Cuilapan

Cuilapan Cuilapam
Town & Municipality
Cuilapan de Guerrero
Basilica of Cuilapan
Cuilapan
Coordinates: 16°59′50″N 96°46′54″W / 16.99722°N 96.78167°W / 16.99722; -96.78167Coordinates: 16°59′50″N 96°46′54″W / 16.99722°N 96.78167°W / 16.99722; -96.78167
Country	Mexico
State	Oaxaca
Founded	1500–500 BCE
Government
• Municipal President	Andres Cruz Martínez
Elevation (of seat)	1,560 m (5,120 ft)
Population (2005) Municipality
• Municipality	15,041
• Seat	11,094
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
Postal code (of seat)	71240

Cuilapan de Guerrero is a town and municipality located in the central valley region of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. It is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the south of the capital city of Oaxaca on the road leading to Villa de Zaachila, and is in the Centro District in the Valles Centrales region.

Cuilapan, originally called Sahayuca, has been a permanent settlement since at least 500 BCE. It developed into a city state but was absorbed by Monte Alban until between 600 and 900 CE. After this, Cuilapan returned to being an independent city-state, equal to a number of other important city states in the area. After the Spanish conquest, Cuilapan had a population of over 40,000 people with formidable social, economic and cultural institutions. For this reason, a major monastery dedicated to James the apostle was established there in the 1550s in order to evangelize the Mixtec and Zapotec populations. However, the area underwent decline of its native population in the 16th and early 17th century and the extravagant monastery complex would later deteriorate in the 19th century. Today, the town is a quiet place with a fraction of its former population and prestige. The ruins of the monastery complex remain mostly as a national monument administered by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

The Cuilapan area has been settled by humans since 1500 BCE with a sedentary village established by 500 BCE. These sedentary peoples developed activities such as weaving, pottery and stonemasonry, with permanent houses, ceremonial structures and tombs. The society here grew and stratified over time and eventually a simple writing system came into existence. Cuilapan developed as an independent city state until the rise of Monte Alban, which came into dominance because it provided a refuge in a defensible location. During this time, Cuilapan was one of the satellite cities of the dominion. Between 600 and 900 CE, Monte Alban declined and collapsed, allowing Cuilapan and others to become independent again. Excavations from this period show that Cuilapan gained prominence in the post Monte Alban period, but was not dominant over its neighbors and never reached the heights of the former dominion. At that time, Cuilapan was identifiable as a Zapotec city state. Later, in the post-classic period, this and other Zapotec cities would be overrun by the Mixtecs.