In 1522 a Spanish force under the leadership of Cristóbal de Olid was sent into Tarascan territory and arrived at Tzintzuntzan within days.

This resulted in a strange arrangement where both Cortés and Tangáxuan considered themselves rulers of Michoacán for the following years: the population of the area paid tribute to them both.

Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán, then president of the first Audiencia decided, to march on northwestern Mexico with a force of 5,000–8,000 men in search for new populations to subdue, and when he arrived in Michoacán and found out that Tangáxuan was still de facto ruler of his empire he allied himself with a Tarascan noble Don Pedro Panza, known as Cuinierángari, against the Cazonci.

The Cazonci was tried for plotting a rebellion, withholding tribute, sodomy and heresy, and he was tortured and executed.

According to legends, Tangaxuan II was the father of Princess Eréndira, although there are no contemporary accounts of her existence.