Oaxaca
State is located in the south-east portion of Mexico. It is
bounded in the north by Veracruz and Puebla, in the east by
Chiapas, in the west by Guerrero and in the south by the Pacific
Ocean.
 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.
Its territorial extension of 59,125 miles (95,364
KM) comprises the 4.85% of the entire country. It has more
than 3 million of inhabitants.
It is 1,550 meters over the sea level with
a yearly average temperature of 29,3°C (maximum) and 12,5°C
(minimum).
The weather varies a lot because of the irregular
surface of the soil. It is hot and dry in the coastal area
near the Pacific; humid and hot in the Pacific Coast; and
it varies in the Sierra Madre, being mild in the rest of the
State and cold in areas with an altitude higher than 2,000
meters above sea level.
Oaxaca de Juárez
City, capital of the State, is located in
the center of the central district of the State, among the
north parallel of latitude 15°42' and 18°22' and the
east longitude 3°42' and 16°14' in the Mexican meridian.
In general, Oaxaca has a mild weather during
the year:
- Spring 25°C.
- Summer 22°C.
- Autumn 22°C.
- Winter 16°C.
A Bit of History
The pleasant subtropical climate and the tranquillity
of the remote surroundings are what attract most of the travelers
to the Oaxaca Valley. Ten thousand years ago, the first nomadic
families chose to settle in Mitla for those same reasons and
take shelter under large overhangs and in shallow caves.
The nomads collected food from the wild in
baskets and nets, and then roasted it on an open wood fire.
From time to time, families would gather on the banks of the
Mitla River and hold a feast to celebrate the harvest with
lots of eating, drinking and dancing.
Higher up at the foot of the valleys, agricultural terraces
were discovered where corn and beans were cultivated. This
sets the gradual change of life from nomadic to sedentary.
Groups of families established here and built houses and made
pottery. These were the first agricultural communities in
Oaxaca and were located in Abasolo, Tomaltepec, in the Mogote.
These families, although few in number, fostered
the Oaxaca valley paradise. Enormous trees, 30 meters high,
wild herbs and orchids in a wide range of diversity once thrived
here. Waters flowed in clear streams from the forested mountain
cliffs. The wildlife of the forest was rich and varied.
Zapotecs established their own knowledge about
nature by observing the seasons, the annual rainfall and temperature
changes. Their calendar was mainly based upon the sun, but
the wind, thunder and rain also constituted important elements
for their observation.
With the aim to express their knowledge about
the Universe and eager to have power, Zapotecs built pyramid
platforms at specific places in the natural surroundings.
The most ancient of these pyramid cloisters can be found in
a small town outside of Oaxaca called El Mogote, which means
The Hump. From this pyramid the visitors can see the mountains
where, later on, Monte Albán City was built.
The Oaxaca Valley
The groups of pyramids and churches, along
the route from Monte Albán to Mitla, deserve worldwide
attention for their beautiful architecture. These are clear
examples of how architecture and ecology can make a whole.
This is a Savine tree, classified taxonomically
as mucionatum according to botanists. It is a must to visit
the famous Tule Tree. It is an approximately 2000 year-old
Moctezuma cypress emerging from the central yard of the church
of the town. In the next town you can find Tlacochahuaya,
which means "Place with humidity." There, Spanish
monks built a church with an open lateral entrance. The interior
is decorated with paintings which have flower motives.
The City of Oaxaca is a colonial city founded
by the Spanish conquerors and is a magical place with its
main square called Zócalo, many churches and good museums.
The three most interesting churches are the Cathedral, the
Soledad Church and the Santo Domingo Church.
Three museums worthy to be visited are the
Regional Museum of Anthropology and History (Museo Regional
de Antropología e Historia, MACO), the Rufino Tamayo
Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Oaxaca City is the capital of Oaxaca State.
The UNESCO officially declared the colonial center of Oaxaca
City part of the Cultural Heritage for Mankind. During the
last four decades the population of Oaxaca grew four times
having now 244,727 inhabitants. People from the countryside
continue to immigrate to the City looking for a job.
Monte Albán
 Around
500 BC the Zapotecs came to realize that they needed to defend
themselves against invaders. They looked for a suitable place
to build a new community center, which they found at the peak
of Monte Albán (Monte means hill.) At that time, the
area was an uninhabited forest.
The mountaintop rose to 400 meters above the
valley. This was the best place to observe three valley branches
in their entirety as well as the two rivers Atoyac and Río
Salado. These rivers flowed parallel to the most prominent
trade routes. By building a pyramid on this place it would
be possible to control Oaxaca Valley.
If you climb Monte Albán at dawn, you
will be able to witness the mourning mist. It lingers above
the valley like a nocturnal shroud and it lifts as the sun
rises. This is perhaps why the Zapotecs used to call themselves
"the people of the clouds".
The Monte Albán civilization flourished
from 500 BC until 1500 AD. At this cultural peak the city
had 25, 000 inhabitants. The elite lived in palaces on the
plateaus. The mountain was densely populated and was divided
into terraces with houses and cornfields.
Dainzú
The pyramid plateau of Dainzú gives a fantastic panorama
of the Oaxaca Valley. Mountains stretch out in four directions
from the lookout, which seems to have been placed there on
purpose like a giant compass.
What is characteristic for this settlement
is the complex system of terraces and open spaces. Some of
these open spaces were used for the well-known pre-Colombian
ball game. On a temple wall each of a group of stones depicts
a man wearing a mask and a small ball in his right hand. The
location was occupied from 600 BC to 1200 AD.
 Lambityeco
Before the first excavations began in 1967, there was nothing
but a cornfield. The maize plants had overgrown the pyramid
mounds. In ancient times the site was suited for salt production.
Zapotecs derived salt from the banks of Río salado
(Salt River). They heated up the saltwater in clay pots. Salt
has always been an essential product to trade for goods at
the market. Presumably this bartering took place here as early
as 700 BC. Clay pots and salt are still important items at
the Tlacolula market nearby.
Yagul:
From Lambityeco towards Yagul the land rises to 1600 meters
and becomes dry and barren. Before the Zapotecs began to work
the land here, three thousand years ago, this had been a richly
forested area. In Yagul there is a Palace with six patios,
which dates from the 700 AD, but the area was probably uninhabited
earlier than this. The ground plan of the interior depicts
a complicated labyrinth, which only an original palace resident
could figure out. A footpath leads to an observation post
ahead, which bears the name, La fortaleza (The Fortress).
Apparently the palace lords feared for their safety.
Mitla:
 Around
700 AD, after the Monte Albán civilization began to
decline, the Zapotecs built a settlement in Mitla, instead
of being situated on a mountaintop. The pyramid groups were
constructed in a narrow valley surrounded by protective mountain
peaks.
The ambiance at Mitla differs greatly from
Monte Albán´s with its magnificent views. Mitla,
however, excels in architecture. Like in Yagul, the architecture
is more focused more on comfortable living. In elite families'
palaces a considerable of Mixtec influence is present in the
artistic work and elaborate wall decorations. The stone mosaics
are awe-inspiring. The decorations are so interwoven with
the structure of the building itself that one wonders how
it was done and motivated it all. Teotitlán weavers
still incorporate the same motives into their sarapes, rugs
and ponchos.
*
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.
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