Tzintzuntzan

History

The name comes from Purépecha and is usually translated as place of the hummingbirds. The Purépecha came to dominate the Lake Pátzcuaro region, and Tzintzuntzan became the seat of their state from the middle of the 15th century. From here they turned back repeated Aztec invasions and held a defended frontier against them. On a great platform cut into the hillside they built the five yácatas, bases for temples to their main gods, among them Curicaueri.

The Spanish arrived in the 1520s. After the conquest the town housed the Spanish authorities and the indigenous governor, and the Franciscans founded their first convent in Michoacán here, using stone from the yácatas. In 1534 it received the title of City of Mechuacán as capital of the province. Vasco de Quiroga took possession as first bishop in 1538 but soon moved his seat to Pátzcuaro, over the objections of many indigenous nobles. Tzintzuntzan won back the title of city in 1593, yet it slowly lost its political and economic weight.

After independence it became a dependency of Quiroga in 1831. In 1861 it was given the honorary title of Ciudad Primitiva, and around 1930 it became its own municipality. The ruins were excavated in the 1930s, and the town was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2012.