Arteaga

Arteaga is the seat of the municipality of the same name, the largest in Michoacán at 3,454 km², almost 6% of the state. The town sits at 864 metres in the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur, about 189 km from Morelia, and had 11,046 people in 2020.

It began as a hamlet called El Carrizal. Around 1887 it was recognised as a pueblo under the name El Carrizal de Arteaga, and in 1894 it became the municipal seat, simply as Arteaga. The name honours General José María Arteaga, governor of Querétaro and Jalisco, who was shot by firing squad in Uruapan on 21 October 1865 under a decree of Maximilian's empire and is remembered as one of the Martyrs of Uruapan.

The climate is tropical, averaging 26 °C, with rain from June to August and a dry winter. Tropical forest covers more than 60% of the municipality and woodland nearly another 30%; almost none of the land is fit for crops, so life here turns on cattle, the forest and trade. The surrounding hills include Cerro del Agua, La India, La Batea, El Fraile and El Chicote, and the Balsas, Nexpa and Tepalcatepec rivers and the Infiernillo reservoir all lie within the municipality.

The church of La Candelaria stands in the centre, and its feast falls on 2 February; the Holy Cross is celebrated on 3 May. During Holy Week the town brings out its Judas figures and burns the Iscariot, and it keeps the tradition of the maringuías. Local craftsmen work leather and make huaraches, and the dish to look for is aporreadillo, made with beef or venison. The village of Toscano, elsewhere in the municipality, has an archaeological site.