Oaxaca, Mexico

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mountains of the southern Sierra Madre.

The town displays an attractive mixture of Indian and Spanish elements. In contrast to other Mexican colonial towns no industrialisation has taken place here as yet and there has also been little growth in population, so that the town has been able to preserve extensively the character of a quiet residential town of New Spain. The historic town centre has been granted world cultural heritage status by UNESCO.

History

Oaxaca Valley had already been settled by primitive Indian groups in about 6000 bc The beginnings of an independent culture can be dated to San José Mogote (San José phase 1450-1050 bc). This was followed by the transitional phase to Monte Albán I between the 8th and 7th c. bc. This development of the "pre-Zapotecs", who were themselves perhaps Olmecs or were strongly influenced by them, culminated during the following periods in the Zapotec and later Mixtec civilisations. These extended into both the nearby and further surroundings of the town when nothing was known of a settlement on the site of present-day Oaxaca. It was not until 1486 that the invading Aztecs, under their king Ahuítzotl, built their military base Huaxyaca (Náhuatl: "at the acacia grove") here.

In 1521 the Spanish under Francisco de Orozco arrived, laid siege to the Indians and founded a small settlement, christened Antequera, in 1529. By 1532 Emperor Charles V had elevated the settlement to the royal town of Oaxaca, a name which was derived from that of the original Aztec fortress. The town played no part in Mexico's War of Independence (1810-21). In 1830 Porfirio Díaz, the future president of the Republic, was born here as a mestizo of Mixtec origins. The later president and national hero Benito Juárez, a Zapotec Indian, lived in the town when he was governor of the state of Oaxaca from 1847 to 1852.