Huitzquilic

Huitzquilic was an Indigenous settlement in the Ameca district of western Mexico, two leagues south of Ameca across level ground. Its name was explained through the thorny plants growing there. In 1579 it counted twenty tribute-paying householders, a small dependent community beside the district's principal town. Colonial government brought Huitzquilic under the same jurisdiction and tribute system as Ameca, whose dependent settlements belonged to the Crown. Memories of earlier rulers and of conflict with the lord of Pátzcuaro survived among Spanish residents and Indigenous elders. After Spanish authority replaced that political landscape, Huitzquilic kept its own name and its tributary households.