Definition of the Purepecha Empire

In the city of Tzintzuntzan in the Mexican state of Michoacán was the capital of the Purépecha Empire, founded in the early 14th century. The information that is preserved about this empire and this indigenous culture comes from a work of investigation of the XVl century realized by the Spanish friar of the Franciscans Jerónimo de Alcalá.

It is estimated that the origin of the Purépecha people comes from a migratory wave caused by a period of drought in the legendary territory of Aztlán.

The first settlers of this ethnic group founded an empire in present-day northwestern Mexico and their territories extended to the area of ​​present-day New Mexico in the United States. The Purépechas, also known as Tarascos, clashed with the dominant people in the region, the Aztecs.

It maintained its hegemony until the arrival of the Spanish conquerors at the beginning of the XVl century. (Zinzicha Tangáxoan was the last leader of the empire and the execution of him was ordered by the Spanish Nuño Beltrán de Guzman). From this moment on, its culture remained alive because it enjoyed a certain autonomy, but it gradually lost the signs of

identity original.

From an economic point of view, the Purépecha were dedicated to the cultivation of corn and, in parallel, they imposed their power with high taxes that the subject peoples paid in kind.

Like other indigenous peoples, they had extensive knowledge of the natural environment and believed in various gods linked to the forces of nature (his worldview was divided into the world of the dead, the world of the living and the world of the gods).

Their social model was based on a clan structure in which the different members lived together in a hamlet under the power tax by a warrior chief. In this sense, they had a strong group spirit, but their family model was adapted over time to the Christian vision of the Spanish.

Currently

According to official data the population of this indigenous people exceeds 200,000 inhabitants, of which approximately half use the language P'urhé.

Nowadays, they mostly dedicate themselves to handicrafts and in popular festivals they dress in their traditional clothing (women wear skirts called sabanillas and embroidered shirts known as huananjeres).

His favorite dish is churipo, a broth with vegetables and meat. His music and their dances are inspired by religious rituals from pre-Columbian times.

In short, the Purépecha people try to maintain their collective identity and for this reason they use a flag like symbolcultural (The flag is made up of purple, yellow, green and white rectangles and in the middle of the flag appears a shield and underneath the words Juchari Uinapekua, which mean precisely Our Force).

Themes in Purepecha Empire