Tarascans

Middle America and the Caribbeanintensive agriculturalists
Map
expand_more Description

Living in the highland plateau region of Michoacán, Mexico, Tarascans are descendants of a rival empire to the Aztecs. The Spanish conquest and introduced disease reduced the population to a peasant society. Subsistence agriculture is supplemented with a few cash crops, fishing, and craft production for the tourist trade. Many young to middle-aged adults emigrate to find work in nearby cities, as well as elsewhere in Mexico and even the United States. Tarascans practice a folk Catholicism featuring a civil-religious hierarchy and cargo (rotating fiesta leadership) system. A modern political movement aims to reclaim their lands and language, and to revitalize Tarascan identity.

Identifier
Region
  • Middle America and the Caribbean
Subregion
  • Central Mexico
Subsistence Type
  • intensive agriculturalists
Countries
  • Mexico
External Links