Tarascan

Tarascan, Native American tribe of Mexico. The Tarascan controlled a powerful empire from the late 14th to the early 16th century. With early settlements dating to c.500 B.C., their tribal holdings bordered the Aztec Empire at the time of the Spanish arrival in the 1520s. Along with the Aztecs, they were conquered by the Spanish, but only after great resistance. Hunters, farmers, and fishermen, many of the 60,000 Tarascans surviving today, inhabitants of the state of Michoacán, follow traditional ways of life. They are skilled craftspeople, weavers, and woodcarvers. Many still speak the Tarascan language, which bears no relationship to any other known language.