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Zapotec civilization | HearLore
Zapotec civilization
The Zapotec civilization began as a collection of three separate societies in the Y-shaped Central Valleys of Oaxaca, separated by a no-man's-land that would eventually become the site of their greatest city. By the late 6th century BC, these three societies were locked in a cycle of competition and warfare, evidenced by burned temples and the sacrifice of war captives. The largest settlement, San José Mogote, and a nearby community in the Etla Valley suddenly lost most of their population during the Rosario phase between 700 and 500 BC. In the void left by these departing populations, a new city emerged on a mountain peak overlooking the three valleys, a place later known as Monte Albán. This was not a natural evolution but a deliberate act of synoikism, a centralization of dispersed populations to meet an external military threat. The walls and fortifications built during the Monte Alban 2 phase, roughly 100 BC to 200 AD, stand as stone testimony to a society that chose unity over isolation to survive. The Zapotec, who called themselves Be'ena'a or The Cloud People, had forged a state that would dominate the region for over a millennium.
The Conquest Slab
During the Monte Alban 2 phase, the Zapotec state expanded with such force that it conquered or colonized settlements far beyond the Valley of Oaxaca, leaving a mark on history that is still visible in the pottery of the conquered regions. A building on the main plaza of Monte Albán, known today as Building J, serves as a stone ledger of this expansion. Shaped like an arrowhead, it displays more than 40 carved stones with hieroglyphic writing that archaeologists interpret as a record of the provinces controlled by the Zapotec. Each glyph group depicts a head with an elaborate headdress, representing the rulers of those provinces. Heads turned upside down are believed to signify rulers who were killed and whose provinces were taken by force, while upright heads represent those who did not resist annexation and had their lives spared. This structure, often called The Conquest Slab, provides a visual history of the Zapotec empire's reach from Quiotepec in the North to Ocelotepec and Chiltepec in the South. By 200 AD, Monte Albán had become the largest city in the southern Mexican highlands, retaining this status until approximately 700 AD.
War and the Spanish Alliance
The 1450s brought a new threat to the Zapotec heartland as Aztec forces invaded the Valley of Oaxaca to extend their hegemony, conquering the area in 1458 and establishing a fort on the hill of Huaxyácac to enforce tribute payments. The final battle between the Aztecs and the Zapotecs occurred between 1497 and 1502 under the Aztec ruler Ahuizotl at the fortified city of Guiengola. When news arrived that the Aztecs had been defeated by the Spaniards, King Cosijoeza ordered his people not to confront the invaders, fearing the same fate. Instead, the Zapotec sent a delegation to seek an alliance with the Spaniards. On the 25th of November 1521, Francisco de Orozco arrived in the Valley of Oaxaca, and the Zapotecs and Mixtecs soon submitted to the rule of Hernan Cortes. This 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, though de Orozco did meet with some resistance in Antequera, which was subdued by the end of 1521.
When did the Zapotec civilization begin and where was it located?
The Zapotec civilization began as a collection of three separate societies in the Y-shaped Central Valleys of Oaxaca by the late 6th century BC. This indigenous civilization flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica and later established its greatest city, Monte Albán, on a mountain peak overlooking the three valleys.
What was the Zapotec name for themselves and what does it mean?
The Zapotec people called themselves Be'ena'a, which translates to The Cloud People. This self-designation contrasts with the exonym Zapotec derived from Nahuatl speakers who called them tzapotēcah, meaning inhabitants of the place of sapote.
How many Zapotec languages and dialects exist today and where are they spoken?
There are 7 distinct Zapotec languages and over 100 dialects spoken in parts of the Northern Sierra, the Central Valleys, the Southern Sierra, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and along parts of the Pacific Coast. Due to decades of out-migration, Zapotec is also spoken in parts of Mexico City and Los Angeles, California.
When did the Zapotec population decline and what caused this demographic collapse?
The native population declined from 1.5 million in 1520 to 150,000 people in 1650 due to a series of devastating epidemics. Nineteen major epidemics including smallpox, chicken pox, diphtheria, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, mumps, and cocoliztli wreaked havoc on the native population before the first century had ended.
What is the significance of Building J at Monte Albán and when was it constructed?
Building J, known as The Conquest Slab, was constructed during the Monte Alban 2 phase roughly 100 BC to 200 AD to record the provinces controlled by the Zapotec. This arrowhead-shaped structure displays more than 40 carved stones with hieroglyphic writing that serve as a stone ledger of the empire's reach from Quiotepec in the North to Ocelotepec and Chiltepec in the South.
When did the Zapotec civilization end and what happened to their territory after the Spanish conquest?
