According to Zipcodesexplorer.com, the Mexican state of Oaxaca (pronounced “wa-HA-ka”) is located on the southwestern part of the headland Tehuantepec. Oaxaca borders the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north and Chiapas to the east. South of Oaxaca is the Pacific Ocean. The capital of the city is also called Oaxaca.
During his conquest of Mexico, Hernán Cortés declared himself Marqués del Valle of Oaxaca, taking over the state’s rich mineral deposits. Today, Oaxaca is a major tourist destination thanks to its miles of sandy beaches and fascinating archeological excavations.
There are 16 indigenous groups in the state, each group having hundreds of subgroups, each characterized by their unique language and social traditions. Oaxaca, like the neighboring states of Guerrero and Chiapas, has an astonishingly wide range of indigenous cultures with roots that reach many hundreds of years back.
Oaxaca is the historic home of the Zapotecs and Mixtecs people. The civilization these groups achieved can be seen in important archeological sites such as Monte Albán, Mitla, Cerro de Minas, Guiengola and Huijatzoo. Mexico’s most famous leader, President Benito Juarez, came from the Oaxacan village of San Pablo Guelatao.
Most of Mexico’s marijuana is grown here.
TIMELINE:
1500-500 BCE – During this period, San José Mogote was the city of the Zapotecs, and the largest and most important settlement in the area. Monte Albán was built over a period of 2000 years, beginning around the year 900 BC. Early art shows that they were inspired by the Olmecs. The Zapotecs had contact with the rest of Mesoamerica and traded with e.g. the Olmecs and since Teotihuacán and the Mayans.
1200 EVT – mixed Egyptian groups spread east to the Oaxaca Valley, where they settled among the Zapotecs. This presence can be traced in i.a. Mitla and Yagul, where the architectural style as well as murals are strongly influenced by Mixedic traditions.
1436 – The Aztecs arrive in Oaxaca and settle at Cerro del Fortín and down to the present Carmen Alto Church, where their temple is located, the influence changed. The name of the state comes from the nahuatl designation that the Aztecs gave the central part around the capital, Huaxyácac or the place with the huaje trees, due to the large number of leucaena varieties. When the Spaniards arrived less than a century later, they found it difficult to pronounce and the name ended up becoming the contemporary Oaxaca, as the name of both the city and the state.
1521 – The Mixtecs who conquered Monte Albán in about 1300 continued to build on the site until Spanish conquistadors conquered the area, leaving it abandoned.
1876-1911 – José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mory or Porfirio Díaz, was Mexico ‘s second great dictator, who ruled from 1877 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1911. He resigned after strong pressure in the spring of 1911 and fled to France, where he died as a wealthy man in 1915.
OAXACA
Oaxaca (pronounced “wa-HA-ka”) is located on the southwestern part of the headland Tehuantepec. Oaxaca borders the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north and Chiapas to the east. South of Oaxaca is the Pacific Ocean. The capital of the city is also called Oaxaca.
The state is located in the Sierra Madre Sur and Sierra Madre Oriental mountain ranges and their valleys.
Most of Mexico’s marijuana is grown here.
In the three millennia before the Aztecs arrived in 1436, they were the most powerful and influential groups in what is today Oaxaca, the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs and the Mixers. The civilization these groups achieved can be seen in important archeological sites such as Monte Albán, Mitla, Cerro de Minas, Guiengola and Huijatzoo.
Mexico’s most famous leader, President Benito Juarez, came from the Oaxacan village of San Pablo Guelatao.
TIMELINE:
o.900 BCE – Monte Albán was built 4 km from the city of Oaxaca, over a period of 2,000 years, beginning around the year 900 BC. of the Zapothetic people. Early art demonstrates olmeker influence.
1300 – Around the year 1300, the Zapotecs were expelled from the site and the surrounding area when it was conquered by the Mixeker people. The Mixtecs continued to build on Monte Albán until Spanish conquistadors conquered the area in 1521, after which Monte Albán was abandoned.
1486 – Aztecs begin to dominate the valley, establishing the Huaxyacac military base, where the city of Oaxaca is located today.
