AIS 120: INDIANS OF THE AMERICAS

Zapotec origins are traced all the way back into the Pre-Classic Period (1600 BC) in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico to the prehistoric city of San Jose el Mogote. In 500 BC Zapotec people established a spectacular city known as Monte Alban which became their Classic Period center until AD 700. During the Classic Period Monte Alban was engaged in trade with Teotihuacan to the north and Bonampak and Tikal in the south. Eventually the Mixtec took control of the area and combined their culture with the Zapotec at cities like Mitla. By the time of the Post Classic, after AD 1000, the Toltec and Aztecs rose to power with the Zapotec as a subject nation of the empire.

Monte Alban

Monte Alban Ballcourt

Mitla

The Zapotec  of Oaxaca and across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec maintained their traditions in the Post-Classic world of the Aztec Empire. During Spanish colonialization the Zapotecs became Christian but maintained their traditions at the village level. Like many Meso American Indians that kept their language, art and village political structure under Spanish colonial. Traditional culture may be best seen in the context of AD 1600, before major changes of the encomienda imposed a greater disruption of traditional economics and social structure. Zapotec culture has always been distinguished by the power and equality enjoyed by women. Many of the arts and market products still set Oaxaca apart in Mexico.

Language	Oto-Manguean  (Macro-Mixtecan)	Popoloca- Zapotecan- 6 dialects
Settlement	Oaxaca, Tlaxiaco, Guerrero	Expansion into Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Late Post-Classic
Economics	CBS milpa agriculture in local villages; terrace irrigation in Classic Period; atole, pozole, tamales, tortilla	fishing, hunting, yucca, greens, iguana; rectangular house, council house, sweat house (temescal), cotton weaving  mecapal (poncho) and huipil (tunic)
Social Organization	bilateral kinship, neolocal; division of labor men- agriculture, irrigation, houses, nets, pottery weaving women- cooking, livestock, gathering and market selling	village hierarchy ceremonial and civil officials; majordomo
World View	myth: emergence seven lakes belief: primary creator male/female; lightening/ rain/mt/ fertility diety fire/sun dirty; animal guardians (tono) ritual: 260 day sacred calendar 5x4x13; shrines; calendrical ceremonies and life cycle ceremonies tied to the sacred 260 day calendar  priests; men and women curanderos	dieties associated with natural forces; and dieties associated with social justice
Expressed Form	Pottery, carving and weaving done by men and women

As we have seen before traditional cultures are always in a state of flux and Zapotec culture is no exception. The florescence of the Zapotec Empire had waned around AD 500, but the people maintained a village complex existence and used trade as a means of cementing alliances that buffered total subjugation to Mixtec and Aztec dominance. Around AD 1400 Zapotec peoples had moved into the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and established agricultural village level complexes. Even under expanding Aztec pressures they remained relatively independent. Traditional social institutions were simply localized and art and trade flourishing. The Zapotec have also been very successful in maintaining their traditional language.

CONTACT

At the time of Spanish contact in the 1521 the number of Zapotec was around 450,00 and in the first 100 years was reduced to 35,000. The Spanish under Francisco de Oruzco came to the Valley of Oaxaca and read the Requiremento claiming the land and people in the name of H. Cortes. Shortly after the so called 'fraile' conquistadors, Fray Bartolome de Olmedo,  came starting Hispanization and Chritianization of the Zapotec. Domincans, and later Jesuits and Franciscan all came in the 1600s to Oaxaca establish missions. This involved the exploitation of Zapotec to build the missions under the Encomienda system that demanded labor and resources. The introduction of sheep was welcomed and soon became a new material for weaving among the Zapotec. However, mining was the more abusive of the colonial aspects of the Encomienda System. Worker insurrections sprang up as early as 1531 and Mixtec and Zapotecs were pitted against each other. In 1660 a major revolt that began in Ixtepeji, Tehuantepec and Nejapan elicited the participation of both men and women. This is sometimes referred to as the Tehuantepec Rebellion. Some of the tension was based on abusive conditions and demands, but the class differentiation between mestizo and indios was beginning to produce favoritism for mestizo and criollos.

The Zapotec  people of Juchitan (Juchitecos) carried out numerous revolts and insurrections into the 19th century especially in 1840 and again in 1866 with the defeat of Napoleon's troops. During the Mexican Revolution, Zapotec, Che Gomez led rebellions but did not directly support Villa. Economically the Isthmus became a focus of development with the Pan-American Highway and later refinery and hydroelectric plants. The Juchitecos continued their efforts to gain fair wages and rights thru the socialist or leftist organization COCEI (Coalicion de Obrevos, Campesinos, e Estudiantes del Istmo/Worker-Peasant-Student Coalition of the Isthmus of Tehauntepec). This organization continues today.

The Zapotec of Teotitlan de Valle (Teotitecos) in Oaxaca have developed a successful coalition of artisans with textiles and carvings that have kept older traditions alive and produced economic independence typical of earlier times with the Mixtec and Aztec. Their textiles and goods are marketed throughout Mexico and up to Tijuana and Los Angeles. This began in the 1920s, but in the 1970s this really expanded with U.S. importers. Today, Teotitlan weavers continue this tradition with Zapotec symbols and design.

Current statistics estimate 400,000 Zapotecs today making them one of the largest intact Native American groups in Mexico.

FAMOUS ZAPOTECS

Benito Juarez president of Mexico 1861-1863
Victor de la Cruz, writer
Oscar Martinez, painter
Sabino Lopez, painter
Che Gomez, military leader
Francisco Toledo, painter