Tzitzispandáquare (Tangáxoan I)

Tzitzispandáquare, also called Tangáxoan I, was a cazonci (king) of the Purépecha (Tarascan) empire, ruling from its capital Tzintzuntzan on Lake Pátzcuaro. He pushed the empire's frontiers outward and consolidated it into the second-greatest power of Mesoamerica, rival to the Aztecs. Most notably he turned back major Mexica invasions—including the great defeat inflicted on the tlatoani Axayacatl around 1478—keeping Michoacán independent of the Aztec empire.