The Mixtecos, a wonderful millenary indigenous culture that lived in a large extension of Mexican lands, which bear their name and whose diverse and extreme natural landscape still retains the charm of yesteryear. Meet the Location of the Mixtec culture! Do not miss it!
Location of the Mixtec culture
The Mixtecs were a native group that settled in Oaxaca, specifically the western area and parts of the states of Puebla and Guerrero, in Mexico. However, their main settlement is in the state of Oaxaca in southeastern Mexico.
The Mixtec region although it encompasses three states, western Oaxaca and the neighboring areas of Guerrero and Puebla, most of this region is located in the vast Sierra Madre de Oaxaca, separated from the central highlands of the Mexican nation by the river Rafts.
The Mixtecs represented one of the most important groups in Mesoamerica, being famous for their mastery in some arts and crafts, such as metal work, creating very beautiful and outstanding pieces of jewelry, which in ceramics, stood out making beautiful decorated vessels.
The existing information on the history of the Mixtec individual comes from archaeology, the chronicles of the Spanish during the period of the conquest and the pre-Columbian codices that keep references to Mixtec kings and nobles, among other things. With great mysteries around this interesting culture.
The Mixtec Region
The area where this culture was established and developed is known as the great Mixteca, being a vast geographical area, where rocky and mountainous elevations, narrow valleys, creeks, ravines and streams are quite frequent. The region is separated into three large main zones, which are:
- Mixteca Alta: with an elevation above sea level that varies between 2500 and 2000 meters or 8200 to 6500 feet.
- Mixteca Baja: an area located between 1700 and 1500 meters or 5600 to 5000 feet.
- Mixteca de la Costa or Costa Mixteca: It is located along the Pacific coast.
It was characterized by a rugged geography that made communication difficult between members of the same culture, this being probably the cause of the existence of the different dialects within the Mixtec language. It is estimated that there are at least a dozen different Mixtec languages.
The topography of the region affected in many aspects, for example, agricultural activities. Agriculture was practiced by the Mixtec peoples since ancient times, it is presumed that approximately from the year 1500 BC and was very limited by the type of land.
The best land is located in the valleys of the highlands, characterized by being quite narrow and some areas of the coastal area. However, in all areas it was harvested and produced, so the three subregions Mixteca Alta, Mixteca Baja and Mixteca de la Costa exchanged different products.
For example, cocoa, cotton, salt, imported items, and exotic animals came from the coast, while corn, beans, chili peppers, metals, and precious stones came from the high mountain regions.
Mixtec centers
The first Mixtec centers were small hamlets located near productive agricultural land. About a century after Eight Deer united Tilantongo and Tututepec, the Mixtecs expanded their power and centers into the Valley of Oaxaca, a region that had always been Zapotec power.
This is concluded, among other things, because in 1932, Alfonso Caso, a native archaeologist of this country, found in Monte Albán, an area where the Zapotec capital is located, the remains of Mixtec nobles in a tomb, calculating that they come from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.
The enclosure was an exhibition of artisan talent, it had valuable offerings, including gold and silver jewelry, meticulously ornamented vessels, corals, carved jaguar bones, etc.
In the final stage of the pre-Hispanic era, the Mixtec adhered to the Aztec empire, responding and honoring the leader and lord of this vast society. They gave him valuable and highly elaborate pieces of gold, silver and other metals, adorned with precious stones, especially turquoise.
This is why many Mixtec pieces have been found in what was formerly Aztec territory, for example, in the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan and not because the location of the Mixtec culture extended to those areas.
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