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Encyclopedia > Zapotec

The Zapotec are an indigenous people of Mexico. Their language family, also called Zapotec, consists of more than fifteen languages. Mayas at San Juan Chamula, Chiapas Mexico has defined itself, in the second article of its constitution, as a pluricultural nation, in recognition of the diverse ethnic groups that constitute it. ...

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Location

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 Albán; in the form of buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Albán 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. The Mexican state of Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ka in English) is in the southern part of Mexico, west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. ... The term Pre-Columbian is used to refer to the cultures of the New World in the era before significant European influence. ... Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World by Columbus. ... Monte Albán is a large archeological site in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. ... Ball Court at Monte Alban Great Ball Court at Chichén Itzá A Ball Court Goal, Chichén Itzá Ball court marker, from the Maya site of Chinkultic. ...


Technology

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. At the present time, there is some debate as to whether or not Olmec symbols dated to 650 BC are actually a form of writing preceding the oldest Zapotec writing dated to about 500 BC. [1] The Maya civilization is a historical Mesoamerican civilization, which extended throughout the northern Central American region which includes the present-day nations of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras and El Salvador, as well as the southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatán peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Campeche... Codex Zouche-Nuttall, a pre-Columbian piece of Mixtec writing, now in the British Museum The Mixtec (or Mixteca) are a Native American people centered in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. ... Sculpture commemorating the moment when Aztecs found the sign for Tenochtitlan foundation place given by Huitzilopochtli. ... Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The Olmec were an ancient people living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, roughly in what are the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. ...


In the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, there were Zapotec and Mixtec artisans who fashioned jewelry for the Aztec Tlatoanis, including 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 style "guest house" in Monte Albán. Other important Pre-Columbian Zapotec sites include Lambityeco, Dainzu, Mitla, Yagul, San Jose Mogote, and Zaachila. Plan of Tenochtitlan (Dr Atl) Mexico City statue commemorating the foundation of Tenochtitlan Tenochtitlan (pronounced ) or, alternatively, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was the capital of the Aztec empire, which was built on an island in Lake Texcoco in what is now central Mexico. ... A tlatoani was a member of the Aztec nobility. ... Mocotezumas Palace from the Mendoza Codex (1542) Moctezuma II (also Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin) (A.D.1466-1520) was an Aztec ruler or huey tlatoani, c. ... Teotihuacan was the largest Pre-Columbian known city in the Americas, and the name Teotihuacan is used to refer to the civilization this city dominated, which at its greatest extent included most of Mesoamerica. ... Mitla is a town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, famous for its pre-Columbian Mesoamerican buildings. ...


Religion

They had an elaborate religious system, and human sacrifices may have been offered. They were likely polytheistic. Principal deities included the rain god Cocijo, the equivalent of Tlaloc of the Aztecs. Tlaloc, also known as Nuhualpilli, was, in Aztec belief, the god of rain and fertility. ...


Mexican conquest

At the time of the conquest of Mexico they had only been partially conquered by the Mexicas ("Aztecs"), the king being forced to flee to rule from another city. They were defeated by the Spanish only after several campaigns between 1522 and 1527, not submitting finally until 1551. They were a sedentary culture and well-advanced in civilization, living in large villages and towns, in houses constructed with stone and mortar. They recorded the principal events in their history by means of hieroglyphics, and in warfare they made use of a cotton armour. The well-known ruins of Mitla have been attributed to them and were claimed to be the tombs of their ancestors. Hieroglyphs are a system of writing used by the Ancient Egyptians, using a combination of logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements. ... Cotton plant as imagined and drawn by John Mandeville in the 14th century Cotton is a soft fiber that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant (Gossypium spp. ... Mitla is a town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, famous for its pre-Columbian Mesoamerican buildings. ...


The Zapotec today

There are approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Zapotec people living in Mexico today. Many of them still speak only their native language. Though they are now largely Catholics, some of their ancient beliefs and practices, such as the burial of the dead with money, still survive. The first missionaries among the Zapotecs were Bartolomé de Olmeda, a Mercedarian, and Juan Díaz, a secular priest, who was martyred by the natives in Quechula near Tepeaca for having "overthrown their idols". Our Lady of Mercy - From the Generalate of the Mercedarian Order The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy (or the Order of Merced or Mercedarians or the Order of Captives) is a Religious Order established in 1218 by Peter Nolasco in Barcelona, Spain for the redemption of Christian... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ...


The most famous Zapotec person in modern times was Benito Juárez, generally regarded as Mexico's greatest President. Term of office: March 1861 to 1863 (first term) – 1867 to 1871 (second term) Preceded by: Ignacio Comonfort (1861), Maximilian I (Emperor) (1867) Succeeded by: Maximilian I (1863), Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada interim (1873) Date of birth: March 21, 1806 Place of birth: San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca Date of...


Many people of Zapotec ancestry have emigrated to the United States over several decades, and they maintain their own social organizations in the Los Angeles, California area and Central Valley. Nickname: City of Angels Official website: http://www. ... This article is about the Californian geographic feature. ...


References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

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