Today is Sunday, February 14th, 2021.

On this day in 1530, the indigenous Porepechan monarch, Tangashuan, was burned at the stake by Spanish imperialist Nuno de Guzman.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parcast.

Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes,

listener discretion is advised.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13. Today we're covering the execution

of Tangashuan II, the last monarch of the Tarascan Empire, once located in the Michoacan

region of present-day Mexico. Let's go back to the Michoacan forests on the morning of February 14, 1530.

There was trouble in paradise. For nearly a decade, the Porepachan people, also known as the

Tarasgans, of Michoacan, had lived with

two rulers, one Spanish and one indigenous.

The Spanish ruler, Ernan Cortez, had brought down the Aztec Empire and claimed most of

modern-day Mexico and its people.

This included the Michoacan region, which was also ruled by an indigenous monarch named Tangashuan.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Tanga-Swan would be the last king of his people, because

he was currently tied to a post watching Spanish soldiers pile up wood for an enormous fire.

With him right in the center.

Tangashuan thought he had done everything right to secure his throne.

After the fall of his empire's rivals, the Aztecs, Tangashuan paid tribute to the Spanish, who subsequently overlooked most

of Michoacan in their pillaging of the region. It helped that Michoacan was in the far northwest

edge of the Spanish territory, and thus few of Cortez's soldiers ventured into the region.

Tangashuan believed he was relatively safe from Cortez, and he could

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