The Purépecha state
The Aztecs' neighbour, whom they never defeated
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The Purépecha, also called Tarascans, are a people of Michoacán in western Mexico, with a language unrelated to any other known tongue. The state is a useful corrective to the depiction of Mesoamerica as "without metal". The Purépecha cast bronze with alloys resembling those of the Andes, and the metallurgy probably reached Mexico by trade along the Pacific coast. The state was also centralised in a way the Aztec tribute system was not, with appointed governors. When the Spanish came, its ruler surrendered without a fight — and was tortured and burned all the same, in 1530.
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West of the Aztecs lay a state they never conquered. The Purépecha, also called Tarascans, were the only people in Mesoamerica working extensively in bronze, making weapons and tools of metal.
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