Cuitzeo

Cuitzeo was a Purépecha town on the shore of the shallow lake of the same name in northern Michoacán. Its name came from a Purépecha word meaning place of water containers.

As Hiripan, son of Tariácuri, expanded the kingdom of Tzintzuntzan, the Lake Cuitzeo basin became part of the Purépecha state. Cuitzeo remained under that state when the Spanish arrived and became an encomienda in 1528. In 1550 Augustinian friars began building the monastery around which the present town grew.