Short answers, pulled from the story.
Zapotec is an exonym derived from the Nahuatl word tzapotēcah, meaning inhabitants of the place of sapote. The Zapotec referred to themselves by some variant of Be'ena'a, meaning The Cloud People, reflecting their belief that their governing elite descended from supernatural beings who lived among the clouds.
The Zapotec civilization originated in the Y-shaped Central Valleys of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica, roughly 200 km south of Mexico City. The three valleys, Etla in the west, Ocotlan in the south, and Mitla in the east, meet at an altitude of about 4,500 feet above sea level.
Monte Alban was the capital city of the Zapotec state, built on a mountain overlooking the three valleys of Oaxaca around 700 BC. It became one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica and remained the largest city in the southern Mexican highlands until approximately AD 700.
The earliest known artifact with Zapotec writing is Monument 3, a carved Danzante stone found at San Jose Mogote in Oaxaca, first dated to 500-600 BC. It depicts what appears to be a dead captive with two glyphic signs between his legs, possibly recording his name.
The Aztecs conquered the Valley of Oaxaca in 1458 and established a fort at Huaxyacac in 1486 to collect tribute. When news of the Spanish defeat of the Aztecs reached the Zapotec, King Cosijoeza ordered his people not to resist. On the 25th of November 1521, Francisco de Orozco arrived in the valley and both the Zapotec and Mixtec submitted to the authority of Hernan Cortes.
The native population of Oaxaca fell from roughly 1.5 million in 1520 to around 150,000 by 1650, according to figures cited by Ms. Romero. Nineteen major epidemics struck within the first century of Spanish contact, including smallpox, measles, diphtheria, typhoid, and the hemorrhagic disease cocoliztli.