Zapotec Civilization: A History from Beginning to End

Discover the remarkable history of the Zapotec Civilization…
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The Zapotecs formed one of the most important of the pre-Columbian civilizations. For one thousand years, their main city of Monte Albбn was one of the largest and most sophisticated in Mesoamerica. Building this city was an astonishing engineering feat—it involved flattening a hill in the center of the Oaxaca Valley to create an artificial plateau and then constructing a series of large, ornate buildings on this inaccessible site. Maintaining this large city on a site with no natural source of water must have required an enormous and willing workforce. Despite this, Monte Albбn became one of the largest and most important cities in Mesoamerica, and the Zapotecs came to dominate not just the Oaxaca Valley but many adjacent lands.

We don’t know why or how the Zapotecs suddenly seemed to acquire new engineering and architectural skills, but their rise to prominence was astonishingly swift. Once in a position of dominance, they maintained their hold over the region for more than one thousand years. Then, for reasons that are equally unclear, the Zapotecs faced a slow decline which saw them abandon Monte Albбn to decay and ruin and return to the Oaxaca Valley floor to become once again a mainly agrarian, peasant people.

The Zapotecs still exist as a separate culture in Mexico, but they have never regained their prominence and are now little more than one of the indigenous peoples of that region. This is the story of the rapid rise and gradual decline of the ancient Zapotec people.

Discover a plethora of topics such as

The Emergence of the Zapotecs and Monte Albбn

Monte Albбn Phase 1 to 5

Zapotec Architecture, Art, and Science

Zapotec Religion and Society

Legacy

And much more!