 The state was founded in the early 14th century and lost its independence to the Spanish in 1530.In 1543 it officially became the governorship of Michoacán, from the Nahuatl name for the Tarascan state, Michoacán ("place of those who have fish").The Tarascan state was constituted of a network of tributary systems and gradually became increasingly centralized, under the control of the ruler of the state called the "cazonci".