Located in the southwestern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula along the Gulf of Mexico, the State of Campeche was named after the ancient Mayan Kingdom of Ah Kin Pech (Canpech). Campeche is bounded on the north and northeast by the State of Yucatán, on the east by the State of Quintana Roo, on the southeast by the nation of Belize, on the southwest by the State of Tabasco, and on the south by the Petén Department of Guatemala. Campeche also shares 404 kilometers (251 miles) of coastline with the Gulf of Mexico on its west and northwest.

With a total area of 56,798 square kilometers (21,924 square miles), Campeche is Mexico’s eighteenth largest state and occupies 2.9% of the national territory. With a population of 690,689 in the 2000 census, Campeche was ranked thirtieth among the Mexican states in terms of population. The territory of Campeche is politically divided into ten municipios. The capital city is Campeche, which had a population of 216,897 in 2000.

For about two thousand years, the Mayan culture prospered through most of present-day Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras and the five Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas. In all, the territory occupied by the Mayan Indians was probably about 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles) in area and is sometimes referred to collectively as El Mundo Maya (The Mayan World).

The Mayas made a living through agriculture, hunting and fishing. They were also skilled weavers and temple builders who left a treasure trove of archaeological sites for later generations to admire. The Mayan Linguistic Group is one of the largest in the Americas and is divided into approximately 69 languages, including the Huastec, Yucatec, Western Maya, and Eastern Maya groups.

For thousands of years, the Yucatec Maya has been the dominant Mayan language throughout the Yucatán Peninsula, including Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. The language was documented in the ancient hieroglyphs of the Pre-Columbian Mayan civilizations at several archaeological sites and may be as much as 5,000 years old. Even at the time of the 2000 census, 799,696 individuals in the entire Mexican Republic still spoke this language. (This number does not include the other major Mayan linguistic groups, such as the Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Huasteca, and the Chol, all of which thrive in several other Mexican states).

The Mayan ethnohistorian, Ralph L. Roys, has written that sixteen native Mayan states occupied most of the Yucatán Peninsula in the early Sixteenth Century and that this population was "remarkably uniform in language, customs, and fundamental political ideas." Some of the sixteen "provinces" were "true political units," while others were "loose confederations of autonomous communities, as well as groups of independent and mutually hostile states whose ruling families had a common lineage."

Professor Roys and other historians have indicated that most of present-day Campeche was ruled over by four native states when the Spaniards first arrived in 1517: Acalán-Tixcel, Chanputún (Champotón), Canpech (Ah Kin Pech), and Ah Canul. While Acalán was primarily occupied by the Chontal Indians, the other three states were Yucatec Mayan nations.

The Chontal Indians of Acalán-Tixchel primarily occupied the territory that now includes the eastern part of the State of Tabasco and the southwest Campeche Municipio of Palizada. In all, this kingdom included at least 76 communities. It is believed that Chontalli was a Náhuatl term meaning "foreigner." The Chontal of Tabasco speak one of the 69 Mayan languages and have a close relation to the Yucatec Maya and Chol on the east and the Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Kanjobal, and Chuj of Chiapas on the west.

The original inhabitants of the present-day Palizada Municipio were the Chontal Indians living in the Acalán-Tixchel Province, literally "the place of canoes." However, at some point before the Spanish contact, Náhuatl-speaking merchants had settled at Xicallanco and Chanputún, driving out the Chontal. At the time of contact, an Aztec pochteca ruled over the important trading colony at Xicallanco and the surrounding area, while small Chontal communities were scattered along the lower Mamantel and Candelaria rivers. Living in the regions east of Acalán-Tixchel were a Yucatec Mayan people who were known as the Cehache or Mazateca, inhabiting the border region between what is now Campeche and the Petén District of Guatemala.

Northeast of Acalán-Tixchel, along the present-day central coastline of Campeche, was the Yucatec Mayan Province of Chanputún (Champotón), which ran from present-day Champotón northward to Tichac (Sihochac) and extended some distance inland. Apparently named for its principal town (now known as Champotón), Chanputún represented the southwestern extension of the Yucatec Mayan cultural region. The Aztecs referred to the entire region of Champotón and Campeche as the "Province of Cochistan."

Canpech probably earned its name from its principal town, the present-day city of Campeche (which was the Spanish pronunciation of the word). Cardinal Juan de Torquemada gives the Mayan name as Kinpech, which has also been reconstructed as Ah Kin Pech, but the colonial Maya manuscripts only refer to it as Canpech. Ah Kin Pech, in the Mayan language, means "the place of serpents and ticks."

The Mayan Province of Ah Canul, with Calkiní as its primary town, extended about 145 kilometers (56 miles) along the western coastal plain from the Homtún River (slightly north of Campeche) to Punta Kipté on the northern coastline of Yucatán State. Ralph L. Roys wrote that "the Province of Ah Canul was one of the largest native states in the northern and more thickly populated half of the Yucatan peninsula." From the west coast it extended inland "for an average distance of about 50 km."

Ah Canul included the present-day Campeche municipios of Tenabo, Hecelchakán, and Calkiní. The Province also extended into western Yucatán State, where it included the present-day cities of Kinchil, Umán, and Hunucma within its boundaries.

On March 22, 1517, a Spanish naval force, under the command of Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, sailing from Cuba, arrived off the shores of the Yucatán Peninsula, eventually passing south along the coastline of Campeche. The expedition stopped at a village named Lázarus, near the present-day site of Campeche, which was then part of the Canpech Province. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo (a member of the expedition), crewmembers stopped briefly at this location to look for water and were approached by a group of fifty natives. Soon after, however, Mayan priests told the Spaniards to leave the area or face death, and they complied by departing.

The Spanish force moved south along the Campeche coastline and – ten days later, the Spaniards landed again near Champotón, where a cacique named Moch-Cuouh ruled. Shortly after the arrival of the Spaniards, the Mayans attacked in force, killing more than fifty men. With their manpower reduced by half, the expedition was forced to return to Cuba. Córdoba himself received multiple wounds from ten arrows and died shortly after his return to Cuba.

In April 1518, another expedition of four ships and 300 men under the command of Juan de Grijalva left Cuba for the Yucatán. This expedition landed near Campeche at the river Lagartos, but was soon attacked by the Mayan inhabitants and left the region.

In 1525, Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Tenochtitlán, passed through a small portion of Campeche. During this time, Cortés made an alliance with Paxbolonacha, the ruler of Acalán. This accommodation initiated a gradual incorporation of the Chontal Mayan into the Spanish empire. Cortés’ account of his journey through Acalán served as motivation for Francisco de Montejo to lead a second expedition to Acalán and the Yucatán area.

In December 1526, a wealthy nobleman from Salamanca, Spain, Francisco de Montejo was granted a royal contract (capitulación) to raise an army and conquer the Yucatán Peninsula. In 1527, Montejo landed with a crew of 500 Spanish soldiers at Cozumel (in present-day Quintana Roo) to commence with the conquest. Accompanied by his son – known as "El Mozo" (The Youthful) – and his nephew ("Sobrino"), Montejo crossed the Yucatán from east to west, eventually reaching the Campeche coastline near Kin Pech.

The resistance of the Mayan provinces kept the Spanish forces in check for several years. In 1529, Montejo subdued the natives of Xicallanco, Copilco, and Hueyatastla in the south. After working to subdue the Chontal of Acalán and the Zoque of the highlands of Tabasco, Montejo later moved to the coastal region of Campeche where he was able to establish friendly relations with the natives of Champotón in 1530. By early 1531, Montejo controlled both Champotón and Campeche. Campeche became Montejo’s primary base of operations as he sent his lieutenant Alonso de Avila to explore and conquer the Mayan provinces in the central and eastern sections of the peninsula.

While Avila made his way through the interior of the Yucatán, Montejo was able to consolidate his control over the province of Ah Canul north of Campeche, while the younger Montejo moved through several Mayan provinces. As a result, researchers France Scholes and Ralph Roys observed that "by the end of 1532 a considerable part of northern Yucatan had apparently accepted Spanish suzerainty."

By the summer of 1534, however, Montejo the Younger’s position in the Yucatán became precarious. With a depleted force, he departed his headquarters at Dzilam and retreated to join his father at Campeche. At the end of 1534, the older Montejo and his forces evacuated Campeche altogether, withdrawing to Tabasco. Campeche would not return to Spanish rule until 1541. A contributing factor to the failure of the Montejos to hold their positions was the loss of men who decided to go to Peru to find greater spoils in the conquest of the Inca Empire.

In 1537, Spanish forces under Alonso de Avila returned to Campeche and were able to establish a base at San Pedro de Champotón in present-day Campeche. During this period, the young settlement, according to France Scholes and Ralph Roys, "maintained a very uncertain existence."

In 1540, Montejo the Younger arrived in Champotón to resume the conquest of the Yucatán Peninsula. By this time, Scholes and Roys explain, the indigenous inhabitants of the area had "became increasingly restive." At the end of 1540, Montejo moved the settlement at Champotón to Campeche, which ultimately became the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Yucatán Peninsula.

Forming alliances with some of the local chieftains during 1541, the Montejos were able to subdue native forces in the provinces of Canpech and Ah Canul, bringing the present-day municipios of Tenabo, Hecelchakan and Calkiní under control. Later in the year, Montejo founded the "Villa and Puerto de San Francisco de Campeche." From Campeche, Montejo moved on to the rest of the Yucatán Peninsula, where he won several battles and broke the power of the Mayan resistance, founding the city of Mérida on January 6, 1542.

Once effective control had been established, the City of Campeche served a "strategic role as a trade and administrative center." The first Franciscan missionaries arrived in Campeche perhaps as early as 1537, followed three years later by the founding of the first mission in Campeche. In the new few years, the Franciscans also moved into Champotón and Acalán.

Even before pacifying the native peoples of Campeche, Francisco Montejo and his lieutenants began to distribute the inhabitants through encomiendas, which were royal grants of indigenous inhabitants that licensed a Spanish encomendero to receive their labor and tribute. Unfortunately, the encomiendas became subject to abuse and were frequently enforced through brutality and cruelty. The Indians of Campeche, Champotón, and Acalán-Tixchel were distributed in encomiendas to the Spanish residents of Salamanca in 1530-1531, and they were reassigned in 1537.

Disease also took its toll on the indigenous people of Campeche. At contact, the populations of Champotón and Acalán probably numbered about 110,000. But smallpox decimated several communities in 1519 or 1520. An assessment of Champotón in 1549 suggested that there were about 2,000 Indian inhabitants left. A similar assessment of the Acalán encomienda in 1553 suggested about 4,000 Indians living in that province.

Ah Canul, which is located in a dryer climate than the rest of Campeche, was less affected by plagues than most other areas of Campeche and the Yucatán. It is estimated that the population at contact was 35,000 and that this dropped to 13,000 in 1548. After this, however, immigration from other areas helped rebuild the native population of Ah Canuel.

After independence, Campeche was essentially a part of Yucatán, which proclaimed its sovereignty in August 1822. But Yucatán and Campeche were both re-incorporated into Mexico in February 1824. Yucatán became a state within the Mexican Republic on October 3, 1824. On May 31, 1841, Yucatán declared its independence from Mexico. The state was re-incorporated into Mexico in December 1843, but independence was restored in December 1846. In August 17, 1848, Yucatán and Campeche were once again reincorporated into the Mexican Republic.

On August 7, 1857, Campeche was split off from Yucatán and declared as a district of Yucatán. On May 18, 1858, Campeche was created as the District of Campeche and the Isla de Carmen. Subsequently, upon approval of the Congress, Campeche was declared an "Estado Libre y Soberano de Campeche" (Free and Sovereign State of Campeche) of the Mexican Federation on April 29, 1863. From May 1864 to January 10, 1867, Campeche was reincorporated into Yucatán before returning to permanent statehood.

In the 1895 census, Campeche was reported to have 39,212 persons aged 5 years or more who spoke an indigenous language, representing 44.5% of the population. During the same census, Campeche’s Spanish-speaking population numbered 48,671. After this census, the number of indigenous speaking persons in Campeche dropped steadily, in 1900 to 35,977 indigenous speakers and in 1910 to 28,280. The majority of the indigenous speakers in 1910 communicated in the Mayan language (26,998 speakers). Fifty-one Yaquis were also tallied, possibly Porfiriato exiles from Sonora.

In Mexico’s 1910 census, 227,883 persons were classified as speakers of the Yucatec Mayan language, representing 11.62% of the 1,960,306 indigenous-speaking population in the entire country. Mayan speakers were represented in 14 Mexican states, but only four states had significant numbers of them.

Yucatán contained the largest number of Mayan speakers. A total of 199,073 Mayan speakers lived in that state, representing 87.36% of all the Yucatec Mayan speakers in the country. Campeche had the second largest number of Mayan speakers with 26,998, which represented 11.85% of all Mayan speakers. Two other states had significant numbers of Maya speakers: Quintana Roo (1,120) and Chiapas (638).

In the unique 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including "indígena pura" (pure indigenous), "indígena mezclada con blanca" (indigenous mixed with white) and "blanca" (white). Out of a total state population of 76,419, 33,176 persons (or 43.4%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background. Slightly fewer – 31,675, or 41.5% – classified themselves as being mixed, while a mere 10,825 (14.2%) claimed to be white. When compared to the other Mexican states, Campeche had the sixth largest "indígena pura" population.