The culture that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca from 700 BC to 1521 AD continued to live on through the language and traditions of the modern Zapotec peoples. Following the Spanish conquest, the Zapotec territory became part of the Marquessate of the Valley of Oaxaca under the control of Hernan Cortéz, and the Zapotecs submitted to his rule on the 25th of November 1521.
Following the Spanish conquest, the Zapotec territory became part of the Marquessate of the Valley of Oaxaca under the control of Hernan Cortéz, and the arrival of European settlers brought domestic animals that had never been seen in Oaxaca, including horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, mules, and oxen. Starting in 1528, Dominican friars established permanent residence in Antequerea, and after the Bishopric of Oaxaca was formally established in 1535, Catholic priests arrived in ever-increasing numbers. The decades following the Spanish encounter saw a series of devastating epidemics that wreaked havoc on the native population, with nineteen major epidemics coming and going before the first century had ended. The exposure of the Oaxacan Indians to smallpox, chicken pox, diphtheria, influenza, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, mumps, and cocoliztli took a huge toll. As a result, the native population declined from 1.5 million in 1520 to 150,000 people in 1650, a catastrophic loss that would take centuries to recover from, even as the population of Oaxaca eventually rebounded.
The Language of Clouds
The name Zapotec is an exonym derived from Nahuatl speakers who called them tzapotēcah, meaning inhabitants of the place of sapote, while the Zapotec referred to themselves by some variant of the term Be'ena'a, which means The Cloud People. The Zapotec languages belong to a language family called Oto-Manguean, an ancient family of Mesoamerican languages estimated to have branched off from a common root at around 1500 BC. There are 7 distinct Zapotec languages and over 100 dialects spoken in parts of the Northern Sierra, the Central Valleys, the Southern Sierra, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and along parts of the Pacific Coast. Zapotec is a tone language, meaning that the meaning of a word is often determined by voice pitch, with up to 4 distinct tonemes: high, low, rising, and falling. Due to decades of out-migration, Zapotec is also spoken in parts of Mexico City and Los Angeles, California, where indigenous speakers from Oaxaca have made their way in large numbers.
Ink and Jade in the Valley
The Zapotecs developed a calendar and a logosyllabic system of writing that used a separate glyph to represent each of the syllables of the language, thought to be one of the first writing systems of Mesoamerica and a predecessor of those developed by the Maya, Mixtec, and Aztec civilizations. The earliest known artifact with Zapotec writing is a Danzante stone, officially known as Monument 3, found in San José Mogote, Oaxaca, which has a relief of what appears to be a dead and bloodied captive with two glyphic signs between his legs, possibly his name. First dated to 500, 600 BC, this was initially considered the earliest writing in Mesoamerica, though doubts have been expressed as to this dating as the monument may have been reused. The Zapotec script appears to have gone out of use in the late Classic period, but the technology of their writing system allowed them to record principal events in their history by means of hieroglyphics. In the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Zapotec and Mixtec artisans fashioned jewelry for the Aztec rulers, including Moctezuma II, and relations with central Mexico went back much further, as suggested by the archaeological remains of a Zapotec neighborhood within Teotihuacan and a Teotihuacan style guest house in Monte Albán.
Gods of Rain and Maize
Like most Mesoamerican religious systems, the Zapotec religion was polytheistic, with deities such as Cocijo, the rain god, Coquihani, the god of light, and Pitao Cozobi, the god of maize, predominantly associated with fertility or agriculture. Both male and female deities are represented, differentiated by costume, with males depicted wearing breechclouts with or without capes, while females are depicted wearing skirts. There is some evidence of worship of deities not directly associated with Zapotec culture, such as the Teotihuacan Feathered Serpent, Butterfly God, and rain god, and the Nahuatl god of spring Xipe Totec. It is believed that the Zapotec used human sacrifice in some of their rituals, and their governing elite believed that they descended from supernatural beings who lived among the clouds, and that upon death they would return to the clouds. Dedication rituals were used to sanctify living spaces and structures, with excavations revealing caches containing jade beads, obsidian blades, shells, and small animal bones that symbolized different religious concepts of power, sacrifice, and the relationship between the underworld and the cosmos.
The Modern Legacy
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, and including 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, and indigenous speakers from Oaxaca have also made their way to the United States in large numbers. The Zapotec peoples are their modern descendants, and the culture that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca from 700 BC to 1521 AD continues to live on through the language, the traditions, and the people who carry the name of the Cloud People. The archaeological site at the ancient city of Monte Albán, with its monumental buildings, ball courts, tombs, and grave goods, including finely worked gold jewelry, stands as a testament to a civilization that originated at least 2,500 years ago and remains a vital part of the cultural landscape of Mexico.