Tzintzuntzan Municipality is one of the

municipalities of Michoacán Michoacán is a state in western Mexico that is divided into 113 municipalities. According to the 2020 Mexican Census, it is the ninth most populated state with inhabitants and the 16th largest by land area spanning . Municipalities in Micho ...

. The seat is

Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán Tzintzuntzan () is a town in Tzintzuntzan Municipality located in the north of Michoacán state, 53 km from the capital of Morelia and 17.5 km from Pátzcuaro, located on the northeast shore of Lake Pátzcuaro. It is best known as the ...

Municipality

As municipal seat, the town of Tzintzuntzan is the governing authority for 35 other named communities, including

Ihuatzio Ihuatzio, which translates to "Land of Coyotes" in the Purépecha language, is a town located near Lake Pátzcuaro in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It was once the capital of the Purépecha kingdom. It was the capital until the change to Tzin ...

, which has more population. Most of the municipality's population of 12,259 live outside of the town limits (73%). In 2005, the census counted 1,743 people who spoke an indigenous language, mostly Purépecha and Ixcateco. The municipality has a territory of 165.15 km2 and borders the municipalities of Quiroga,

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

, Lagunillas, Huiramba,

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 d ...

and

Erongarícuaro Erongarícuaro, which means "Place of waiting" in the Purepecha language, is a town in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It is located about an hour and a half drive to Morelia or Uruapan and just 20 minutes from the famous colonial town of Pátz ...

. The municipality is in 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 ...

, in the Pátzcuaro Basin, with peaks such as Lagarto, Tariácuri and Patambicho. Its main fresh water supply is Lake Pátzcuaro. The climate is temperate with a rainy season in the summer. Most of the area is covered in forests of pine, oak and cedar trees. Animal life mostly consists of small mammals such as coyotes, squirrels, armadillos and rabbits. PacandaUcaz2

Most of the municipality's land is suited only for forestry activities. Land which is suitable for agriculture grows corn, wheat and beans principally. Livestock such as cattle, pigs and fowl are also raised here. Some manufacturing enterprises, such as those that process food, wood and non-metallic minerals are located here. Tourism is an important earner for the municipality, especially for the lake islands of Pacanda and Yunuén, as well as the municipal seat itself with its archeological ruins. Most of the population is employed in commerce, selling pottery, textiles, embroidered items, baskets and religious figures. The community of

is located just south of the town of Tzintzuntzan and was one of the other major cities of the

Purépecha Empire The Purépecha Empire, also known by the term Iréchikwa, was a polity in pre-Columbian Mexico. Its territory roughly covered the geographic area of the present-day Mexican state of Michoacán, as well as parts of Guanajuato, Guerrero, and Ja ...

. It was probably founded around 900 C.E. It is now a small community with an archeological site, of which only the area called the "Plaza de Armas" has been excavated. Like Tzintzuntzan, this site also contains yácatas. The small community of Santa Cruz in the municipality of Tzintzuntzan is noted for its

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...

, especially on tablecloths. Figures such as animals, humans, and saints, as well as entire landscapes, can be found in embroidery here. An experimental artificial wetland has been constructed in the community of Cucuchucho on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro. The wetlands system contains various water treatment processes such as solid removal and storage tanks, solids wetland, clarifier wetland, maturation lagoon, aquaculture lagoon and others. The wetland project is designed to treat wastewater before it returns to Lake Pátzcuaro and processes the discharge of a population of 700 people.

References

{{Reflist Municipalities of Michoacán