Although a significant number of people in Campeche claimed to be of pure indigenous heritage, a much smaller number – 23,410 – were classified as speakers of indigenous languages five years of age and more, representing 35.9% of the state population. All but five of these persons were Mayan Indians, while four spoke the Amuzgo language.

In the 1930 census, the number of indigenous speakers five years of age and over in the state of Campeche climbed to 31,324, representing 43.65% of the state’s population five years of age and over. The fact that 16,233 indigenous speakers were monolingual and unable to speak Spanish (representing 51.82% of the indigenous-speaking population) was indicative that some natives of Campeche successfully avoided assimilation into the central Hispanic culture.

Over the next four decades, Campeche’s indigenous-speaking population continued to grow, even though its percentage of the population dropped significantly from 43.65% in 1930 to 27.09% in 1970. The Mayan language was, by far, the most widely spoken indigenous language in Campeche at the time of the 1970 census. At least 55,346 persons out of the 57,031 indigenous speakers spoke Mayan, representing 97.05% of all indigenous speakers in Campeche. The Chol language, in second place, was spoken by only 411 individuals, followed by Otomí (320) and Tzeltal (206).

According to the 2000 census, 185,938 residents of Campeche were classified as "Indígena," representing 26.9% of Campeche’s total population (690,689). In contrast, the population of persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages amounted to 93,765 individuals, who made up only 15.45% of Campeche’s population five years and older. These individuals spoke more than fifty Indian languages, some of which were transplants from Central America or other parts of the Mexican Republic. Although most of the indigenous speakers were bilingual, 5,308 persons were registered as monolingual.

According to the estimates of INEGI and CONAPO, Campeche had four municipios that contained an indigenous population greater than 50 percent. In three of those four municipios, persons speaking indigenous languages also represented at least half the population of the municipio. At the same time, only two municipios contained populations that were less than ten percent indigenous. And, while Campeche’s overall indigenous-speaking population represented 15.5% of the total state population five or more years of age, five municipios had indigenous-speaking populations that were less than ten percent.

Calkiní, the municipio in the northwest corner of Campeche along the border of Yucatán, boasted the largest number of indigenous inhabitants in 2000. According to census statistics, 42,008 persons were classified as "Indígena," representing 89.6% of the population of the municipio. Calkiní also contained 26,558 inhabitants 5 years of age or older who spoke some indigenous language, representing 63.16% of the municipio’s population and 28.3% of Campeche’s entire indigenous-speaking population of 93,765. Almost all of these individuals (26,453) spoke the Maya language.

In the year 2000, speakers of Yucatec Maya continued to represent the dominant language in the entire Yucatán Peninsula, with 547,098 (68.7%) in Yucatán, 163,477 (20.5%) in Quintana Roo, and 75,874 (9.5%) in Campeche. The 75,874 individuals 5 years of age and over who spoke the Mayan language in Campeche represented only 9.53% of the 796,314 Mayans who resided in the entire Mexican Republic in 2000 but also represented 80.9% of all indigenous language speakers in the state.

The Mayan language family has a strong presence in seven Mexican states (Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz) and is the second most common language group in all of Mexico.

The Mayan Language is the dominant indigenous language in all but three of Campeche’s municipios. In the 2000 census, four of the municipios had at least 10,000 Mayan speakers: Calkiní (26,453), Hopelchén (14,961), Campeche (12,463), and Hecelchakán (11,396). Adjacent to the Mayan-dominant Yucatán state, Calkiní contained 34.9% of all the Mayan speakers in Campeche in 2000.

The Chenes Region of Campeche (Hopelchen, and part of Campeche) contains a highly traditional and conservative Mayan population, which due to its relative isolation, has a significant number of Mayan monolingual speakers. In 2000, the 2,626 monolingual speakers in Campeche Municipio represented 9.9% of the entire indigenous-speaking population. In Hopelchen, 1,045 monolingual speakers represented 7.0% of those who spoke Indian tongues.

Some two thousand or more years ago, the Chol Indians inhabited the region which is now known as Guatemala and Honduras. Over time, they split into two main groups, the Chol migrating gradually to the region of present day Chiapas, and the Chortis staying in the region of Guatemala. The Choles of the present day call themselves "Winik" ("Man") and primarily occupy northern Chiapas, adjacent to the states of Tabasco and Campeche.

The Chol Indians of Campeche numbered 8,844 in the 2000 census and accounted for 9.4% of the indigenous-speaking population of the state. The small number of Chol living in Campeche, in fact, represented only 5.47% of the 161,766 Choles who lived in the entire Mexican Republic. According to Ethnologue.com, the Chol belong to the Chol-Chontal subfamily of the Mayan Linguistic Group. The Chontal of Tabasco are, in fact, a very closely related language as are the Chortí of Guatemala. The Chol are the dominant indigenous language in three southern Campeche municipios: Calakmul (4,253 speakers in 2000), Escárcega (1,804), and Candelaria (1,388).

A total of 1,896 individuals five years of age or more in Campeche spoke the Kanjobal language in 2000, representing 2.0% of the population five years of age and older that spoke indigenous languages. The Kanjobal of Campeche represented 21.03% of the 9,015 Kanjobal-speakers living in the entire Mexican Republic in 2000. The Municipio of Champotón in southeastern Campeche contained 1,567 of the 1,896 Kanjobal-speakers in Campeche, but even in this municipio, they still only represented the second largest linguistic group (after the Mayans).

The Kanjobal Language belongs to the Kanjobalan-Chujean subfamily of the Mayan Linguistic Family. This subfamily includes the Chuj, Jacalteco, Kanjobal, Motozintleco (Mocho, Tuzanteco), and Tojolabal languages. Most of the languages of this subfamily straddle the border between Chiapas and Guatemala. Ethnologue reported that in 1998, 48,500 persons in Guatemala spoke the Kanjobal language, which represented 82.8% of the worldwide population of 58,600 at that time. The presence of Kanjobal as a language of Campeche is not unusual considering that the non-native population numbered 26.4% in 2000. In all, 14,262 speakers of indigenous languages in Campeche were born in other states or countries.

The 1,706 individuals who spoke the Tzeltal language in Campeche in 2000 represented only 0.6% of the 284,826 Tzeltal-speakers in the entire Mexican Republic. According to the 2000 census, 278,577 persons five years of age or more who spoke the Tzeltal language lived in the State of Chiapas, representing 97.8% of the total population in the Republic.

The Mame language is not a common language in Campeche, largely because it is primarily a language of Guatemala, where as many as 200,000 people probably speak the language. In the Mexican Republic, however, Mame was spoken by only 7,680 individuals aged 5 or over in 2000. Mames inhabit small portions of Campeche, Quintana Roo and Chiapas, mainly in the southeastern frontier zones adjacent to Guatemala and principally in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. The majority of Mame speakers are immigrants from Guatemala who settled in refugee camps in recent decades.

Speakers of other indigenous languages in Campeche at the time of the 2000 census included the Tzotzil (552 speakers), Náhuatl (468), Zapoteco (468), Kekchi (366), and the Jacalteco (53). The Kekchi and Jacalteco, like the Mame language, are languages indigenous to Guatemala.

The Jacalteco language appears to be another language that is primarily spoken by migrants and refugees from Guatemala. According to the 2000 census, only 53 persons aged 5 and over spoke the Jacalteco language in Campeche, most of them inhabiting Champotón Municipio. The state of Chiapas, in contrast, had 453 persons of the same age range who spoke the language. But the language is most common in Guatemala, where approximately 20,000 people speak the language today.

The number of indigenous speakers five years of age and older actually decreased from 93,765 to 89,084 between the 2000 census and the 2005 census count. As such, the percentage of indigenous speakers dropped from 15.5% to 13.3%. It is expected that some immigration from Guatemala, Chiapas and the Yucatán will probably continue to contribute new speakers of Indian languages to the State. However, the number of actual indigenous speakers, as a portion of the total population, will probably continue its decline.

In spite of this, Campeche itself is a wonderful representation of the ancient Mayan world. With archaeological sites at Calakmul, Edzná, Balamkú, Becán, Chicanná, Dzbilnocac, Hochob, Xpuhil, Campeche can offer any tourist a glimpse into the life of the Mayan people when their culture was at its zenith. In this sense of the word, Campeche will always be indigenous and will always be Mayan.

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2003).

Peter Gerhard, The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).

Raymond G. Gordon, Jr. (ed.), "Ethnologue: Linguistic Lineage for Maya, Yucatán," (Dallas, Tex.: SIL International, 2005). Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_lang_family.asp?code=yua [Accessed February 27, 2006].

Ralph L. Roys, The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1957).

France V. Scholes and Ralph L. Roys, The Maya Chontal Indians of Acalán-Tixchel: A Contribution to the History and Ethnography of the Yucatan Peninsula (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968, 2nd edition).

John Schmal is the coauthor of "The Indigenous Roots of a Mexican-American Family" (available as item M2469 through Heritage Books at http://heritagebooks.com). Recently, he also published "The Journey to Latino Political Representation" (available as item S4114).

The Mexican state of Oaxaca, located along the Pacific Ocean in the southeastern section of the country, consists of 95,364 square kilometers and occupies 4.85% of the total surface area of the Mexican Republic. Located where the Eastern Sierra Madre and the Southern Sierra Madre come together, Oaxaca shares a common border with the states of Mexico, Veracruz and Puebla (on the north), Chiapas (on the east), and Guerrero (on the west).

The name Oaxaca was originally derived from the Náhuatl word, Huayacac, which roughly translated means The Place of the Seed in reference to a tree commonly found in Oaxaca. As the fifth largest state of Mexico, Oaxaca is characterized by extreme geographic fragmentation. With extensive mountain ranges throughout the state, Oaxaca has an average altitude of 1,500 meters (5,085 feet) above sea level, even though only about 9% of this is arable land. With such a large area and rough terrain, Oaxaca is divided into 571 municipios (almost one-quarter of the national total). 

Oaxaca's rugged topography has played a significant role in giving rise to its amazing cultural diversity. Because individual towns and tribal groups lived in isolation from each other for long periods of time, the subsequent seclusion allowed sixteen ethnolinguistic groups to maintain their individual languages, customs and ancestral traditions intact well into the colonial era and – to some extent – to the present day. For this reason, Oaxaca is – by and large – the most ethnically complex of Mexico’s thirty-one states. The Zapotec (347,000 people) and the Mixtec (241,000 people) are the two largest groups of Indians, but they make up only two parts of the big puzzle.

Even today, it is believed that at least half of the population of Oaxaca still speaks an indigenous dialect. Sixteen different indigenous groups have been formally registered as indigenous communities, all perfectly well defined through dialect, customs, food habits, rituals, cosmogony, etc. However, the historian María de Los Angeles Romero Frizzi suggests that "the linguistic categorization is somewhat misleading" partly because "the majority of indigenous peoples in Oaxaca identify more closely with their village or their community than with their ethnolinguistic group." 

In addition, Ms. Romero writes, some of the language families - including Zapotec, Mixtec, and Mazateco - "encompass a variety of regional languages, making for a more diverse picture than the number sixteen would suggest." When the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Oaxaca in 1521, the inhabitants had split into hundreds of independent village-states. By the time of the 1900 Mexican Federal Census, 471,439 individuals spoke indigenous languages, representing 49.70% of the state population and 17.24% of the national population.

Then in the unique 1921 census, 25,458 residents of Oaxaca claimed to be of "pure indigenous" descent, equal to 3.96% of the state population. Another 328,724 persons were listed as "indigenous mixed with white" (called mestizo or mezclada). And in the 1930 census, 56.4% of Oaxaca’s population spoke indigenous languages.

By the time of the 1990 census, 1,018,106 persons aged five or more speaking indigenous languages made up 39.12% of the total state population and 19.3% of the national total of Indian-language speakers. This, however, did not count another 190,715 children aged 0 to 4 years of age, living with indigenous speakers. And an additional 383,199 Oaxaca residents were classified as having an indigenous identity (but not speaking an Amerindian language). Once you had added up all these figures, you will find that 1,592,020 persons of indigenous identity lived in the state, representing 52.72% of the total state population and 18.27% of the total indigenous population of the Mexican Republic.

Even in the 2000 census, 1,120,312 indigenous speaking persons aged five and older represented 37.11% of the state population five and over. Out of this total, 477,788 persons were classified as monolingual, representing 11.02% of the state population five years of age and older and 19.56% of the indigenous-speaking language.

Oaxaca's two largest indigenous groups are the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs. The roots of these two indigenous groups stretch very deeply into the early Mesoamerican era of Oaxaca. Living in their mountain enclaves and fertile valleys, many of the early occupants of Oaxaca harvested corn, beans, chocolate, tomatoes, chili, squash, pumpkin and gourds and fished the rivers for a wide range of fish. Their primary sources of meat were tepezuintle, turkey, deer, jabali, armadillo and iguana. 

