of the old, a half-century of local turmoil might have been avoided. The struggle centered itself in the northern part of the state, in and around the area settled by Tarascan Indians. (Fig. 2.)