Indigenous people of Oaxaca

The Indigenous people of Oaxaca are descendants of the inhabitants of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico who were present before the Spanish invasion. Several cultures flourished in the ancient region of Oaxaca from as far back as 2000 BC, of whom the Zapotecs and Mixtecs were perhaps the most advanced, with complex social organization and sophisticated arts.

According to the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (CDI) Oaxaca has the greatest percentage of indigenous people after Yucatán, at 48% of the population. There are 16 formally registered indigenous communities, some of which are culturally diverse themselves. Many of the people are socially marginalized, living in poverty.

The 16 groups and the number of speakers of their language according to the 2005 census are:

Of these : 477,788 are non-Spanish monolingual. The majority of people speak languages of the Oto-Manguean family, either the Popolocan-Zapotecan branch or the Amuzgo-Mixtecan branch.

The Oaxaca region is at the convergence of the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain ranges, resulting in a rugged and mountainous terrain with a large, temperate central valley. The climate is temperate, cooler at higher altitudes and warmer by the coast and in the Papaloapan region, which is part of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain. Oaxaca is the historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples among others, and contains more speakers of indigenous languages than any other Mexican state.

Excavations have shown that the region has had a settled population for at least 4,000 years. In the pre-Columbian period, the Zapotec developed an advanced civilization centered in Monte Alban in the central valley, which lasted between 300 BC and 700 AD. The state was expansionist, and extended its authority to the north, west, and southwest.

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