Without a doubt, the Oto-Manguean language family is the largest linguistic group in the state of Oaxaca, represented by at least 173 languages. The author Nicholas A. Hopkins, in his article "Otomanguean Linguistic Prehistory," states that glottochronological studies of the Oaxaca Indian groups indicate that the first diversification of this group of languages had begun by 4400 B.C. It is believed that nine branches of the Oto-Manguean family were already distinct by 1500 B.C., and that some of this linguistic differentiation actually took place in the Valley of Tehuacán. Both the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs belong to this linguistic family.

The Zapotec Indians, a sedentary, agricultural city-dwelling people, are believed to be among the earliest ethnic groups to gain prominence in the region. As a matter of fact, the Zapotecs have always called themselves Be'ena'a, which means The People. The implication of this terminology is that the Zapotecs believe that they are "The True People" or "The people of this place." Unlike many other Mesoamerican Indians groups, the Zapotecs have no legend of migration and their legends claim that their ancestors emerged from the earth or from caves, or that they turned from trees or jaguars into people. Upon death, they believe, they would return to their former status. 

It is this belief that gave rise to the term Be'ena Za'a (Cloud People), which was applied to the Central Valley Zapotecs. In the pre-Hispanic era, Aztec merchants and soldiers dealing with these people translated their name phonetically into Náhuatl: Tzapotecatl. When the Spaniards arrived, they took this word and transformed it into Zapoteca. The Mixtecs, a sister culture of the Zapotecs, also received their "Aztec" name due to their identity as "Cloud People" (Ñusabi), but in their case the Náhuatl translation was literal, as Mixtecatl translates directly as "Cloud Person." In their art, architecture, hieroglyphics, mathematics, and calendar, the Zapotecs appeared to have shared cultural affinities with the ancient Olmec and the Mayan Indians. 

The Zapotec Indians may have emerged as the dominant group in Oaxaca as early as 100 B.C. Their most famous cultural center was Monte Albán, which is considered one of the most majestic ceremonial centers of Mesoamerica. Built in a mountain range overlooking picturesque valleys, Monte Albán is a complex of pyramids and platforms surrounding an enormous esplanade. This center was dedicated to the cult of the mysterious Zapotec gods and to the celebration of the military victories of the Zapotec people. The pinnacle of Monte Albán's development probably took place from 250 A.D. to 700 A.D., at which time Monte Albán had become home to some 25,000 people and was the capital city of the Zapotec nation.

However, sometime around A.D. 800, Monte Albán was suddenly abandoned. Some archaeologists have suggested that this move took place because the local resources of food and the fertility of the slopes had been severely depleted. However, the Zapotec culture itself continued to flourish in the valleys of Oaxaca and the Zapotecs moved their capital to Zaachila. From about 950 to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521, there was minimal life at Monte Alban, except that the Mixtecs - who arrived in the Central Valleys between 1100 and 1350 - reused old tombs at the site to bury their own dignitaries. 

At about the same time that the Mixtecs arrived in Oaxaca, the Zapotec culture went into decline. Soon, the Mixtecs conquered Zapotecs and other indigenous groups. The Mixtecs originally inhabited the southern portions of what are now the states of Guerrero and Puebla. However, they started moving south and eastward, eventually making their way to the Central Valley of Oaxaca. In their newly adopted land, the Mixtecs became prolific expansionists and builders, leaving behind numerous as yet unexplored sites throughout the region. 

However, the Mixtecs' prominence in the Valley of Oaxaca was short-lived. By the middle of the Fifteenth Century, a new power appeared on the horizon. The Aztec Empire, centered in Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City), was in the process of building a great empire that stretched through much of what is now southern Mexico. In the 1450s, the Aztec armies crossed the mountains into the Valley of Oaxaca with the intention of extending their hegemony into this hitherto unconquered region.

Soon, both the Zapotecs and Mixtecs would be struggling to keep the Aztecs from gaining control of their trade routes to Chiapas and Guatemala. After a series of long and arduous battles, the forces of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina triumphed over the Mixtecs in 1458. In spite of their subservience to the Aztec intruders, the Mixtecs were able to continue exercising regional authority in the Valley. In 1486 the Aztecs established a fort on the hill of Huaxyácac (now called El Fortín), overlooking the present city of Oaxaca. This location thus became the seat of an Aztec garrison that was charged with the enforcement of tribute collection from the restive subjects of this wealthy province.

The ascendancy of the Aztecs in Oaxaca would only last a little more than three decades. In 1521, as the Zapotecs, Mixtecs and other vassals of the Aztecs worked the fields and paid tribute to their distant rulers, news arrived that strange invaders with beards and unusual weapons had arrived from the eastern sea. As word spread throughout Mesoamerica, many indigenous groups thought that the arrival of these strangers might be the fulfillment of ancient prophesies predicting the downfall of the Aztecs. 

Then, in August 1521, came the news that the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán had fallen to a combined force of Spanish and Indian soldiers under the command of a white-skinned, red-haired man named Hernán Cortés. Word of this conquest spread quickly, causing the inhabitants over a large area to speculate on what was to come next.

In addition to the Zapotec and Mixtec Indians, fourteen other indigenous groups have lived and flourished throughout the present-day state of Oaxaca. While they never achieved the numbers and influence attained by the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, they, nevertheless, represent an important factor in the historical and cultural panorama of Oaxaca.  These indigenous groups are described below:

Amuzgos. As a part of the Oto-Manguean language family, the Amuzgo Indians inhabit the border region of southeastern Guerrero and southwestern Oaxaca. Speaking three primary dialects, an estimated 28,000 Amuzgos were registered in the 1990 Mexican census. However, only twenty percent of this number were living in Oaxaca, with the majority residing in Guerrero.

The Amuzgos call themselves Tzjon non, which means People of the Textiles.  In 1457, the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Illhuicamia partially conquered these people. However rebellions against Aztec rule took place in 1494 and 1504-7. Although the uprisings were suppressed, the Aztecs never totally subjugated the Amuzgos. Today, the Amuzgos of Oaxaca live in Putla and San Pedro Amuzgos. For the 2000 census, 4,819 individuals aged five or more claimed to speak the Amuzgo language, representing 0.43% of Oaxaca’s total indigenous figure. This makes the Amuzgo language the thirteenth most common linguistic group of all Oaxaca’s indigenous tongues.

Chatinos. The Chatino nation, boasting an area of 3,071 square miles (7,677 square kilometers) is located in southwestern Oaxaca. The Chatinos belong to the Oto-Manguean language group and speak seven main dialects. Historical researchers believe that they were one of the first indigenous groups to inhabit the State of Oaxaca. In his book, Historia de Oaxaca, the historian José Antonio Gay speculates that they arrived in a scarcely-populated area (now in the municipio of Juquila) from a "distant land" long before the arrival of the Zapotecs and Mixtecs.

The Chatinos call themselves Kitse cha'tnio, which means Work of the Words. The Chatinos were a military-oriented group who made war against both the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs. However, the Mixtecs eventually defeated them some years before the arrival of the Spaniards.  In 2000, the Chatinos represented sixth most common indigenous tribe of Oaxaca, represented by 40,004 persons aged five and over who spoke the language (3.57% of the population).

Chinantecos. The Chinantecos, numbering more than 104,000 people, presently inhabit the Chinantla region of north central Oaxaca near the border of Veracruz. As a division of the Oto-Manguean linguistic group, the Chinantecos speak as many as 14 different dialects. The Chinantecos of San Juan Lealao in northeast Oaxaca, who speak a divergent variety of the language, call themselves Dsa jmii (Plains people) and refer to their language as Fah jmii (Plains language). 

The Chinantecos presently inhabit an area in which archaeologists have located temples that were apparently used as ceremonial centers, and where prisoners were supposedly sacrificed during the most important celebrations of the year. Historians believe that the Indians living in this region were struggling to maintain their independence against sudden and numerous attacks by the Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Mixes and Aztecs. The latter, led by Moctezuma I, finally conquered the Chinantla region during the Fifteenth Century, forcing its inhabitants to pay tribute and participate in the religious practices in honor of the Aztec deities.  In the 1970 census, 52,313 persons five years of age and older living in Oaxaca spoke the Chinanteco language, which is the fourth largest ethnic group (7.72%), behind the Zapotecs, Mixtecs, and Mazatecos. However, between 1970 and 2000, the number of Chinanteco speakers rose dramatically to 104,010, equivalent to 9.28% of Oaxaca’s total indigenous population.

Chocho. Living in the northern zone of "Mixteca Alta" (Upper Mixteca), near Oaxaca's border with Puebla, the Chocho people (also known as Chochones and Chocholtecas) call themselves Runixa ngiigua, which means Those Who Speak The Language. Inhabiting a region that is rich in archaeological sites, this tribe belongs to the Oto-Manguean family. 

The land of Chochones was conquered by the Mixtecs, followed, in 1461, by an invasion of the Aztecs led by Moctezuma Ilhuicamina. The Aztec conquest of the Mixtecs and Chochos was economic in nature. The subjects were forced to pay tribute to the Aztecs but were allowed to maintain their traditions and political autonomy.

Chontales. Chontal is the name of two very distinct languages spoken in the states of Tabasco and Oaxaca. This group's physical separation, enhanced by its different geographical and climactic conditions, has propitiated its division into Coastal and Mountain groups. Chontal Tabasco is a member of the Mayan language family and Chontal Oaxaca a member of the Hokan language family, which is more widely represented in the Southwestern United States and the border states of Baja California and Sonora. The Chontales of Oaxaca refer to themselves Slijuala xanuc, which means Inhabitants of the Mountains.

The origins of the Oaxacan Chontal population have not been conclusively determined, but some archaeologists believe that they originally came from Nicaragua. Warfare may have motivated them to move north, through what is now Honduras, Yucatán and Tabasco. Eventually, they settled down in both Oaxaca and Tabasco. Founded in 1374, the Kingdom of the Chontals eventually came into conflict with the Zapotecs. After a series of ongoing confrontations, the Zapotecs finally defeated them. Under Spanish rule, the Chontales carried on a formidable resistance for some time. In the 2000 census, 4,610 Chontal de Oaxaca were tallied at 4,610, representing 0.41% of the state’s total indigenous speaking population. Today, the Chontal Oaxaca inhabit the southernmost region of Oaxaca and speak two major dialects.

Cuicateco. Cuicateco territory, located in northwestern Oaxaca, occupies an approximate area of 3,243 square miles. Little is known about the Cuicateco people, due to the destruction of maps, codex and other written testimony by the Spanish about the Mixteca and Zapotec cultures, with which they were intimately related. However, archaeological research conducted in some of the ruins in the region they currently inhabit, have led some historians to speculate that the Cuicateco are descended from Toltecan immigrants, who dispersed with the fall of Tula in 1064. 

Because they inhabited the fertile lowlands of the Cuicatlan River, the Cuicateco nation was a frequent target of other Indian groups. After fighting off numerous invasions, they eventually came into the orbit of the Mixtec nation. However, when the Aztecs arrived in 1456, the Cuicatecos formed an alliance with them, seeking to free themselves of Mixtec oppression. By the time of the Spanish arrival, their population numbered 60,000. However, in the 2000 census, only 12,128 persons five years of age or more claimed to speak the Cuicateco language, representing more than one percent of Oaxaca’s total indigenous population, living primarily in northwestern Oaxaca.

Huave. Although the origins of the Huave nation have not been indisputably determined, some historians believe that this group came from a distant land, possibly from Nicaragua or even as far away as Peru. It is believed that the Huave arrived by sea, traveling along the coast as they sought out a new home. Finally, they reached the Tehuantepec coast, inhabited by the Mixe nation, who did not oppose their settlement.

Eventually, the Huave nation conquered a large expanse of Oaxacan territory, known today as Jalapa del Marques. However, Aztec armies under the command of Moctezuma I invaded and conquered both the Zapotec and Huave kingdoms, forcing both to pay tribute. Then, the Zapotecs, taking advantage of their weakened condition, invaded the territory of the Huaves and obliged them to flee the Jalapa del Marques Valley for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (now in southeastern Oaxaca) where they still live today, occupying a small strip of coastline just east of the city of Tehuantepec. Today, the 13,678 Huave speakers of Oaxaca – who represent 1.2% of the total indigenous population of Oaxaca’s indigenous people in the 2000 census – call themselves Mero ikooc, which means The True Us. As small as their group is, they are actually the eighth-most common language spoken.

Ixcatecos. The Ixcateco Indians inhabit only the town of Santa Maria de Ixcatlán in the municipio of the same name, in the north part of the state. Living in one of the most arid, eroded and poorest regions of the country, the Ixcatecos are the only remnants of the pre-Hispanic Ixcateco nation, which once occupied another seven communities. These towns were probably abandoned because of the lack of water and agricultural failure. Due to the inaccessibility of their territory, the Ixcatecos remained an independent nation until the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II overwhelmed them early in the Sixteenth Century. 

Mazatecos. Occupying the northernmost region of the state, the Mazatecos occupy two environmentally and culturally well-defined regions: the upper Sierra Madre Oriental mountains and the Papaloapan Basin. The Mazatecos call themselves Ha shuta enima, which means People of Custom. Some historians, in their interpretation of the Quauhtinchan Annals, believe that the Mazatecos descend from the Nonoalca-Chichimecas, who migrated south from Tula early in the Twelfth Century.

