Zapotec

Zapotec refers to a native people of Mexico, their language family consisting of more than 15 languages, and their historic culture and traditions. Today, most of the Zapotec languages are endangered.

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The Zapotec people are centered in Oaxaca, to the south of central Mexico. In Pre-Columbian times they were one of the major Mesoamerican civilizations. Archeological evidence shows their culture goes back some 2500 years. They left archaelogical evidence at the earlier and impressive ancient city of Monte Alb?n; in the form of buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Alb?n was the first major city in the western hemisphere and the center of a Zapotec State that dominated much of what we know of as the current state of Oaxaca.

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The Zapotecs developed a calendar and a logophonetic system of writing that used a separate glyph to represent each of the syllables of the language. This writing system is considered to be the basis of the other Mesoamerican writing systems developed by the Maya, Mixtec, and Aztec civilizations. In the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, there were Zapotec and Mixtec artisans living in the city whose occupation was to fashion jewelry for the Aztec Tlatoanis, or rulers. These included the famous Motecuhzoma II. Relations with central Mexico go back much further however, as attested by the archeological remains of a Zapotec neighborhood within Teotihuacan and a Teotihuacan styled "guest house" on Monte Alb?n. Other important Pre-Columbian Zapotec sites include Lambityeco, Dainzu, Mitla, Yagul, San Jose Mogote, and Zaachila.

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The most famous Zapotec person in modern times was Benito Ju?rez, generally regarded as Mexico's greatest President.

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There are over 400,000 Zapotec people living in Mexico today.

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Mexico: The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or M?xico; regarding the use of the variant spelling M?jico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. It is the nort...

Oaxaca: :Oaxaca is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the state. For the city, see: Oaxaca, Oaxaca. Oaxaca is also a type of cheese....

Pre-Columbian: The term Pre-Columbian is used to refer to the cultures of the New World in the era before significant European influence. While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus, in practice the term usually includes indigenous cultures as they continued to develop until they were conqu...

Zapotec related Images and Photos (experimental)

The Zapotec Civilization

The Ancient Zapotec City of Monte Alban Unesco World Heritage Site Near Oaxaca City Mexico