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Description

Colored Sixteenth Century Manuscript Sketch including Cotija de la Paz and Pueblo de Chucandiran (now Tingüindín) in the State of Michoacán

This is a colorful rendering of a valley under cultivation in the environs of Pueblo de Chucandiran (now Tingüindín) in the state of Michoacán. It shows the sale of land from Indians to Spaniards in the mid-sixteenth century. It also shows a town in the making, Cotija de la Paz.

The author, who signed the image at the bottom left, was named Francisco de Medina. Commentary is written in every direction, describing the lands and what they grow and who they belong to. Green trees line a blue river, which runs from a hill and branches below it to the bottom of the page. The red line is a road, as indicated by the small drawings of feet heading to the right of the page. It leads to Tacatzcuaro.

Based on the handwriting, this sketch dates from the sixteenth century. The sketch was made shortly after the Spanish settled in the area. Indigenous people were already living and farming there, for de Medina notes that the Spanish had purchased land from them.

de Medina mentions two landowners, one Gaspar Perez Miguelico and Melchor Manso (also spelled Manzo). Melchor Manso (1531-1585) was a prominent Michoacán landowner in the sixteenth century. As the two notes to the right of the sketch say, Manso purchased lands from the Indians that he intended to farm. At least one source traces Melchor Manso to Chucandiran in the mid-sixteenth century. His son, Francisco Manso, was still in the area in 1585, when his father died (Tesis Pedogogicas, Gregorio Torres Quintero, 2004 at page 158).

Manso founded the town of Cotija de la Paz in the 1570s with his hacienda as the heart of the settlement. It is likely that the house to the right in the sketch is his hacienda. If so, this document captures Cotija in its infancy. Between 1581 and 1595, eleven other Spaniards came to raise cattle. By 1730, the town had its own priest, but ceremonies like baptism and marriages still had to be performed in Tingüindín. Both Tingüindín and Cotija de la Paz are still lived in today.

Text Transcription:

Top center: Este es valle grande donde los naturales pasen(?) sus sementeras. Esta desviado de las que agora se piden una legua demarca el rio - (This is a large valley where the natives plant their fields. It deviates from those [lands] that they are now asking for by about one league from the river

Just below, on river: Este es un arroyo que pasa por el pueblo (This is a creek that passes through town)

Near the big house: Pueblo de Chucandiran (in the state of Michoacán). The town in the map is in the jurisdiction of Tingüindín.

On the red line: Camino que va a Tacatzcuaro (Road leading to Tacatzcuaro)

Middle, left: Valdios, es un valle grande (Vacant lands; this is a large valley)

Signature: Francisco de Medina y [] (paraph) - the author

Bottom right: Estas son unas tierras que los naturales vendieron a españoles; son de Gaspar Perez e Miguel [cut off] (These are some of the lands that the natives sold to Spaniards: they belong to Gaspar Pérez and Miguel (??))

On the Green part: Esta entre las tierras que agora se piden y el pueblo es cordillera de lomas altas (Between the lands being sought and the Pueblo [likely of Chucandirán, since it's the only one mentioned] there lies a range of steep (high?) hills)

To the right of the green, between river and road: Estas son las tierras que agora se piden (These are the lands now sought)

To the right of the green, below the road: todo este valle vendieron los indios a españoles (The natives sold this whole valley to the Spaniards)

To the right of the river, below the house: Corren estas tierras todo este valle que llegan a esta casa (the house is identified) que es de Melchor Manso (These lands run the entire valley, which reaches to this house of Melchor Manso)

To the right of the river, above the house: Estas tierras vendieron los naturales a Melchor Manso que seran como dos caballerías de tierra (The natives sold these lands to Melchor Manso, they make up about two *caballerías* of land)

Condition Description
Minor marginal chipping and a bit of fold splitting.