Purépecha Empire in the context of "Mexico"

Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro. It is located in north-central Mexico, in a region known as Bajío. It is bordered by the states of San Luis Potosí to the north, Guanajuato to the west, Hidalgo to the east, México to the southeast and Michoacán to the southwest.

The state is one of the smallest in Mexico, but also one of the most heterogeneous geographically, with ecosystems varying from deserts to tropical rainforest, especially in the Sierra Gorda, which is filled with microecosystems. The area of the state was located on the northern edge of Mesoamerica, with both the Purépecha Empire and Aztec Empire having influence in the extreme south, but neither really dominating it. The area, especially the Sierra Gorda, had a number of small city-states, but by the time the Spanish arrived, the area was independent from imperial powers. Small agricultural villages and seminomadic peoples lived in the area. Spanish conquest was focused on the establishment of Santiago de Querétaro, which still dominates the state culturally, economically and educationally.

The Toluca Valley is a valley in central Mexico, just west of the Valley of Mexico (Mexico City), the old name was Matlatzinco. The valley runs north–south for about 35 km (22 mi), surrounded by mountains, the most imposing of which is the Nevado de Toluca Volcano. It is one of the highest valleys in Mexico and for this reason has a relatively cold climate. Since the 1940s, there has been significant environmental degradation in the valley, with the loss of forests, soil erosion, falling water tables and water pollution due to growth in industry and population. In the pre-Hispanic period, it was a buffer region between the Aztec Empire and Purépecha Empire. From the Aztec period until the 19th century, it was part of the region controlled by Mexico City, but today it is the center of the State of Mexico, which has its capital in Toluca, the main city of the valley.

Purépecha (autonym: Pʼurhépecha [pʰuˈɽepet͡ʃa] or Phorhé(pecha)), often called Tarascan (Spanish: Tarasco), a term coined by Spanish settlers that can be seen as pejorative to some, is a language isolate or small language family that is spoken by some 140,000 Purépecha in the highlands of Michoacán, Mexico.

Purépecha was the main language of the pre-Columbian Purépecha Empire and became widespread in the region during its heyday in the late post-Classic period. The small town of Purepero got its name from the indigenous people who lived there.

A macuahuitl ([maːˈkʷawit͡ɬ]), plural māccuahuimeh, is a Mesoamerican weapon consisting of a wooden sword with several embedded obsidian blades. The name is derived from the Nahuatl language and means "hand-wood". Its sides are embedded with prismatic blades traditionally made from obsidian, which is capable of producing an edge sharper than high quality steel razor blades. The macuahuitl was a standard close combat weapon.

Use of the macuahuitl as a weapon is attested from the first millennium CE, although specimens can be found in art dating to at least pre-classic times. By the time of the Spanish conquest, the macuahuitl was widely distributed in Mesoamerica. The weapon was used by different civilizations, including the Aztec (Mexicas), Olmec, Maya, Mixtec, Toltec, and Tarascans.