Due to unknown causes, the city of Uruapan has lost an important part of its historical material, making it difficult to know its past. There are some gaps in the time periods between one era and another; for example, there is hardly any information about the entire period of conquest.
Despite the lack of facts regarding Uruapan's history, people attribute its foundation to a Fray Juan de San Miguel; however, it is recognized that P'urh�pecha Indians had already settled in these lands many years before the arrival of the Spanish.
An ethnic group with its own language, the P'urh�pecha managed to have some military and political control, but in no way were the first nor only peoples in this region. When Fray Juan de San Miguel arrived in Uruapan in 1531, he found the place forsaken, but realized the adjacent areas were already inhabited by small families of Indian tribes like the Otom�, the Aztecs and other Nahuas, the Chichimecas, and theOaxaca Chontal.
Around 1400, the triumvirate of chiefs from P�tzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan and Ihuatzio conquered and annexed Uruapan. At the arrival of the Spaniards and before the proceeding conquest by the Tarascan kingdom, the last calzonci (king), Tanganxuan II, found refuge in 1522 in what is today known as Uruapan, when fleeing the conquistador Crist�bal de Olid, according to historian Fray Pablo Beaumont.
Uruapan was a pre-Hispanic town inhabited mainly by the P'urh�pecha Indians. Archeologists have found plenty of remains which are yet to be studied, with the exception of the Canvass of Jucutacato, found in the community of Jical�n. It is the oldest document related to the study of Michoac�n's history.
Considering Fray Juan de San Miguel's arrival in 1531, there then exists a difference of 11 years, which clearly shows there were settlers already in these lands, before the arrival of who is thought to be the founder of Uruapan. In the Canvass of Jucutacato, Uruapan is mentioned as a point where
