Place:Zitácuaro, Michoacán, Mexico

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Zitácuaro, officially known as Heroica Zitácuaro, is a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name, which lies at the extreme eastern side of Michoacán and borders on the adjacent state of México. The city reported a population of 185,534 in the 2010 census. The municipality has an area of 498 km² (192.3 sq mi). The name Zitácuaro comes from Mazahua Tsitákuarhu.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

An indigenous settlement was founded on the site of modern-day Zitácuaro, possibly as early as the 12th century, by Otomis and Mazahuas (an Otomi ceremonial centre still stands in San Felipe de los Alzati, 9 km to the north of the municipal seat). In the mid-14th century, Mazahuas led by Yquingari conquered the region.

At the time of the Spanish conquest, the area stood on the border between the lands of the Purépecha League and those of the Aztec Empire. The locals are reported to have fought alongside the Aztecs, with whom they were allied, in the failed defence of Tenochtitlan. Following this defeat, Franciscan friars established a parish church with the name of San Juan Tzitácuaro, and a monastery was founded in the early 18th century.

Following Mexico's Declaration of Independence in September 1810, the area around Zitácuaro joined the insurgent cause under the leadership of Benedicto López, a local criollo farmer. In response to López's cutting off of the royal road between Mexico City and Valladolid, the viceroy sent a regiment of loyalist troops to put down the rebellion. This regiment was repulsed on 20 February 1811 and defeated on 22 May, and its captain, Juan Bautista de la Torre, was taken prisoner and killed by indigenous militia-men. Later that summer, Benedicto López surrendered control of the city to Ignacio López Rayón, who set up in Zitácuaro on 21 August 1811 the Suprema Junta Nacional Americana (the "Supreme American National Council"), recognised as the first attempt by the insurgents to establish an independent government. This outraged the royalist forces in Mexico City, which attacked the city and, on 12 January 1812, regained control, sacked it, and summarily razed it to the ground.

The 1812 incident was the first burning of Zitácuaro. The second took place on 1 April 1855, at the hands of troops loyal to Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna during the Revolution of Ayutla, in response to the city's expressed support for Gen. Juan Álvarez. The city was burnt to the ground on a third occasion on 15 April 1865 by French Imperial troops in reprisal for the Republicans' victory at Tacámbaro some days earlier.

In recognition of the turbulent events of the previous half-century and the city's heroism, on 20 April 1868 President Benito Juárez issued a decree whereby San Juan Zitácuaro would henceforth be known by the name of "Heroica Zitácuaro".

Four people died during a shootout at a motorcycle repair shop during a supposed drug deal gone bad on 25 May 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. 1,522 infections and 132 deaths were reported in the state on 30 May, with 26 infections and eight deaths in Zitácuaro.

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