In recent decades, the Mazatecos Indians have represented one of the largest linguistic groups in Oaxaca. With 93,376 individuals aged five and older speaking Mazatec in 1970, this linguistic group was used by 13.79% of indigenous speakers. These numbers increased significantly in the 2000 census, when 174,352 Mazateco speakers were tallied, representing 15.6% of the total indigenous speaking population of Oaxaca. A significant number of Mazatecos also occupy Veracruz and Puebla.

Mixes. Although they represent the fourth largest of Oaxaca's ethnic groups, the Mixes are an isolated ethnic group that inhabits the northeastern part of Oaxaca, close to the border with Veracruz. This region consists of 19 municipios and 108 communities. The Mixes call themselves Ayuuk, which means The People. Some historians believe that the Mixes may have migrated from present-day Peru in search of Zempoaltepetl, a pagan god, and the Hill of Twenty Gods. Another theory claims that they came from the tropical zone of the Gulf of Mexico. 

What is known is that the Mixes arrived in Oaxaca, on successive excursions, from 1294 to 1533. They immediately came into conflict with both the Mixtecs and Zapotecs, with whom they fought many battles. Later on, however, they allied themselves with the Zapotecs against the Aztecs. And, with the arrival of the Spaniards from Tenochtitlán, their stubborn resistance continued. In the 2000 census, 105,443 persons aged five or more were classified as speakers of one or more of the seven distinct dialects of the Mixe. The Mixe thus represented 9.4% of the total indigenous speaking population, with approximately 38,000 of these people classified as monolingual, making them the Mexican indigenous group with the highest rate of monolingualism.

Mixtecs. Today, the Mixtec Indians, who were discussed earlier in this article, inhabit a geographic region of more than 40,000 square kilometers in northwestern Oaxaca and smaller portions of Puebla and Guerrero. The Mixtec territory is divided into three subregions: the Upper Mixteca, Lower Mixteca and the Coast Mixteca. The Upper Mixteca, covering 38 municipios, is the most populated region. The Lower Mixteca covers another 31 municipios in northwestern Oaxaca. In 1970, 168,725 persons aged five or more spoke the Mixtec language, representing 24.9% of Oaxaxa’s indigenous population. The 2000 census tallied 241,383 Mixtec speakers, representing 21.6% of the states’ indigenous-speaking population.

Today, the Mixtecs call themselves Ñuu Savi, the People of the rain. The Mixtecan language family, as one of the largest and most diverse families in the Oto-Manguean group, includes three groups of languages: Mixtec, Cuicatec, and Trique. 

Popoloco. The term Popoloca was applied by the Aztecs to all those nations that did not speak a tongue based on Náhuatl, more or less understandable among them. Therefore, the term had the connotation of stranger or foreigner and, at the same time, a derogatory denotation for "barbaric", "stuttering" and "unintelligent". The Spaniards continued using the term in the same manner. The Popoluca call themselves Homshuk, which means God of Corn. Today, the Popolca population is divided in three fractions speaking six primary dialects, with no geographical continuity evident. 

Tacuates. The Tacuates, who speak a variant of the Mixtec language, occupy two of Oaxaca's municipios. It is believed that their name evolved from the Náhuatl word, Tlacoatl, which was derived from tlal (Land) and coal (serpent, snake). The implication is that the Tacuates lived in the land of the serpents.

Trique. The Triques inhabit a 193-square-mile area in the southern Sierra Madre Mountains in the westernmost part of Oaxaca. Historians believe that the Triques, long ago, had fled from some distant land, seeking refuge from warring neighbors. Once in Oaxaca, they were defeated by both the Zapotecs and Mixtecs. Then, in the Fifteenth Century, the Aztec armies defeated them decisively and forced them to pay tribute. In the 2000 census, 15,203 inhabitants of Oaxaca aged five and over spoke the Trique language, making it the eighth month common tongue in the state.

Zapotecs. The Zapotecs, who were discussed in greater detail above, are the largest indigenous group of Oaxaca and presently occupy 67 municipios of Oaxaca. The Zapotec language is the most widely spoken language of Oaxaca. In 1970, there were 246,138 Zapotec speakers, representing 36.3% of Oaxaca’s total indigenous-speaking population. While that population has increased significantly to 347,020 in the 2000 census, the percentage of Zapotec speakers actually dropped to 31%. Of the 173 living Oto-Manguean tongues, sixty-four are Zapotecan. 

Zoque. The Zoque tribe, also called Aiyuuk, is closely related to the Mayan-Chique family. The Zoque call themselves O'deput, which means People of the Language. The main nucleus of the Zoques is in Chiapas, where approximately 15,000 speak the language. The Oaxaca branch of the tribe probably does not amount to more than 10,000 people. Many of their customs, social organizations, religion beliefs, and way of life were identical to those of the Mixe community, with whom they probably share a common origin in Central America.

The Encounter (1521). When the Zapotec leaders heard that the powerful Aztec Empire had been overcome by the strangers from the Gulf of Mexico, they decided to send a delegation to seek an alliance with this new powerful force. Intrigued by this offer, Hernán Cortés promptly sent representatives to consider their offer.

On November 25, 1521, Francisco de Orozco arrived in the Central Valley to take possession of this land in the name of Cortés. A wide alluvial plain of about 700 square kilometers, the Valley of Oaxaca had a native population of about 350,000 at this time. Soon, both the Zapotec and Mixtec caciques of the Oaxaca Valley submitted to Orozco. Thus, writes the historian William B. Taylor, "Peaceful conquest spared the Valley of Oaxaca the loss of life and the grave social and psychological dislocations experienced by the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico."

Francisco de Orozco did meet with some resistance in Antequera, but by the end of 1521, his forces had subdued the indigenous resistance. Cortés friends' Pedro de Alvarado and Gonzalo de Sandoval also arrived in Oaxaca to search for gold in the Sierras. Their reports led Cortés to seek the title of Marqués del Valle of Oaxaca in 1526, so that he might reserve some of the land's wealth for his own well-being.

In the course of the next decade, dramatic changes took place in the Valley. Starting in 1528, Dominican friars established permanent residence in Antequerea. After the Bishopric of Oaxaca was formally established in 1535, Catholic priests arrived in ever-increasing numbers. Armed with a fiery zeal to eradicate pagan religions, the Catholic missionaries persevered in their work. Settlers arriving from Spain brought with them domestic animals that had hitherto never been seen in Oaxaca: horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, mules and oxen. 

However, while little resistance was encountered in the Mixteca Alta or the Mazateca-Cuicateca of northern Oaxaca and in the three central valleys of Oaxaca, Mr. Spores wrote that "principal pockets of opposition were Tututepec on the Pacific coastal plain, the Zapotec Sierra, and Tehuantepec." 

The Mixes of the Sierra, adept in their native mountainous terrain, resisted the Spanish intrusions onto their lands from the very start. Mr. Spores wrote that the Mixes of the Sierra, "sometimes in alliance with Zapotecs and Zoques, were a difficult foe. They fiercely resisted the Spaniards not only during the initial encounter and conquest of 1522-23 but throughout most of the first century of the colony's existence." 

In 1570, the Mixes rebelled and, as Mr. Spores writes, "rampaged through the Sierra Zapoteca, burning and looting Zapotec communities and threatening to annihilate the Spaniards in [the presidio of] Villa Alta." The Spaniards, however, in alliance with 2,000 Mixtecs from Cuilapa and Aztecs living in Analco, were able to contain the rebellion. Following this defeat, the Mixes "elected to retreat to the remoteness of their mountain villages rather than risk inevitable destruction. There they remained throughout the colonial period, and it is there that they may be found today." Antonio Gay, in fact, stated that the Spaniards "never emerged victorious over the Mixes."

In the decades following the Spanish encounter, a series of devastating epidemics wreaked havoc on the native population of all Mexico. Before the first century had ended, some nineteen major epidemics had come and gone. The exposure of the Oaxacan Indians to smallpox, chicken pox, diphtheria, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, mumps, influenza, and cocoliztli (a hemorrhagic disease) took a huge toll. As a result, Ms. Romero has written that the native population declined from 1.5 million in 1520 to 150,000 people in 1650.

It is interesting to note that while only 9 percent of Oaxaca's land is arable, the Indians continued to dominate landholding in all areas of Oaxaca throughout the entire colonial period. However, Mr. Spores noted that occasionally Spanish merchants and officials attempted "to take advantage of their politically and economically superior status." This, in turn, "provoked conflict with the Indians." But such "Indian resistance in Oaxaca was sporadic."

In summarizing Indigenous Oaxaca's "responses to abuse, exploitation, dissatisfaction, and deprivation," Mr. Spores writes that "overwhelmingly" the dominant response was "to resort to the administrative-judicial system for rectification or to yield to colonial control." Continuing, Mr. Spores concluded that "only rarely, and under the most trying circumstances, did natives turn to violent confrontation, massive passive resistance, or revitalistic movements as mechanisms for redressing grievances or resolving conflict." Finally, on February 3, 1824, the state of Oaxaca was founded within the newly-independent Mexican Republic, after 303 years of Spanish rule.

No discussion of Indigenous Oaxaca can be complete without mentioning Benito Juárez. Born on March 21, 1806 in the village of San Pablo Guelato in the jurisdiction of Santa Tomás Ixtlan, to Zapotec parents (Marcelino Juárez and Brígida García), Juárez became one of Mexico's greatest heroes. 

Trained as a lawyer, he was eventually elected Governor of Oaxaca and the President of the Mexican Republic. Juárez ruled over Mexico during a time of great dissension and polarization. As President, he initiated liberal reforms in education and civil rights and made separation of church and state the law of the land. When revolution drove him from Mexico City, he set up his government elsewhere. When France invaded Mexico, Juárez displayed a tenacity of will that inspired all of Mexico. Moving from one city to the next, he never surrendered to the European occupiers. Like his contemporary Abraham Lincoln, he united a nation that was at war with itself.

However, for the people of Oaxaca, Benito Juárez is both a legend and a symbol. Juárez became the first and only full-blooded Indian man to take office as Mexico's President. The people of Oaxaca will always look to Benito Juárez as the man who proved that a person of indigenous roots is capable of achieving greatness.

Sources:

Adams, Richard E.W., Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Oklahoma City: Un of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

Ethnologue.com, Languages of Mexico. From Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th edition, Online: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Mexico   July 28, 2001.

Frizzi, María de Los Angeles Romero, "The Indigenous Population of Oaxaca From the Sixteenth Century to the Present," in Richard E.W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume II, Mesoamerica, Part 2. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Gay, José Antonio, Historia de Oaxaca. Distrito Federal, Mexico: Porrúa, 1982.

Hopkins, Nicholas A., "Otomanguean Linguistic Prehistory," in J. Kathryn Josserand, Marcus Winter, and Nicholas Hopkins (eds.), Esays in Otomanguean Culture History – Vanderbuilt University Publications in Anthropology No. 31 (Nashville: Vanderbilt University, 1984), pp. 25-64.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI). Tabulados Básicos. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2000. (Mexico, 2001).

Taylor, William B., Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. Stanford, California: Stanford Un Press, 1972.

Zwollo, Juan Antonio Ruiz, Oaxaca's Tourist Guide: Indigenous Villages. 1995-2000. Online: http://oaxaca-travel.com/guide/indigenous   July 20, 2001

The state of Yucatán is located in the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Surrounded by the states of Campeche (southwest) and Quintana Roo (southeast) and by the Gulf of Mexico (north), Yucatán consists of 43,380 square kilometers (16,749 square miles), or 2% of Mexico’s total land area. Yucatán is about half the size of Maine and shares a 342-kilometer coastline with the Gulf of Mexico.

Politically, Yucatán is divided into 106 municipios. Its capital is Mérida (with a population of about 734,153 in 2005), which is ranked twelfth among the most populous Mexican metropolitan regions. The greater Yucatan Peninsula consists of 197,600 square kilometers (76,300 square miles) and includes parts of Belize and Guatemala.

It is believed that human beings have probably inhabited the area of present-day Yucatán for 7,000 years or more. For the last few thousand years, the Mayan Indians have inhabited the entire Yucatán Peninsula, as well as the surrounding regions. The Mayan culture flourished for many centuries with the people making a living through agriculture, hunting and fishing. The Mayan archaeological sites left behind testify to a people who were skilled at weaving and the creation of pottery and other artifacts. Hundreds of pyramids, temples and other structures scattered throughout the Yucatán stand as testimony to the Mayan’s skill in construction of complex buildings.

The physical "boundaries" of the ancient Mayan empire spanned across a region that now includes parts of five nations. In the South, the Mayan world consisted of modern day Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and western Honduras. The northern reaches of Mayan territory included large portions of five Mexican states, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas. In all, the territory occupied by the Maya was probably 500,000 square kilometers in area, and is sometimes referred to collectively as El Mundo Maya (The Mayan World).

