Uanacaze

The Uanacaze, also known as the Uacúsecha or Vacúxecha, meaning eagles, were the royal clan of the Purépecha kingdom in the Michoacán highlands. Their half-legendary early lords are recorded in the Relación de Michoacán.

Pauacume ruled as lord of Pátzcuaro, and his son Tariácuri, dreaming a command from the sun god Curicaueri, allied the lakeside cities and from about 1300 built the communities of Lake Pátzcuaro into one state. On Tariácuri's death his kin divided the chief towns while keeping his conquests together. His successors the cazonci centralized tribute and pushed the borders to the Pacific at Zacatula by 1460.

They fortified their eastern frontier against the Aztec Empire, whose westward expansion they repeatedly blocked. The last cazonci Tangáxuan II submitted to the Spaniards in 1530.