It has peaks almost 10,000 feet (more than 3,000 meters) high, caverns among the deepest in the world, virgin beaches, hidden jungles, and luminous valleys that house populations where, as a crucible, cultures of all people who once lived in its midst come together.

Oaxaca, the State Capital, declared Humanity’s Cultural Patrimony by UNESCO, owes its fame to the beauty and harmony of its architecture, the richness of its cultural traditions, the wide variety of its typical foods, and its soft temperate climate, spring-like throughout the year. Its name comes from Huaxyácal (the apex of the guajes, a variety of acacia, of Huaxín, guajes, and yacatl, summit). The Aztecs applied the name to the summit where they built a fortress in 1486. At arrival, the Spaniards founded, next to the old fort, the new Villa de Antequera, and a few years later, returned to the old Aztec fortress to erect, in the same guaje summit, a city that, in 1529 would be founded, built, and peopled as Villa de Oaxaca.

The name of Oaxaca comes from the Nahuatl word Huayacac. Its roots are Huaxin (kind of acacia) and Yacalt (peak, edge, top), top of the acacias.

King Carlos V of Spain elevated Oaxaca to the rank of "City" in 1532.

Currently, it has 244,727 inhabitants and 3,224,270 people are living all over the state.

* The source of this information is the Oaxaca-Travel website. We publish this information with the authorization of Mr. Juan Antonio Ruiz W. producer of the Oaxaca-Travel website.