The Mayans studied the stars and, in their study of astronomy, were able to develop their own calendar. They were gifted architects who built temples and pyramids, but they were also farmers who provided sustenance for their communities. The "Classic Period" took place from 300 to 900 A.D. and covered most of the area presently recognized as El Mundo Maya. It was followed by the "Post-Classic Period" which lasted from about 1000 AD to 1500 AD.

The Maya ethnohistorian, Ralph L. Roys, wrote that at the time of the Spanish arrival in Yucatán, the Peninsula was "occupied by… sixteen native states… The inhabitants seem to have considered themselves a single people and each of these territorial divisions was called a cuchcabal (literally ‘jurisdiction’), which the Spaniards translated [as] province." According to Dr. Roys, apparently the entire area had been ruled from a government center at Mayapan until the middle of the fifteenth century, when a great revolution destroyed the capital city. After the revolution, the land was split up into sixteen states, which was what the Spaniards found when they arrived in 1517. [Ralph L. Roys, "The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya" (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1957), pp. 3-4]

Roys remarked that "the population of the Yucatán peninsula was, for so large an area, remarkably uniform in language, customs, and fundamental political ideas. Almost everywhere horticulture and agriculture followed the same pattern." With the exception of Acalan in present-day Tabasco, all sixteen provinces spoke the Mayan language (In Acalan, they spoke the Chontal language of Tabasco)

The Mayan language group has been divided into several groups: the Huastec, Yucatec, Western Maya, and Eastern Maya linguistic groups. The Huastec represent a northern extension of the Mayan people who settled in present-day Veracruz. The Western Maya language group consists of several significant language groups (Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol, Tojolabal, Chuj, Kanjobal, Jacaltec, Chontal and Motozintlec), most of which are spoken in Chiapas and Guatemala. The Yucatec language was and is spoken throughout much of the Yucatán Peninsula, which presently includes three Mexican states (Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo) and the northern parts of both Belize and Guatemala.

Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was the first navigator to visit the coast of Yucatán Peninsula in 1508. A second expedition, led by Juan de Valdivia, was shipwrecked along the coast in 1511. Most of the men who made it ashore were killed by natives. But two men, Geronimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero, were captured by the Maya. While Guerrero became a member of the Mayans and married the daughter of a chieftain, Aguilar was rescued by Hernán Cortés as he passed along the coast in 1519 and became an interpreter for the Spaniards in their confrontations with the Mayans and other tribes.

Francisco de Cordoba’s expedition to the area in 1517 had several bloody engagements with the local inhabitants and was followed a year later by an expedition under the command of Juan de Grijalva who landed near Cozumel and took formal possession of the land for Spain. A year later, Hernán Cortés lead a new campaign that eventually made its way to the heart of the Aztec Empire and ended in the conquest of Tenochtitlán (in 1521). After the conquest of the Aztecs, Pedro de Alvarado, one of Cortés’ chief lieutenants, began his conquest of the Mayans in late 1523. Most of Alvarado’s campaign concentrated on the Quiché Maya and Cakchiquel that lived in what is now Guatemala.

In December 1526, a wealthy nobleman Francisco de Montejo was granted a royal contract (capitulación) to raise an army and conquer the Yucatán Peninsula. In 1527, commanding three ships and several hundred Spanish soldiers, Montejo left Spain, destined for the Yucatán. Montejo’s force arrived at Cozumel in September 1527 and proceeded inland. Early in 1528, the Spaniards fought a large battle at Aké, 10 miles north of Tizimin (which is about 160 kilometers from Mérida). Both sides suffered an incredible number of casualties. Soon after, Montejo left the Yucatán with a greatly reduced force.

Montejo made plans for another expedition to Yucatán. This time, he would be accompanied by his son – who was called "El Mozo" (The Youthful) – and his nephew ("Sobrino"). The second attempt to conquer the indigenous peoples of the Yucatán took place from 1531 to 1535. For awhile, the younger Montejo had subdued portions of northern Yucatán. However, news of the great riches found by Pizarro and his soldiers in Peru (1528-1532) led to many desertions among the Spanish force in Yucatán. The elder Montejo became the Captain General of Honduras in 1535, but lost his claim to that territory in 1539.

In 1540, Francisco de Montejo "El Mozo" returned to the Yucatán to begin the third attempt to conquer the area, a task that would take six years. By this time, the Mayans had been reduced and weakened by smallpox and other diseases. El Mozo started by setting up a headquarters in Campeche, with a force of almost 400 soldiers. Once he had established his position, he summoned many of the Mayan rulers to his base. By the end of 1541, many of the chieftains had submitted to the Spanish crown. Conflict between several native groups – promoted by the Spaniards – brought about a further weakening of the Mayans.

Forming alliances with some of the local chieftains (such as the Pech and the Xiu) during 1541, the Montejos were able to subdue the native settlements in the provinces of Canpech and Ah Canul, bringing the present-day municipios of Tenabo, Hecelchakan and Calkini under control. Later in the year, Montejo founded "La Villa and Puerto de San Francisco de Campeche" to further enhance the Spanish occupation of the area. However, the Spanish encomiendas (royal grants) caused great suffering among the local people and – at times – galvanized resistance to the newcomers; as a result, complete conquest of the region eluded the Spanish administrators.

In late 1541, Montejo decisively defeated the Mayans in a bloody battle at Tihoo. A few months later, on January 6, 1542, Francisco de Montejo "El Mozo" established the city of Mérida, which was built on the site of a Mayan city that was known as Ichcaanzihó or "The City of Five Hills" (the hills were actually pyramids). This area had been one of the primary centers of Mayan culture for many centuries. But this point, Scholes and Roys wrote that "from here the forces of occupation, strengthened by new recruits, moved into the northern, central, and eastern parts of the Maya country."

The last holdouts were several Mayan chiefdoms in the eastern part of the peninsula. They were finally subdued after a failed four-month uprising that began in November 1546, and the conquest of the Yucatán was finally considered complete by 1547. Only the Itzá people – living in the region of Lake Petén in present-day northern Guatemala – remained independent. The Itzá kingdom did not submit to Spanish rule until March 13, 1697 when the island capital in Lake Petén was stormed by Spanish troops.

The history of the indigenous peoples of the Yucatán between 1546 and Mexican independence is an exceptionally complex story. In 1545, the first Franciscan friars entered the Yucatán to initiate missionary work among the indigenous people. By 1593, over 150 Franciscan monks had been engaged in missionary work in the Peninsula. In some areas, the conversion was successful; in other areas, the loyalty to Christianity was so weak that during rebellions, the indigenous religions would be embraced once again.

Because the Mayan lands were offered as land grants to Spanish noblemen and to the Catholic Church, some Mayans became, in effect, slave labor. Although the Spanish Crown outlawed Indian slavery in the Yucatán in royal edicts of 1549 and 1551, many elements of the Mayan population were, in fact, forced to work under horrible conditions.

At many points during the Seventeenth Century the Mayans rebelled against Spanish rule, some times to protest their difficult work conditions. Sixteenth Century rebellions took place in 1610-33, 1636-44, 1653, 1669, 1670 and 1675. Of all these, the revolt that took place from 1636 to 1644 was the most wide-ranging and serious, resulting in a temporary revival of the old indigenous religious rites.

Sporadic revolts continued into the Eighteenth Century. In early November 1761, Jacinto Canek became the leader of a new rebellion. Jacinto had adopted the name Canek to suggest that he had a relation to the previous kingdom of the Itzás. After organizing a force of 1,500 Mayans, Canek’s force was confronted by a well-armed Spanish force of 500 soldiers on November 26, 1761 in the plaza of Cisteil (near present-day Sotuta).

In the hand-to-hand fighting, the Spanish forces gained the upper hand. Ultimately, the village was burned and it is believed that as many as 500 Indians perished in the blaze. Canek himself escaped with a small guard, fleeing to Huntulchac. There he assembled a force of about 300 men who had also escaped from Cisteil. But Canek and about 125 followers were then apprehended at Sibac. Canek and eight other organizers of the rebellion were executed in December 1761 –a month after the uprising had begun.

In 1787, the area of the present-day state of Yucatán was made part of the Intendencia of Valladolid, a part of the colony of Nueva España. But with Mexican independence, Yucatán became a part of the new nation as of September 28, 1821. Yucatán proclaimed its own sovereignty in August 1822 but was re-incorporated into Mexico in February 1824, becoming a state within the Mexican Republic on October 3, 1824.

During the mid-1830s, the authorities in Yucatán became discontent with the central government in Mexico City. Finally, in May 1838, an insurrection started in Tizimín, with the rebels advocating for Yucatecan independence. On May 31, 1841, Yucatán once again declared its independence from Mexico in opposition to President Antonio López de Santa Anna and his administration that had ignored earlier concessions he made to the State. Governor Santiago Méndez ordered all Mexican flags removed from Yucatecan buildings.

Santa Anna refused to recognize Yucatán's independence, and he barred Yucatecan ships and commerce from Mexican ports and ordered Yucatán's ports blockaded. He sent an army to invade Yucatán in 1843. Although the Yucatecans defeated the Mexican force, the loss of economic ties to the Mexican Republic had a negative effect on Yucatecan commerce. Yucatán's governor Miguel Barbachano y Tarrazo decided to use the victory as an opportunity to return to negotiations with Santa Anna's government from a position of strength. It was then agreed that Yucatán would be returned to Mexico so long as various assurances of the right to self rule and adherence to the 1825 Constitution within the Peninsula were observed by Mexico City. The treaty reincorporating Yucatán into Mexico was signed in December 1843. Ultimately, Miguel Barbachano would serve as the Governor of Yucatán for five terms between 1841 and 1853.

In 1847, while the Mexican dictator Santa Anna was preoccupied with his war with the United States, Yucatan's Liberal leadership – consisting primarily of Ladinos (mestizos) and Yucatecos (citizens of Yucatán of European descent) – declared independence from Mexico. The Mayan Indians were brought into the revolt by promises of land reform and the abolition of debt labor, church dues and the aguardiente tax. But after providing the Indians with arms and military training, the Merida administration balked on their promises and the Mayan troops in Valladolid began to riot.

The revolt gained momentum and quickly spread across the entire state which – at that time – included the area that now includes three states: Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Eventually the homes, shops, plantations and government offices of wealthy ladinos were sacked. This revolt – which became known as the "La Guerra de las Castas" or "The War of the Castes"– was primarily directed against the Yucatecos who held most of the political and economic control in the region. The Yucatecos – primarily concentrated in the northwest part of the state – were nearly driven into the sea by the successful Mayan revolt.

Within three months of the beginning of the rebellion, indigenous forces under General Cecilio Chi – a veteran of the Mexican army – had conquered roughly four-fifths of the peninsula from Spanish/Mexican rule. Only the walled cities of Campeche and Mérida and portions of the southwest remained under European control.

As the Mayan army advanced on Mérida during the spring of 1848, the Yucatecos were preparing to evacuate the city. However, when things looked most bleak for the Yucatecos, the Maya suddenly broke off their attack and returned to their fields to plant their corn, in observance of Mayan tradition. The maize planting season had arrived. It has been claimed that the appearance of flying ants after a heavy rain was the traditional signal to mark the beginning of the planting season.

The Mayans felt a strong responsibility to provide food for their families, but, during the summer months, the Yucatecos were able to regroup. At the same time, Yucatán was once again officially reunited with Mexico on August 17, 1848. Now that the state had once again become part of the Mexican Republic, fresh guns, money and troops from Mexico arrived and, by 1849, the Yucatecos had amassed sufficient supplies and reinforcements from abroad to reclaim the land back from the Maya. When General Chi was murdered, the rebellion collapsed.

In 1850, a new threat to Yucatán’s stability materialized. The Mayans in the southeast (now Quintana Roo) were inspired to renew their struggle through the apparition of the "Talking Cross." It was said that in a remote refugee settlement known as Chan Santa Cruz (Small Holy Cross), the Mayans believed that God was communicating with them through a wooden cross which impelled them to once again raise their weapons against the Europeans. The cultists called themselves "Cruzob" – the Spanish word for cross with the Maya plural suffix. With the help of arms supplied by the British (who occupied neighboring British Honduras – now Belize), the Maya declared war against the Yucatecos again.

But military pressure on the Cruzob rebellion was distracted when Yucatán’s troops responded to a new separatist revolt in the poorer Yucatán region of Campeche (in the southwestern part of the peninsula). On May 3, 1858, Campeche was formally separated from Yucatán, although it was not recognized as a separate sovereign territory until 1863 by President Benito Juarez.

In 1860, the Mexican Colonel Pedro Acereto, with a force of 3,000, reached the Cruzob stronghold at Chan Santa Cruz, but was compelled to retire with the loss of 1,500 men killed after a disastrous battle with the Mayans. Hostilities continued for many years as the Cruzob continued to hold onto their position. Mexican forces once again occupied Chan Santa Cruz in 1871, but were also forced to retire thereafter.

The Cruzob continued to survive on through their trade with the Belizeans. In 1887, the Mayan even considered asking for the protection of the Queen of England. However that proposal was declined and actually led to talks between the Mexican and British governments in resolving the Mayan insurgency and the territorial status of Quintana Roo and Chan Santa Cruz.

