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The Central Valleys of Oaxaca, the cradle of Zapotec civilization, are three broad valleys—Etla in the west, Ocotlán in the south and Mitla in the east—that join at an altitude of about 4500 feet above sea level in the center of what today is the state of Oaxaca. They are located about 200 km south of Mexico City.
The Zapotecs call themselves Bën Za, which means “The People.”. For decades it was believed that the exonym Zapotec came from the Nahuatl tzapotēcah (singular tzapotēcatl), which means "inhabitants of the place of sapote".
The Zapotecs probably arrived in the central valleys of Oaxaca in the 2nd century CE. At that time, much of the Tlacolula area was covered by a lake. Fray Juan de Torquemada thought that the Zapotecs arrived from a region called Panuco and established themselves first at Tule, with the first dominant settlement at Teotitlán del Valle. The ...
Mitla is the second-most important archeological site in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, and the most important of the Zapotec culture. [1] [2] The site is located 44 km from the city of Oaxaca, [3] in the upper end of the Tlacolula Valley, one of the three cold, high valleys that form the Central Valleys Region of the state. [4]
The Central Valleys (Spanish: Valles Centrales) of Oaxaca, also simply known as the Oaxaca Valley, is a geographic region located within the modern-day state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. In an administrative context, it has been defined as comprising the districts of Etla , Centro , Zaachila , Zimatlán , Ocotlán , Tlacolula and Ejutla . [ 1 ]
There are historical records from the area dating back as far as the 12th century, but except for the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, there is very few records of the native peoples of the state from the pre-Hispanic era into much of the colonial era. [3] By 500 BC, these valleys were mostly inhabited by the Zapotecs, with the Mixtecs on the eastern side.
Later the public structures on Mound 1 were rebuilt as a residence for a high-ranking family. [6] By 500 BCE, with the emergence of Monte Albán as the area's main city, San José Mogote's 1000 years of dominance ended, and it was relegated to the status of a lesser community that fell under Monte Albán's control. [6]
Cempoala or Zempoala (Nahuatl Cēmpoalātl 'Place of Twenty Waters') is an important Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the municipality of Úrsulo Galván in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The site was inhabited mainly by Totonacs , Chinantecas and Zapotecs .