 Ethnohistorical accounts mention them as a people dwelling in the same region of Michoacán they live in now as early as the 13th century.According to the , the communities around Lake Pátzcuaro were gathered into the strong Purépecha State by the leader of the Uacúsecha group of Purépecha speakers, Tariácuri.Around 1300, he undertook the first conquests of other and installed his sons Hiripan and Tangáxoan as lords of Ihuatzio and Tzintzuntzan respectively while he himself ruled from Pátzcuaro City.