MICHOACAN, or MICHOACAN DE OCAMPO, a State of Mexico touching on the Pacific. Pop. (1921) 939,849, chiefly Indians and mestizos. Area, 23,198 sq. miles. Its territory is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Sierra Madre Occi dental, the northern part belonging to the great central plateau region, and the southern to an extremely broken region formed by the diverging branches of the Sierra Madre, with their wooded terraces and slopes and highly fertile valleys. The general slope of the southern part is southward to the river Balsas, or Mescala, which forms its boundary-line with Guerrero. The nar row coastal zone on the Pacific is only 101m. long and has no ports or towns of importance, the slopes being precipitous and heavily wooded and the coast-belt sandy, hot and malarial. The Lerma, on the northern frontier, and the Balsas on the southern, are the only rivers of importance in the State, their tributaries within its boundaries being small and swift-flowing. There are several large and beautiful lakes in the State, the best known of which are Patzcuaro and Cuitzco. Lake Chapala lies on the north ern boundary. Michoacan lies within the most active volcanic region of Mexico : Jorullo (4,262ft.) is near its southern line, and Colima (12,75oft.) is north-west of it in the State of Jalisco.
The climate is for the most part temperate and healthy, but it is hot along the Pacific coast. Michoacan is essentially a min ing region, producing gold, silver, lead and cinnabar, and having rich deposits of copper, coal, petroleum and sulphur. The natural products include fine cabinet and construction woods, rubber, fruit, palm oil and fibres. The soil of the valleys is highly fertile, and produces cereals in the higher regions, and sugar-cane, to bacco, coffee and tropical fruits in the lower. Though the plateau region was settled by whites soon after the Spaniards came to Mexico, there are districts on the southern and Pacific slopes that still belong almost exclusively to the Indians. Besides Morelia, the capital and largest city, the principal towns of the State are: La Piedad (pop. in 1921, 12,115), an important commercial town on the Lerma river and on the Mexican Central railway, 112m. N.N.W. of Morelia; Zamora (in 1921, 13,863), 75m. W.N.W. of Morelia ; and Uruapan (in 1921, 13,689), on the Mexican Na tional, 55m. S.W. of Morelia in a mountainous district celebrated for the fine quality of its coffee.