In January 1898, Admiral Othón P. Blanco was commissioned by the Mexican Government to secure the border between the Mayan territory and British Honduras. A customs post was established at the mouth of the Hondo River (the present-day boundary between Mexico and Belize) in an attempt to stop the supply of weapons to the Mayan forces. The city of Cayo Obispo (now known as Chetumal) was founded by Blanco in pursuit of this objective.

On May 4, 1901, a Mexican Government force under General Ignacio Bravo occupied Chan Santa Cruz, dispersing many of the Cruzob rebels in the region now known as Quintana Roo. The rebels had put up a fierce resistance but eventually fled into the swamps. A year later, on November 24, 1902, by a decree of President Porfirio Díaz, the territory of Quintana Roo was carved out of the southeastern section of Yucatán and named after a famous lawyer, Andrés Quintana Roo, a native of Mérida who had played a role in Mexico’s struggle for independence.

Even after the victory of 1901, peace was not assured and in 1910, Mexican troops put down another serious rebellion in the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. It was also during the early years of the Twentieth Century that Yaquis from the states of Sinaloa and Sonora were exiled by the Díaz regime to Yucatán. By the time of the 1910 census, the Mexican census recorded that 1,072 persons who spoke Yaqui – a language native to northwestern Mexico – were living in the state of Yucatán.

According to the 1921 Mexican census, the state of Yucatán contained 358,221 persons in a republic that boasted a total population of 14,334,780. A total of 155,155 residents of the state were classified as being of pure indigenous background ("indígena pura"), representing 43.31% of the state population.

Another 121,189 residents of Yucatán were classified as "indígena mezclada con blanca" – or mixed – representing 33.8% of the state’s population. The Yucatecos – classified as "blanca" in the census – numbered 78,249 individuals and comprised 21.8% of the states’ population.

However, the 1930 census did not classify people by their ethnic identity, but by the languages they spoke. And in 1930, when 335,445 persons aged 5 and over lived in Yucatán, 242,298 of them (or 72.23%) were classified as speakers of indigenous languages. When viewed in the context of the 1921 census, it might be assumed that many mixed/mestizo inhabitants of Yucatán were speaking indigenous languages, in addition to the "indígena pura" persons.

According to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages in the state of Yucatán totaled 549,532 individuals – equal to 37.3% of the state’s total population of 1,472,683.

By far, the most common indigenous language spoken in Yucatán in 2000 was the Mayan language, which was spoken by 547,098 residents of the state. This meant that 99.56% of the indigenous speakers in Yucatán were Mayan speakers. The other languages spoken in the State were: Chol (474 speakers), Zapoteco (319), Mixe (283), and Tzeltal (222). In the 2000 census, 12 of Yucatán’s 106 municipios had populations with indigenous speaking populations of 95% or more. Eighteen municipios had populations of 90% or more.

Today, Yucatán is no longer a Mayan kingdom and is now part of the large and diverse Mexican Republic. According to Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) and Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (INALI), the people of Mexico belong to 62 official ethnolinguistic groups (grupos etnolinguísticos) that speak 364 language variants. Sixty-one of the ethnolinguistic groups are indigenous and include several Mayan groups.

The evidence of the Mayans and their rich culture remains throughout Yucatán. Archaeological sites can be found throughout the State of Yucatán… and its neighboring states. Tulum, Xel-Ha, Cobá, Mayapan, Uxmal, El Rey and Xcaret are just a few of the many places left for tourists to visit and appreciate.

Dedication: I dedicate this to the members of Federación de Clubes Yucatecos-USA, Mundo Maya Foundation and Casa Yucatan-USA, who bring the spirit of Yucatán to Los Angeles and the United States. It has been estimated that 90,000 Yucatec Maya live in the United States today.

Copyright 2010 by John P. Schmal. All rights under applicable law are hereby reserved.

Departmento de la Estadística Nacional, "Annuario de 1930" (Tacubaya, Distrito Federal, 1932).

Dumond, Don E., "The Machete and the Cross: Campesino Rebellion in Yucatan" (University of Nebraska Press, 1997).

Gerhard, Peter, "The Southeast Frontier of New Spain" (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993, rev. ed.).

Naturalight Productions Ltd,, "Caste War (1847-1904)" Copyright ©2010. Online:

http:// www.northernbelize.com/hist_caste.html

Patch, Robert W. Patch, "Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1648-1812" (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1993).

Reed, Nelson, "The Caste War of Yucatan" (Stanford University Press, 1964)

Roys, Ralph Loveland, "The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya" (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1957).

Roys, Ralph Loveland, "The Indian Background of Colonial Yucatan" (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1943)

Restall, Matthew, "The Maya World: Yucatec Culture and Society, 1550-1850" (Stanford University Press, 1997)

Rugeley, Terry, "Yucatan's Maya Peasantry and the Origins of the Caste War" (University of Texas Press, 1996).

The Mexican state of Oaxaca, located along the Pacific Ocean in the southeastern section of the country, consists of 95,364 square kilometers and occupies 4.85% of the total surface area of the Mexican Republic. Located where the Eastern Sierra Madre and the Southern Sierra Madre come together, Oaxaca shares a common border with the states of Mexico, Veracruz and Puebla (on the north), Chiapas (on the east), and Guerrero (on the west).

As the fifth largest state of Mexico, Oaxaca is characterized by extreme geographic fragmentation. With extensive mountain ranges throughout the state, Oaxaca has an average altitude of 1,500 meters (5,085 feet) above sea level, even though only about 9% of this is arable land. With such a large area and rough terrain, Oaxaca is divided into 571 municipios (almost one-quarter of the national total). 

Oaxaca's rugged topography has played a significant role in giving rise to its amazing cultural diversity. Because individual towns and tribal groups lived in isolation from each other for long periods of time, the subsequent seclusion allowed sixteen ethnolinguistic groups to maintain their individual languages, customs and ancestral traditions intact well into the colonial era and – to some extent – to the present day. Although Oaxaca’s ethnic groups are well-defined through dialect, customs, food habits, and rituals, the historian María de Los Angeles Romero Frizzi has suggested that the simplistic "linguistic categorization" of the ethnic groups is "somewhat misleading," primarily because "the majority of indigenous peoples in Oaxaca identify more closely with their village or their community than with their ethnolinguistic group." 

For this reason, Oaxaca is – by and large – the most ethnically complex of Mexico’s thirty-one states. The two largest linguistic groups in this large collection are the Zapotec and Mixtec Indians, whose roots stretch very deeply into the early Mesoamerican era of Oaxaca. Living in their mountain enclaves and fertile valleys, many of their pre-Hispanic ancestors harvested corn, beans, chocolate, tomatoes, chili, squash, pumpkin and gourds. Some of the early inhabitants also hunted turkey, deer, armadillo and iguana or fished in Oaxaca’s many ocean-bound streams and rivers.

It is no surprise that the Mixtecs and Zapotecs were neighbors as they both belong to the Oto-Manguean language family, which remains the largest linguistic group in the state of Oaxaca and in the Mexican Republic, represented by approximately 174 languages (according to Ethnologue.com). The author Nicholas A. Hopkins, in his article "Otomanguean Linguistic Prehistory," states that glottochronological studies of the Oaxacan Indian groups indicate that the first diversification of this group of languages had begun by 4400 B.C. It is believed that nine branches of the Oto-Manguean family were already distinct by 1500 B.C., and that some of this linguistic differentiation actually took place in the Valley of Tehuacán. It is widely recognized that the Mixtecos and Zapotecos are actually kindred peoples, looking back to a common origin several thousand years ago.

These two groups are not only the largest indigenous groups within this part of Mexico; they also exhibit a wide range of diversity within their own ethnic populations. Ms. Romero has observed that some of Oaxaca’s language families – including the Zapotec and Mixtec tongues – "encompass a variety of regional languages, making for a more diverse picture than the number sixteen would suggest."

By the time the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Oaxaca in 1521, the Zapotec and Mixtec inhabitants of this large mountainous region had split into hundreds of independent village-states. The Zapotec ethnic group is so diverse that there are actually 64 separate Zapotec languages that have evolved over the last few thousand years, each language diverging as the Zapotec communities became isolated from one another over time. The Mixtec ethnic group is also very diverse, speaking approximately 57 different languages. Almost four centuries after the conquest, at the time of the 1900 Mexican Federal Census, 471,439 inhabitants of Oaxaca were still speaking Indian languages, representing 49.70% of the state population and 17.24% of the national indigenous-speaking population.

Most archaeological evidence indicates that the Zapotecs were one of the earliest ethnic groups to gain prominence in the region now called Oaxaca. The Zapotec Indians have always called themselves Be'ena'a, which means The People. The implication of this terminology is that the Zapotecs believe that they are "The True People" or "The people of this place." Unlike many other Mesoamerican Indians groups, the Zapotecs have no legend of migration from another land. Instead, their legends claim that their ancestors emerged from the earth or from caves, or that they turned from trees or jaguars into people. It is, therefore, not surprising that they would refer to themselves as the rightful original inhabitants of their lands.

Some of the Zapotecs eventually became known as the Be'ena Za'a (Cloud People), a name primarily applied to the Central Valley Zapotecs. In the pre-Hispanic era, Aztec merchants and soldiers dealing with these people translated their name phonetically into Náhuatl: Tzapotecatl. When the Spaniards arrived, they took this word and transformed it into Zapoteca. The Mixtecs, the sister culture of the Zapotecs, also received their "Aztec" name due to their identity as "Cloud People" (Ñusabi), but in their case the Náhuatl translation was literal, as Mixtecatl translates directly as "Cloud Person."

The early Zapotecs were a sedentary, agricultural city-dwelling people who worshipped a pantheon of gods. In their art, architecture, hieroglyphics, mathematics, and calendar, the Zapotecs appeared to have shared some cultural affinities with the ancient Olmec and the Mayan Indians. The Zapotec culture developed in the mountainous area at and near Monte Albán, roughly parallel to the Olmec civilization, which was in decline as the Zapotecs were in ascendance. The Zapotecs developed a calendar and a basic form of writing through carvings. By 200 B.C. the Zapotecs were using the bar and dot system of numerals used by the Maya.

Politically and militarily, the Zapotec Indians became dominant in the area around 200 B.C., extending their political and economic influence into the coastal regions and establishing valuable trading links with the Mayans to the south. Sometime between the third and eighth centuries A.D., the Zapotec culture peaked. However, soon after, the Mixtecs began to dominate the region, displacing the Zapotecs in many areas.

Located above the Valley of Oaxaca, six miles away from the capital city, the Zapotec ceremonial center, Monte Albán, was built in a mountain range overlooking great valleys and remains one of the most majestic of the sites of Pre-Historic Mexico. This architectural wonder is a complex of pyramids and platforms surrounding an enormous esplanade, where there is also an extraordinary astronomical observatory. Monte Albán was dedicated to the cult of mysterious gods and to the celebration of the military victories of the Zapotec people.

The pinnacle of Monte Albán's development probably took place from 250 A.D. to 700 A.D., by which time Monte Albán had become home to some 25,000 people and was the capital city of the Zapotec nation. For reasons still not entirely clear, the site was gradually abandoned after A.D. 700.

Some archaeologists have suggested that the decline of Monte Albán may have taken place because local resources of wood had become depleted and that its once-fertile slopes had become barren. However, the Zapotec culture itself continued to flourish in the valleys of Oaxaca and the Zapotecs moved their capital to Zaachila. From about 950 to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521, there was minimal life at Monte Albán, except that Mixtecs arriving in the Central Valleys between 1100 and 1350 reused old tombs at the site to bury their own dignitaries.

The Mixtecs originally inhabited the southern portions of what are now the states of Guerrero and Puebla. However, they started moving south and eastward, eventually making their way to the Central Valley of Oaxaca. In their newly adopted land, the Mixtecs became prolific expansionists and builders, gradually encroaching onto the territories of the Zapotecs. But, the Mixtecs' prominence in the Valley of Oaxaca was short-lived.

By the middle of the Fifteenth Century, a new power appeared on the horizon. The Aztec Empire, centered in Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City), was in the process of building a great empire that stretched through much of what is now southern Mexico. In the 1450s, the Aztec armies crossed the mountains into the Valley of Oaxaca with the intention of extending their hegemony into this hitherto unconquered region.

Soon, both the Zapotecs and Mixtecs would be struggling to keep the Aztecs from gaining control of their trade routes to Chiapas and Guatemala. After a series of long and arduous battles, the forces of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina triumphed over the Mixtecs in 1458. In 1486, the Aztecs established a fort on the hill of Huaxyácac (now called El Fortín), overlooking the present city of Oaxaca. This location would become the seat of an Aztec garrison that enforced tribute collection from the Mixtecs and Zapotecs.

The ascendancy of the Aztecs in Oaxaca would last a little more than a few decades. In 1521, as the Zapotecs, Mixtecs and other vassals of the Aztecs worked the fields and paid tribute to their distant rulers, news arrived that strange invaders with beards and unusual weapons had arrived from the eastern sea. As word spread throughout Mesoamerica, many indigenous groups thought that the arrival of these strangers might be the fulfillment of ancient prophesies predicting the downfall of the Aztecs. 

