Date Visited: 5\/27\/2021
\nWhen the Spanish entered Michoacan in 1521, thanks to a treaty with the Purepecha tribe, they quickly dominated with very little bloodshed. The original state capitol of Michoacan back then was P\u00e1tzcuaro, which right by a big lake and very close to the Purepecha capital called Tzintzuntzan. The Spanish did their typical procedure and built a really big church in P\u00e1tzcuaro, but the Spanish settlers coming from Europe didn’t really want to mix with the locals. The settlers said that the Purepecha had ruined the purity of Catholic rituals by mixing them with their old customs. So to preserve their semblance of purity, in 1540 they built what was then known as La Nueva Valladolid. <\/p>\n
Being a new city on land that wasn’t really previously inhabited, the Spanish got to make it into their ultimate expression of European ideals. The city was built with big roads that go in and out of the city, a big aqueduct, and plenty of Catholic churches, that are kind of interesting because on the outside they a very austere and pious, but then you go inside and they are overflowing with the most abundant baroque interiors you will ever see. The city was home to some of Mexico’s first schools and universities, and there is many art museums within the city.<\/p>\n\n\t\t