Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico

Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo / Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán

Last modified: 2005-05-07 by juan manuel gabino villascán
Keywords: mexico | michoacán de ocampo | morelia | coat of arms | unofficial flag |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

Note: Michoacán de Ocampo has no official flag, but one in white charged with the coat of arms is broadly used:

	4:7
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, October 06, 2001.
See: Coat of arms of white bakground: unofficial flags

• Presentation of Michoacán de Ocampo
• Coat of arms
• Michoacán: state colors?
• Michoacán: historical flags and coat of arms
• Unidentified flag in Michoacán de Ocampo

• Registration flags

• Morelia
• Muruata
• Mexican states
• Clickable map of mexican states
• Viceroyalty of New Spain
• Mexico

• Official web page of Michoacán de Ocampo
  Quoted by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán October 9, 2001

• Official name: Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo / Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo
• Short-form names: Estado de Michoacán de Ocampo / State of Michoacán de Ocampo; Michoacán de Ocampo; Michoacán
• Meaning of the name: Michoacán derives from the nahuatl words "Michi" means fish, and "can" that means place, so Michoacán may be translated as "place of fishermen","place of fish abundance", or "place of fish". Daniel Rosas, February 19, 2002.
• Location: Coastal Mexican state located in the Western-Center part of the country. It lays the States of: Coahuila and Jalisco (W); Guanajuato, and Querétaro de Arteaga (N); México (E); and Guerrero (S). It is bathed by the Pacific Ocean (SW).
• Area: 58,200 km²
• Municipalities: 113.
• Population: 3'985,667 inhabitants
• Capital: Morelia (Pop.: 620,532 -2000-)
• Statehood: January 31, 1824.
• Arms adopted: Unknown date.

INEGI and SEP
Reported by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, October 06, 2001.

by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, February 21, 2001.

Useful information in Spanish about the Michoacán de Ocampo coat of arms could be found here: Universidad de Michoacana - Panorama de Michoacán
Quoted byJuan Manuel Gabino Villascán, February 20, 2001.

There are states that have unofficial flags simultaneusly appreciated jointly with the National, e.g. Jalisco, and Yucatán.
In Michacán, there is also a flag featured by two horizontal stripes red over yellow. This flag has been seen flaying over public buildings.
Arnoldo Hernández, December 10, 1991.

Red and yellow are typical in the state. They are the official ones used by the former football club "Atlético Morelia S.C", now called "Monarcas Monarcas F.C". The Michoacán sports youngs who participate in National Youth and Children Games; in addition to the under-18 State Amateur football team, use all also yellow and red. However, it should be said, that several flags with those colors and in a different disposition, were flown in many places, incluiding public buildings, when "Atlético Morelia FC" won the Football Championship in Mexico a year ago.
On the other hand, the Michoacán laws say nothing about "state colors", unlike Jalisco's. In adition to that, the Michoacán official web-site employs green and white, while that of Jalisco uses the State colors: blue and yellow.
It should be considered also that yellow and red could be representative of the Municipality of Morelia rather than the State.
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, December 10, 2001.

• Michoacán: Aztec emblem (glifo) for Michoacán
• Michoacán: Colonial flag and coat of arms (1541-1821)

Michocán: Aztec emblem (glifo) for Michoacán

by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, December 21, 2002.

In the pre-hispanic times, the Empire of Michoacán had a "coat of arms"; it was of mexica (aztec) origin, and was the representation of the Empire's name: Michoacán of the nahuatl words "Michi" what means fish, and "can" what means place, so Michoacan may be translate like "place of fishermen","place of fish abundance", or "place of fish". Such an emblem is the crest of the current State arms.
Daniel Rosas, February 16, 2002

It is said also that this was used on pantlitl (plural of pantli, the Nahuatl word for flag). This emblem is used as a crest in the present-day Michoacán de Ocampo coat of arms.
Daniel Rosas, February 16, 2002; and
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, February 19, 2002.

Michocán: Colonial flag and coat of arms (1541-1821)

During Habsburg rule, in La Colonia, mostly of the territory cunrrently composes Michoacán de Ocampo was named of Kingdom of Michoacán (Reino de Michoacán), then Province of Valladolid de Michoacán with the Borbon.
Daniel Rosas, February 16, 2002.

	4:7
by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, February 19, 2002.

The colonial flag with the arms in the center was created for the province. It was used until the fall [March 19, 1823] of Iturbide [as Michoacán flag], and forbidden (by the republicans) because of its "Hispanic" colors. It became to be used once more but as symbolic of the city [Morelia] about its 450th anniversary (1991) of its foundation. The flag is currently hoisted in the city's square and other several public buildings.
This information was gotten by means of a person dedicated to study the city's history.
Daniel Rosas, February 16, 2002.

by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, February 19, 2001.

In 1537 a group of Spanish families, wanted to move on another place, and left the ancient province capital, Pátzcuaro, and requested to the Spanish crown, the territory for their new city, and in 1541, Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoça (old Spanish for Mendoza), gave the permission for building the new capital, in the valley of Guayangareo. Valladolid was founded in 1541, and Emperor Chearles I of Spain, V of Germany, granted a coat of arms to the city and the kingdom.
Such coat of arms is:

"...made up into three parts; each with a king, crowned and dressed in purple, on a gold field, holding each a scepter. A royal crown as a crest with inlaid jewelry in blue, red, and green. As mantling black and gold plants with all their branches..."

Daniel Rosas, February 16, 2002.

by Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, May 20, 2002, as described by James Abraham.

I am trying to determine the meaning of a flag which is depicted in a mural in a small church in Michoacan, Mexico. It is held by a figure who is probably a Christian descendent of Montezuma, and it shows a sun-face superimposed on a St Andrew's cross. If you were trying to find out about this flag, what approach would you take? What resources or archives would you consult?
James Abraham, December 7, 2001.