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Extent of the Zapotec civilization

The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca of southern Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows their culture goes back at least 2500 years. They left archaeological evidence at the 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. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 587 pixelsFull resolution (1031 × 757 pixel, file size: 1 MB, MIME type: image/png) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 587 pixelsFull resolution (1031 × 757 pixel, file size: 1 MB, MIME type: image/png) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the Americas continent. ... Looking southwest over the site of Monte Alban. ... The cultural areas of Mesoamerica Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Spanish: Mesoamérica) was a geographical culture area extending from central Honduras and northwestern Costa Rica on the south, and, in Mexico, from the Soto la Marina River in Tamaulipas and the Rio Fuerte in Sinaloa on the north. ... Monte Albán is a large archeological site in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ulama game. ...

Etymology

The name Zapotec is an exonym coming from Nahuatl tzapotēcah (singular tzapotēcatl), which means "inhabitants of the place jjkjkkkkof sapote". The Zapotec referred to themselves by some variant of the term Be'ena'a, which means "The People." An exonym is a name for a place or people that is created by people outside of that place and is different from the name used in the native language. ... Nahuatl ( [1] is a term applied to a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan [2] branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, indigenous to central Mexico. ... Binomial name Manilkara zapota (L.) P. Royen Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to the New World tropics. ...

Technology

A funerary urn in the shape of a "bat god" or a jaguar, from Oaxaca, dated to AD 300 - 650. Height: 9.5 in (23 cm).

The Zapotecs developed a calendar and a logosyllabic system of writing that used a separate glyph to represent each of the syllables of the language. This writing system is one of several candidates thought to have been the first writings system of Mesoamerica and the predecessor of the 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] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 704 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1992 × 1696 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 704 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1992 × 1696 pixel, file size: 1. ... Egyptian hieroglyphs, which have their origins as logograms. ... A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables, which make up words. ... variant glyphs representing the character a (allographs of a) in the Zapfino typeface. ... This article discusses the unit of speech. ... Mesoamerica is one of the relatively few places in the world where writing has developed independently throughout history. ... The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its spectacular art, monumental architecture, and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. ... 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. ... It has been suggested that Mexica be merged into this article or section. ... Monument 1, one of the four Olmec colossal heads at La Venta. ...

In the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, there were Zapotec and Mixtec artisans who fashioned jewelry for the Aztec rulers (tlatoanis), including Moctezuma II. Relations with central Mexico go back much further however, as attested by the archaeological 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 José Mogote, El Palmillo and Zaachila. Tenochtitlan, looking east. ... A tlatoani was a member of the Aztec nobility. ... Moctezuma or Montezuma II, also known as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (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. ... San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture which flourished in the region of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. ... El Palmillo is a Mesoamerican Classic Period archaeological site located in the Valley of Oaxaca, associated with the pre-Columbian Zapotec civilization which was centered in the valley and the surrounding highlands of the present-day state of Oaxaca, Mexico. ... The Mixtec place sign for Zaachila (Ñuhu Tocuisi in Mixtec), from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall. ...

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. Egyptian hieroglyphs, which have their origins as logograms. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... Mitla is a town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, famous for its pre-Columbian Mesoamerican buildings. ...

Religion

Like most Mesoamerican religious systems, the Zapotec religion was polytheistic. Two principal deities include Cocijo, the rain god (similar to the Aztec god Tlaloc), and Coquihani, the god of light. It is believed that the Zapotec sometimes used human sacrifice in their rituals. In Maya mythology, Chac (sometimes spelled Chaac,) was the god of rain and thunder, and important as a fertility and agriculture god. ... Tlaloc, as shown in the late 16th century Codex Rios. ...

The Zapotecs tell that their ancestors emerged from the earth, from caves, or that they turned from trees or jaguars into people, while the elite that governed them believed that they descended from supernatural beings that lived among the clouds, and that upon death they would return to such status. In fact, the name by which Zapotecs are known today resulted from this belief. In Central Valley Zapotec "The Cloud People' is "Be'ena' Za'a."

Warfare

The last battle between the Aztecs and the Zapotecs occurred between 1497 and 1502, under the Aztec ruler Ahuizotl. At the time of Spanish conquest of Mexico, when news arrived that the Aztecs were defeated by the Spaniards, King Cosijoeza ordered his people not to confront the Spaniards so they would avoid the same fate. They were defeated by the Spaniards only after several campaigns between 1522 and 1527. However, uprisings against colonial authorities occurred in 1550, 1560, and 1715. Auítzotl (sometimes rendered as Ahuitzotl) was the Aztec ruler of the city of Tenochtitlán. ... Aztec empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of America. ...

References