Tacámbaro is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

located in the central region of the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of ...

. Its largest city and municipal seat is Heroica Tacámbaro de Codallos. The city is located at . In the 2020 census, the city's population was 81,105. Posicionándola como la ciudad #12 más grande del estado. The municipality, which has an area of , had a total population of 69,955 in 2010.

History

Prior to Mexican independence

Tacámbaro's origins go back to pre-Hispanic times. The

purépecha The Purépecha (endonym pua, P'urhepecha ) are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the pejorative "Tarascan ...

s conquered the city in the first half of the 14th century. In 1528, it was awarded as an ''

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

'' to

Cristóbal de Oñate Cristóbal de Oñate (1504, Spain—October 6, 1567, Pánuco, Zacatecas) was a Spanish Basque explorer, conquistador and colonial official in New Spain. He is considered the founder of the contemporary city of Guadalajara in 1531, as well as o ...

, and the town was formally established in 1535. Five years later, a chapel and convent were founded in the town. In 1631, a ''partido de indios'' was established with Tacámbaro as the capital. Epidemics of disease, particularly that of 1575, had stripped the town of much of its population. By 1631, it had eight communities and a small population. In 1706, Fray Francisco de Fonseca was designated as the town prior. He introduced a street grid, water sources and a reconstructed convent.

Mexican independence and beyond

After the war of independence, Tacámbaro's ''haciendas'' and ''ranchos'' were burned down and the town was left in ruins. Reconstruction, however, promptly led Tacámbaro to grow and receive new statuses. In 1828, it was declared a villa by Governor

José Salgado José Enrique Salgado Fernández (born June 10, 1989) is a Mexican professional boxer and the current North American Boxing Association Super Flyweight Champion. Salgado is promoted by Saúl Álvarez' company Canelo Promotions. Professional car ...

; three years later, the municipality was formed as a consequence of a new territorial law. In 1859, Governor Gen. Epitacio Huerta declared Tacámbaro a city and gave it the name Ciudad de Codallos, in honor of General , who participated in the war of independence. The local residents petitioned for the name to be changed to Tacámbaro de Codallos, which was accepted. In 1865, a battle was fought at Tacámbaro during the French Intervention in Mexico. In late 1919, during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

, Tacámbaro briefly served as the state capital. In November 2012, Tacámbaro was designated a

Pueblo Mágico In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

. It is the sixth municipality in the state to receive this distinction.

Demographics

The municipality of Tacámbaro has 69,955 inhabitants, of which 34,010 are men and 35,945 are women. The municipality has some 200 individual communities, of which the largest is Heroica Tacámbaro de Codallos with a population of 25,665. Six other communities have more than 1,000 inhabitants.

References

External links