Tacámbaro

History

Tacámbaro is a pre-Hispanic settlement that the Purépecha conquered sometime between 1401 and 1450. In 1528 it was granted in encomienda to Cristóbal de Oñate. The Augustinian friars Juan de San Román and Diego de Chávez began evangelizing here, the town was founded around 1535, and the chapel and its convent were established in 1540. Epidemics, above all the one of 1575, nearly wiped out the native population, and when Tacámbaro became the head of an Indian district in 1631 it had eight neighborhoods but very few people.

In 1706 the prior Francisco de Fonseca rebuilt the convent and improved the town, laying out streets, bringing in water and encouraging trade. By the end of the War of Independence Tacámbaro was in ruins, with its nearby haciendas and ranches burned, and residents had to rebuild. It was made a villa in 1828, a municipality in 1831 and a city in 1859, first as Ciudad de Codallos in honor of the federalist general Juan José Codallos. Residents asked to keep the old name, and it became Tacámbaro de Codallos.

During the Mexican Revolution the town briefly served as capital of Michoacán. It was declared a Heroic city in 2011 and a Pueblo Mágico in 2012.