Then, in August 1521, came the news that the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán had fallen to a combined force of Spanish and Indian soldiers under the command of a white-skinned, red-haired man named Hernán Cortés. Word of this conquest spread quickly, causing the inhabitants over a large area to speculate on what was to come next.

When the Zapotec leaders heard that the powerful Aztec Empire had been overcome by the strangers from the Gulf of Mexico, they decided to send a delegation to seek an alliance with this new powerful force. Intrigued by this offer, Hernán Cortés promptly sent representatives to consider their offer.

When the powerful Aztecs were overcome, the Zapotecs sent delegations seeking alliances with the Spaniards. Cortés promptly sent Pedro de Alvarado and Gonzalo de Sandoval to the Pacific and into the Sierra looking for gold. Pedro de Alvarado (1486-1541) explored the Oaxaca region in search of the source of the Aztec gold and find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean.  He didn't find a waterway but reported some good locations for ports.  

On November 25, 1521, Francisco de Orozco arrived in the Central Valley with a force of 400 Aztecs to take possession in the name of Cortés. A wide alluvial plain of about 700 square kilometers, the Valley of Oaxaca had a native population of about 350,000 at this time. Soon, both the Zapotec and Mixtec caciques of the Oaxaca Valley submitted to Orozco. Thus, writes the historian William B. Taylor, "Peaceful conquest spared the Valley of Oaxaca the loss of life and the grave social and psychological dislocations experienced by the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico."

Francisco de Orozco did meet with some resistance in Antequera, but by the end of 1521, his forces had subdued the indigenous resistance. Cortés friends' Pedro de Alvarado and Gonzalo de Sandoval also arrived in Oaxaca to search for gold in the Sierras. Their reports led Cortés to seek the title of Marqués del Valle of Oaxaca in 1526, so that he might reserve some of the land's wealth for his own well-being.

In the course of the next decade, dramatic changes took place in the Valley. Starting in 1528, Dominican friars established permanent residence in Antequerea. After the Bishopric of Oaxaca was formally established in 1535, Catholic priests arrived in ever-increasing numbers. Armed with a fiery zeal to eradicate pagan religions, the Catholic missionaries persevered in their work. Settlers arriving from Spain brought with them domestic animals that had hitherto never been seen in Oaxaca: horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, mules and oxen. 

In the decades following the Spanish encounter, a series of devastating epidemics wreaked havoc on the native population of Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico. Before the first century had ended, some nineteen major epidemics had come and gone. The exposure of the Oaxacan Indians to smallpox, chicken pox, diphtheria, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, mumps, influenza, and cocoliztli (a hemorrhagic disease) took a huge toll. As a result, Ms. Romero has written that the native population declined from 1.5 million in 1520 to 150,000 people in 1650. But, over time, the population of Oaxaca rebounded. On February 3, 1824, the state of Oaxaca was founded within the newly independent Mexican Republic, after 303 years of Spanish rule.

According to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages in Oaxaca amounted to 1,120,312 individuals, which represented 39.12% of the total population of the state. Today, the Mixtec Indians are one of the most important linguistic groups of southern Mexico, occupying an extensive territory of about 40,000 square kilometers (189 municipios) in western and northern Oaxaca and extending into Eastern Guerrero and Puebla. The Mixtec territory is divided into three subregions: the Upper Mixteca, Lower Mixteca and the Coastal Mixteca.

The Mixteca Alta or Highland Mixtec (Upper Mixteca) occupy approximately 38 municipios in the mountains west of the valley of Oaxaca. For most of Mixtec history the Mixteca Alta was the dominant political force, with the capitals of the Mixtec nation located in the central highlands. The valley of Oaxaca itself was often a disputed border region, sometimes dominated by the Mixtec and sometimes by the neighboring people to the east, the Zapotec.

The Lower Mixteca (Mixteca Baja) or Lowland Mixtec region takes in another 31 municipios to the north and west of these highlands in northwestern Oaxaca. The Mixteca de la Costa or Coastal Mixtec live in the southern plains and the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

In the 2000 census, the Mixteco Indians in Oaxaca numbered 241,383, or 55.19% of the 437,373 Mixtecos in the entire Mexican Republic. If you count the various subsidiary Mixtec languages, the total Mixtec-speaking population of the Mexican Republic in 2000 included 444,498 individuals. Today, the Mixtecs are spread throughout the entire nation, in large part because of their good reputation in the agricultural industry. The chart below illustrates the population of Mixtec speakers in both Oaxaca and the Mexican Republic.  

The Zapotec ethnic group remains the largest indigenous group of Oaxaca and presently occupies 67 municipios of Oaxaca. Several major Zapotec linguistic groups are classified by region as follows:

The Zapotecos de Valles Centrales (Zapotecos of the Central Valleys) are spread through the districts of Tlacolula, Ejutla, Ocotlán, Centro, Zaachila, Zimatlán and Etla, an area that actually consists of three intermontaine areas. The Oaxaca Valleys are located in the central part of the state. This is a zone of wide plains suitable for agriculture. The region borders the Mixteca on the west, the Gorge on the northwest, the Juárez Mountain Range on the north, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the east, and the Sierra Madre Range on the south.

The Zapoteco Sureño (Zapotecos of the Southern Mountains) occupy the southern mountain region. The Zapoteco Istmo (the Zapotecos of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) live in Tehuantepec and Juchitán of southeastern Oaxaca. The term Zapotec comprises a great many language varieties, most of which are identified by the area or towns where they are spoken. In the 2000 census, 377,936 individuals five years of age or more spoke some kind of Zapoteco language in Oaxaca. This represented 83.45% of all the Zapotec speakers in the entire Mexican Republic, who numbered 421,796. Like their Mixtec brothers, the Zapotecs have migrated to many parts of the country. These populations are illustrated as follows:

Increasingly, large numbers of Zapotecs and Mixtecs are traveling to locations throughout the Mexican Republic and the United States to secure gainful employment. Zapotecs and Mixtecs, in fact, are favored laborers in the two Baja states. In the 2000 census, the two largest linguistic groups in Baja California Norte were the Mixtecos (11,962 speakers) and the Zapotecos (2,987 speakers). In the 2000 census, 41,014 persons in Baja California claimed Oaxaca as their birthplace.

Already, in the 1970s, Baja had become a major zone of attraction for Mixtec farm laborers, with Ensenada and Tijuana as the primary destinations. In the last two decades, Baja California growers almost exclusively recruited Oaxacans laborers for their agricultural labor needs.

Indigenous speakers from Oaxaca have also made their way to the United States in large numbers. It is believed that in the last 20 years, more than 100,000 Zapotecs and Mixtecs have immigrated to the United States. According to the researcher Sarah Poole, it has been estimated that by the year 2010, Mixtecs and Zapotecs will comprise 20% of the agricultural labor force in the United States, in particular California.

Wherever they go, Mixtec and Zapotec laborers are usually regarded as newcomers. But, these two peoples have endured a long cultural journey, stretching back several thousand years. The Mixtecs and Zapotecs, in fact, built successful civilizations long before the Aztecs came into prominence. They are, without a doubt, enduring cultures.

Sources:

Adams, Richard E.W., Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Oklahoma City: Un of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

Clark Alfaro, Víctor. Los Mixtecos en la Frontera (Baja California). Mexicali, Baja California: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, 1991.

Ethnologue.com, Languages of Mexico. From Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th edition, Online: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Mexico   July 28, 2001.

Frizzi, María de Los Angeles Romero, "The Indigenous Population of Oaxaca From the Sixteenth Century to the Present," in Richard E.W. Adams and Murdo J. MacLeod (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume II, Mesoamerica, Part 2. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Garduño, Everardo. Mixtecos en Baja California: El Caso de San Quintín. Mexicali, B.C., México: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, 1989.

Gay, José Antonio. Historia de Oaxaca. Distrito Federal, Mexico: Porrúa, 1982.

Hopkins, Nicholas A., "Otomanguean Linguistic Prehistory," in J. Kathryn Josserand, Marcus Winter, and Nicholas Hopkins (eds.), Esays in Otomanguean Culture History – Vanderbuilt University Publications in Anthropology No. 31. Nashville: Vanderbilt University, 1984, pp. 25-64.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI). Tabulados Básicos. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 2000. Mexico, 2001.

Poole, Sarah. The Changing Face of Mexican Migrants in California: Oaxacan Mixtecs and Zapotecs in Perspective. Center for Latin American Studies and Trans Border Institute Border Brief. Online: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~latamweb/images/TBI_CLAS-Brief_OAX.pdf

Taylor, William B., Landlord and Peasant in Colonial Oaxaca. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1972. 

During the last decade, the State of Chiapas - long a neglected and oppressed region of the Mexican Republoic - has been thrust onto the world stage and into the media spotlight. The attention given to the political situation in Chiapas has initiated a great interest in the plight of the indigenous people of that state. But an understanding of the present-day situation in this southern state requires a review of its history and its complex ethnic diversity.

While many Mexican states flourished during the Spanish colonial period, in large part because of their mineral wealth or agricultural potential, Chiapas - far to the south and seeming to be without mineral resources - languished in poverty and discontent. The mestizaje and assimilation that took place in most Mexican states transformed the identity of the Mexican Indian into the Mexican mestizo. And, with independence, the Mexican mestizo became the citizen of the Mexican Republic.

The process of mestizaje, however, was not as widespread or pervasive in Chiapas as it had been in the north. As a result, the indigenous identity of the Chiapas Indian - while altered - did not evolve to the same extent. While many of the other Mexican states witnessed the assimilation, exploitation, and cultural demise of their indigenous groups, many of Chiapas' ethnic groups have maintained their ancient cultures, traditions and customs. As such, Chiapas questioned its position as part of México, but never totally embraced its Mayan neighbor to the south, Guatemela. In essence, the State has retained one indisputable identity: Chiapas is forever indigenous.

On its southwestern border, El Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas (The Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas) shares a long coastline with the Pacific Ocean. Chiapas also borders the states of Tabasco (on the north), Veracruz-Llave (on the northwest), Oaxaca (on the west) and the nation of Guatemala (on the southeast). Altogether, Chiapas occupies 73,724 square kilometers, taking up 3.8% of México's national territory and ranking eighth among the Mexican states in terms of area. Politically, the State is divided into a total of 111 municipios (the Mexican equivalent of counties), with its capital at Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

The name Chiapas is believed to have been derived from the ancient city of Chiapan, which in Náhuatl means the place where the chia sage grows. Chiapas itself is merely one portion of the large region that was inhabited by the Mayan Indians. The ancient Mayan culture flourished across a large portion of present-day Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras and the five Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas. In all, the territory occupied by the Maya was probably about 500,000 square kilometers in area and is sometimes referred to collectively as El Mundo Maya (The Maya World).

For at least two thousand years, the culture of the Mayan Indians flourished throughout Mesoamerica. The Mayas made a living through agriculture, hunting and fishing. They were also skilled weavers and temple builders who left a treasure trove of archaeological sites for later generations to admire. The Mayan Linguistic Group is one of the largest in the Americas and is divided into a multitude of Mayan languages, including the Huastec, Yucatec, Western Maya, and Eastern Maya groups.

While Yucatec is the dominant language spoken in northern Guatemala, Belize and the Mexican states of the Yucatán Peninsula (Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatán), the Western Maya language group is the dominant tongue in Chiapas. The most common of the Western Maya languages are the Tzeltal and Tzotzil. However, other Western Maya languages spoken in Chiapas include Chontal, Chol, Tojolabal, Chuj, Kanjobal, Acatec, Jacaltec, and Motozintlec.

The first contact between Spaniards and the people of Chiapas people came in 1522, when Hernán Cortés dispatched tax collectors to the area after the Aztec Empire was conquered and dismantled. Soon after, in 1523, Luis Marín, one of Cortés' officers, arrived in Chiapas to begin the Spanish conquest in that area. Although Marín was able to pacify some of the indigenous groups, his forces met with fierce resistance from the Tzotzil Indians in the highlands.

Marín was not able to bring the natives of Chiapas under complete control after three years. To finish the job, the Spaniards dispatched a new military expedition under the command of Diego de Mazariegos. But, faced with capture and slavery, many indigenous warriors preferred death to the loss of freedom. In the Battle of Tepetchia, many Indians jumped to their deaths in Cañon del Sumidero, rather than submit to the foreign invaders.

Gradually, however, the indigenous resistance weakened and Spanish control was established through most of Chiapas. By the end of 1528, the conquest of Chiapas was complete, with both the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Indians subdued. On March 31, 1528, Captain Mazariegos established the Ciudad Real in the Valley of Jovel. Ciudad Real - which was later renamed San Cristóbal de las Casas - would be the capital of the province for 364 years.

The Spanish colonial administration quickly introduced the encomendero system into Chiapas, virtually reducing the indigenous population to slavery and bondage. Forced to pay tribute twice a year, the Chiapas natives carried an undercurrent of resentment from one generation to another, leading to the revolt of the Tzeltal communities in Los Altos in 1712. Soon, the Tzoltziles and Choles joined the Tzeltales in rebellion, but within a year, the government was able to extinguish the rebellion.

