The Tarascan Plateau (Spanish: ''Meseta Tarasca''), also Purépecha Plateau (''Meseta Purépecha''), is a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

and region in 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 ...

, in Southwestern Mexico. The plateau begins at the southwestern foot of the

Trans-Mexican volcanic belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

. It is considered a region of temperate land, irrigated by the

Lerma River The Lerma River ( es, Río Lerma) is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near ...

and its tributaries. It has several lakes, like

Lake Pátzcuaro Lake Pátzcuaro (Spanish: ''Lago de Pátzcuaro'') is a lake in the municipality of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. Lake Pátzcuaro lies in an endorheic basin, which does not drain to the sea. A watershed area of 929 square kilometres drains into ...

Lake Cuitzeo Lake Cuitzeo () is a lake in the central part of Mexico, in the state of Michoacán. It has an area of . The lake is astatic, meaning the volume and level of water in the lake fluctuates frequently. It is the second-largest freshwater lake in Mexic ...

, and

Lake Zirahuén Lake Zirahuén is a small endorheic lake in the municipality of Santa Clara del Cobre in Michoacán, Mexico. It is a deep mountain lake with a sandy bottom that is partially covered with mud. It covers an area of and has a volume of . At times La ...

History

The Tarascan Plateau has a strong

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

presence. 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 ...

were dedicated to agriculture and forestry. It was the location of the Purépecha culture during the

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

n Postclassical period. Some of its principal

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

and present day population centers were/are

Pátzcuaro Pátzcuaro () is a city and municipality located in the state of Michoacán. The town was founded sometime in the 1320s, at first becoming the capital of the Purépecha Empire and later its ceremonial center. After the Spanish took over, Vasco de ...

and Tzintzuntzan.

History

See also