page_title: Indigenous people of Oaxaca
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Indigenous people of Oaxaca / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Zapotec funerary urn in the British Museum. 200 BC - 800 AD. Español: Urna funeraria zapoteca en el Museo Británico. 200 a.C. - 800 d.C.
context_page_description: The Indigenous people of Oaxaca are descendants of the inhabitants of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico who were present before the Spanish invasion.
  Several cultures flourished in the ancient region of Oaxaca from as far back as 2000 BC, of whom the Zapotecs and Mixtecs were perhaps the most advanced, with complex social organization and sophisticated arts.
  According to the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples Oaxaca has the greatest percentage of indigenous people after Yucatán, at 48% of the population.
  There are 16 formally registered indigenous communities, some of which are culturally diverse themselves.
  Many of the people are socially marginalized, living in poverty.
context_section_description: The Oaxaca region is at the convergence of the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain ranges, resulting in a rugged and mountainous terrain with a large, temperate central valley.
  The climate is temperate, cooler at higher altitudes and warmer by the coast and in the Papaloapan region, which is part of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain.
  Oaxaca is the historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples among others, and contains more speakers of indigenous languages than any other Mexican state.
  Excavations have shown that the region has had a settled population for at least 4,000 years.
  In the pre-Columbian period, the Zapotec developed an advanced civilization centered in Monte Alban in the central valley, which lasted between 300 BC and 700 AD.
  The state was expansionist, and extended its authority to the north, west, and southwest.
  Further to the west, Mixtec settlements have been dated back to 1500 BC, and the Mixtec also developed advanced city states such as Tilantongo and Tututepec. The Mixtec were known for their exceptional mastery of jewelry, in which gold and turquoise figure prominently. 
  Around 1250 AD the Aztecs began pushing down from the North. 
  Mixtec groups in turn invaded the Valley of Oaxaca and established the Cuilapan state.
  Shortly before the Spanish arrived, most of the west and central areas of Oaxaca had come under Aztec control.
  The Aztec empire disintegrated after the fall of their capital of Tenochtitlan to the Spanish in August 1521.
  The Spanish crown granted Oaxaca to the conquistador Hernán Cortés as his prize.
  The Spanish introduced new food such as wheat and sugar cane and new methods of cultivation. 
  Diseases introduced by the Spanish greatly diminished the native population of Oaxaca, as did the insatiable appetite for gold, which led more and more Oaxacans into the dangerous mines.
  Over the 300 years of colonialism, many aspects of life became Europeanized. 
  Important government positions were filled by the Spanish and their descendants, and later by elite mestizos, persons of mixed European and indigenous ancestry.
  However, Oaxaca remained largely an agriculture-based economy with little development throughout the colonial period, following Mexican  independence in 1821 and following the revolution of 1910.
  By the 1980s and 1990s, Oaxaca was one of Mexico's poorest states. 
  The state, and the indigenous people in particular, had some
  of the nation's highest rates of illiteracy, malnutrition, and infant mortality.
caption: Zapotec funerary urn in the British Museum
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L11", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint.NET v3.36", "Image DateTime": "2009:02:21 07:26:11", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Copyright 2006", "Image ExifOffset": "384", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "Low gain up", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "33644", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7912", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/4", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "141", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:02:21 07:26:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:02:21 07:26:11", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "31/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2112", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2816", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}