According to an 1814 census, roughly 130,000 people inhabited Chiapas. This population was made up of 105,352 Indians, 21,477 mestizos, and 3,409 Spaniards. During the late Eighteenth Century, a number of Spanish and mestizo farmers and ranchers had made their way to Chiapas. These newcomers became an elite group of wealthy landowning families who steadily expanded their holdings, gradually depriving the Indian communities of their traditional lands before and after independence.

In 1821, México became an independent country. On September 1, 1821, Chiapas declared its acceptance of México's Plan de Iguala, expecting that that neighboring Guatemala would do the same thing. And on September 3, 1821, Chiapas officially declared its separation from the Spanish empire. However, during 1823, Guatemala became part of the United Provinces of Central America, which united to form a federal republic that would last from 1823 to 1839. With the exception of the pro-Mexican Ciudad Real, many Chiapanecan towns and villages favored a Chiapas independent of México and some favored unification with Guatamala. At the same time, the elite classes of Chiapas openly pushed for incorporation into México. In July 1824, the Soconusco District of southwestern Chiapas split off from Chiapas, announcing that it would join the Central American Federation.

In September 14, 1824, following a referendum on either joining Federal Republic of Central America or México, the government of Chiapas endorsed the state's incorporation into México. But, the Soconusco District maintained its neutral status for eighteen years until 1842, when Oaxacan forces under General Santa Anna occupied the province. After the completion of the military occupation, Santa Anna declared that Soconusco had been reincorporated into the Mexican Republic. Guatemala did not recognize this action until 1895.

However, even after the reincorporation of Soconusco, the Mayan states of México continued to forge a separate path from the rest of the country. The predominantly Mayan state of Yucatán rose in rebellion in 1839 and declared independence from México on May 31, 1841. Reincorporated into México in December 1843, the state declared independence again in 1846, although it was reincorporated soon after. From 1847 to 1855, the "Caste War" ravaged the Yucatán Peninsula, causing many Caucasian inhabitants to flee. Discontent of a similar kind brewed in the highlands of Chiapas, where the Mexican Government feared and suspected the emergence of a second "caste war." From 1868 to 1872, the Tzotzil rebelled, but Government control was eventually reestablished.

Well into modern times, Chiapas has boasted a significant indigenous-speaking population. In the 1895 federal census, 120,942 people five years of age and over who lived in Chiapas were classified as indigenous-language speakers, accounting for 37.8% of the total population of the state (315,599). Five years later, at the turn of the century, the indigenous population of Chiapas - numbered at 129,843 - constituted 36% of the state's total population (360,799).

In the unusual 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including "indígena pura" (pure indigenous), "indígena mezclada con blanca" (indigenous mixed with white) and "blanca" (white). Out of a total state population of 421,744, 200,927 persons (or 47.6%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background. Another 152,956, or 36.3%, classified themselves as being mixed, while a mere 49,836 (11.8%) claimed to be white.

Although 47.6% of Chiapas residents claimed to be of pure indigenous heritage, a much smaller number of persons were classified as speakers of indigenous languages. A total of 98,105 persons five years of age and older spoke at least twenty-five indigenous languages in 1921, representing 27.4% of the state population five years of age and older. The most spoken languages in this census were the Tzetzal (25,839 speakers), Tzotzil (20,803), Zoque (11,592), Chol (10,330), Mame (6,158), Chontal (1,454), and Zapoteco (1,145).

By the time of the 1990 census, 716,012 inhabitants of Chiapas 5 years of age or more spoke any one of the fifty-seven indigenous languages found in Chiapas. Another 169,593 children between the ages of 0 and 4 were tallied in these indigenous-speaking households. Another 244,221 persons were classified as Indians but could not speak an indigenous language. The end result leads us to the conclusion that in 1990, there were 1,129,826 persons classified as Indian or indigenous speakers, which represented 35.19% of the total state population (3,210,496). In addition, this large number of Indian people represented 12.97% of the total indigenous population of the Mexican Republic.

According to the 2000 census, the population of persons five years and more who spoke indigenous languages amounted to 809,592 individuals. The largest indigenous groups represented in Chiapas were: Tzotzil (291,550), Tzeltal (278,577), Chol (140,806), Zoque (41,609), Tojolabal (37,677), Kanjobal (5,769), and Mame (5,450).

The ethnic distribution of Chiapas is very complex and represents a dynamic, ever-changing phenomenon. Even today, out of Chiapas' 111 municipios, ninety-nine have significant indigenous populations, the majority of which are Mayan-speaking groups, closely related to one another. In the 2000 census, thirteen municipios of Chiapas contained indigenous populations that comprised at least 98% of the total population of the municipio. In all, twenty-two municipios had indigenous populations over 90% and 36 municipios had populations exceeding 50%.

The largest concentration of indigenous speaking individuals is living in five of Chiapas' nine regions: Los Altos, Selva, Norte, Fronteriza, and Sierra. The remaining four regions (Centro, Frailesca, Soconusco, and Costa) have populations that are considered to be dominantly mestizo. The major groups of Chiapas are discussed below:

Tzotzil Maya (Batsil winik'otik)
The Tzotzil Indians call themselves Batsil winik'otik, which means "true men" in their language. Their closely related cousins, the Tzeltales, refer to themselves as winik atel, or "working men." Both groups speak a language, which they call batsil k'op (true or legitimate language). The Tzeltal and Tzotzil languages form the Tzeltalan subdivision of the Mayan language family. Lexico-statistical studies indicate that these two languages probably became differentiated from one another around 1200 A.D.

In the 2000 census, a total of 291,550 people 5 years of age and over spoke the Tzotzil language, representing 36.0% of the total indigenous population of Chiapas. The only indigenous group whose numbers approach that figure were the Tzeltal, who numbered 278,577, representing another 34.41%. Together, the two indigenous groups were represented by 570,127 individuals 5 years of age and older, accounting for more than 70% of the total indigenous population and 14.54% of the total state population (3,920,892).

Today, the Tzotzil live in almost every municipio of Chiapas, but are most prominent in ten municipios in the Los Altos region. The traditional Tzotzil territory is to the northwest and southwest of the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the highland region of central Chiapas.

The Tzotziles of Los Altos are organized into barrio communities, each of which has its own social and cultural identity. Each barrio has its unique patron saint as its protector and the benefactor of its population. The Tzotzil are engaged primarily in agricultural pursuits, growing chiefly corn (maize), beans, and squash. As the economy of Chiapas has become more diversified in recent decades, the Tzotzil have begun to expand from their traditional areas into northern urban areas.

The Tzeltal (Winik Atel)
The Tzeltal call themselves Winik atel, which means "Working Men" in their language. The Tzeltal (Winik Atel) are repsented by 278,577 people five years of age or more in the state of Chiapas. This figure represents a significant 34.41% of the total indigenous figure of the state. The Tzeltal language is concentrated in twenty of Chiapas¹ 111 municipios.

Under Spanish rule, the Tzeltal people were subjected to the encomendero system and forced to pay an oppressive tribute twice a year. For centuries, the Tzeltales were forced to labor in the mines, mills and haciendas of Chiapas for meager wages. Like the Tzotales, the Tzeltal are presently engaged primarily in agriculture and cultivate corn, beans, chili, squash, yucca, sweet potato, potato and chayote. In the Tzeltal region, the identity of the community is also very prominent and significant. Each Tzeltal community constitutes a distinct social and cultural unit, with its own dialect, leaders, customs and religious rites.

Choles (Winik)
The Chol language, with 140,806 speakers five years of age and older in the 2000 census, is spoken by 17.39% of Chiapas' total indigenous population and is the third most common native language in that state. The Choles call themselves "Winik," a Mayan word that means "man." For centuries, the Choles have referred to themselves as "the miliperos," the people whose lives and existence have revolved around the cultivation of maize, their most sacred food.

Some two thousand or more years ago, the Choles lived in the region now known as Guatemala and Honduras. Over time, they split into two main groups, the Chol migrating gradually to the region of present day Chaipas, and Chortís staying in the region of Guatemala. The Choles of today are closely related to both the Chontal in Tabasco and the Chortí of eastern Guatemala.

The Choles are especially common in the northwest part of Chiapas and inhabit an area that is contiguous with the neighboring state of Tabasco. The fundamental economic activity of the Chooles is agriculture. They primarily cultivate corn and frijol, as well as sugar cane, rice, coffee, and some fruits.

Zoques (O'deput)
The Zoques of Chiapas call themselves "O'de püt," which signifies "people of the language," or "word of man," which may be construed to imply "authentic" or "true." According to the census of 1990, the total number of Zoque speakers in México five years of age and older numbered 43,160. Of this number, 34,810 lived in the state of Chaipas and were distributed through 57 municipios. By the year 2000, the population of the Zoques had dropped to 41,609 individuals five years of age or older, representing 5.14% of Chiapas' indigenous-speaking language. The municipios, in which the Zoques are predominant, stretch across 3,000 square kilometers of northern Chiapas.

Tojolabales (Tojolwinik'otik)
The Tojolabales call themselves Tojolwinik'otik, which means "legitimate or true men." According to oral tradition, the Tojolabales came north from Guatemala. At the time of the 2000 census, 37,667 residents of Chiapas spoke Tojolabal, making up 4.65% of the indigenous population. In 1980 the army massacred fifty Tojolabal Indians who had occupied a finca (large farm) forty miles from Comitan.

Kanjobal
The Kanjobal speakers of Chiapas mainly live along the border of Chiapas and Guatemala. Although most Kanjobal live in Guatemala, 5,769 Chiapas residents five years of age and older spoke the language at the time of the 2000 census. It is believed that a significant number of these Kanjobal-speakers may have been born in Guatemala and immigrated to Chiapas, maintaining strong cultural ties to the neighboring nation.

Mames
The Mame language is one of the most ancient Mayan languages. The Mames primarily inhabit Guatemala, but 5,450 Mame speakers were tallied in Chiapas in the 2000 census. Most of these individuals lived in Fronteriza, Sierra, and Soconusco.

Events in 1994
The Zapatista movement first came to the attention of the world when their rebel forces occupied the Chiapan towns of San Cristobal de las Casas, Las Margaritas, Altamirano and Ocosingo on January 1, 1994, the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was due to begin operation. They read their proclamation of revolt to the world and then laid siege to a nearby military base, capturing weapons and releasing many prisoners from the jails. The Mexican army responded savagely, pushing the rebel forces back into the rural highlands of Los Altos.

The Zapatistas, however, brought to the surface long-standing issues about the indigenous people, their poverty and their ties to the land. According to México's National Population Council, today Chiapas is the poorest state in México. Ninety-four of its 111 municipalities live on the poverty line. In Ocosingo, Altamirano and Las Margaritas - the towns where the Zapatista Army first came into prominence in 1994 - 48% of the adults are illiterate. Eighty percent of the families earn less than $245 a month and seventy percent have no electricity.

This is amazing because, in recent decades, Chiapas has become recognized as one of the most resource-rich states in all of México. The agricultural production of coffee, corn and cocoa, the growth of cattle-ranching, hydroelectric power, and timber harvested from the Lacandona rainforest have given Chiapas a new economic clout with its sister states. Chiapas produces 35% of México's coffee, which traditionally has been the state's primary cash crop. However, the production of bananas, cacao and corn make also made Chiapas México's second largest agricultural producer overall.

It has also been determined that Chiapas has rich petroleum reserves, giving it a higher level of status in the international economy. Oil production began during the 1980s and Chiapas has become the fourth largest producer of crude oil and natural gas among the Mexican states. Thirty-five percent of México's electricity is generated from Chiapas' hydropower. And because Chiapas contains many archaeological remains of the Maya past, it has also become a magnet for international tourism.

In light of Chiapas' economic potential and indigenous poverty, the Zapatistas have explained to the world that they are struggling for work, land, housing, food, health care, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice, peace, cultural recognition, information, and security. Furthermore, they have dedicated themselves to the cause of protecting the environment and combating corruption. The issues that the Zapatistas have with the Mexican Federal Government are too complex to discuss in the context of this article. However, the following website provides some background to events in Chiapas, especially those issues relating to the Zapatistas:

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/situdx.html

The Chiapas of the Twenty-First Century is a land in turmoil. Torn between its indigenous past and a world hungry for its rich natural resources, the State is witnessing population movements that will change the ethnic demography that existed for so many centuries. However, even with all the changes, the plight of the indigenous campesino has essentially remained the same. The Chiapas of the future will witness a battle between those who demand change and those who wish to preserve the social structures that have endured since 1526.

Alvarez, Fernando, "Peasant Movements in Chiapas," Bulletin of Latin American Research 7,2 (1988): 277-298.

Benjamin, Thomas, "A time of Reconquest: History, the Maya Revival and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas," American Historical Review 105,2 (4/00):417-50.

Hayden, Tom (ed.), The Zapatista Reader. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press/Nation Books, 2002).

INEGI, Resultados Definitivos del XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda.

Lyon, Stephen. Zapata Lives!: Histories and Cultural Politics in Southern Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

Weinberg, Bill, Homage to Chiapas: the New Indigenous Struggles in México. London: VERSO, 2000.

"The Situation in Chiapas"
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/situdx.html

"About the Zapatistas"
http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/nave/zaps.html