Tancítaro

Tancítaro sits at 2,080 metres at the foot of the volcano that shares its name, the highest summit in Michoacán. The name is usually read as "place of tribute": wedged between the highlands and the hot lowlands, it was where coastal and valley towns under Purépecha rule delivered their goods. After the conquest Domingo de Medina held half of it in encomienda; it counted 990 tribute payers in 1546 and only 714 by the end of the 16th century. Franciscan friars built a monastery here as their base for moving down into the Tierra Caliente.

Tancítaro became a municipality in 1831 and was made a villa on June 28, 1860, as Tancítaro de Medellín, and the area saw fighting during the French Intervention. The town had 8,133 people in 2020, and the municipality runs on avocados: in 2024 it was Mexico's top producer, with 254,776 tonnes.

The Avocado Fair is held every April. On April 10, 2026, at its 13th edition, hundreds of cooks made a 6,800 kg guacamole, winning back the Guinness record the town first set in 2018 and lost to neighbouring Peribán in 2022. The patron-saint fiesta runs September 16 to 21. Carnitas are the local dish, and craftsmen make wrought ironwork and saddles.

Recent history is part of the story too: in 2009 the municipal police was disbanded in the face of organised crime, and avocado growers funded their own security force, known as CUSEPT.