Indigenous peoples 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 colonization. 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 languages 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 Albán 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.

Further to the west, Mixtec settlements have been dated back to 1500 BC, and the Mixtec also developed advanced city states such as Tilantongo and Tututepec. The Mixtec were known for their exceptional mastery of jewelry, in which gold and turquoise figure prominently. Around 1250 AD the Aztecs began pushing down from the North. Mixtec groups in turn invaded the Valley of Oaxaca and established the Cuilapan state. Shortly before the Spanish arrived, most of the west and central areas of Oaxaca had come under Aztec control.

The Aztec empire disintegrated after the fall of their capital of Tenochtitlan to the Spanish in August 1521. The Spanish crown granted Oaxaca to the conquistador Hernán Cortés as his prize. The Spanish introduced new food such as wheat and sugar cane and new methods of cultivation. Diseases introduced by the Spanish greatly diminished the native population of Oaxaca, as did the insatiable appetite for gold, which led more and more Oaxacans into the dangerous mines.^{[citation needed]}