Oaxaca

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Oaxaca is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the state. For the city, see: Oaxaca, Oaxaca.

Oaxaca

Location

Statistics
Capital	Oaxaca
Area	93,952 km² Ranked 5th
Population (2005 census)	3,506,821 Ranked 10th
HDI (2004)	0.7164 - medium Ranked 31st
Governor (2006)	Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
Federal Deputies	PRI: 2 PRD: 7 Convergencia: 1 PT: 1
Federal Senators	PRI: 1 PRD: 1 Convergencia: 1
ISO 3166-2 Postal abbr.	MX-OAX Oax.

Catedral de Santo Domingo

The Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca or simply Oaxaca wɑˈhɑkɑ (help·info) is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located in the southern part of Mexico, west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Oaxaca borders the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north, and Chiapas to the east. To the south Oaxaca fronts the Pacific Ocean.

Oaxaca has an area of 95,364 km²; it is the fifth largest state in the Republic. In 2003 it had an estimated population of 3,597,700 people.

The state is located in the mountains and valleys of the Sierra Madre del Sur range.

Oaxaca is the historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples. One of Mexico's most famous heroes, President Benito Juárez, came from the Oaxacan village of San Pablo Guelatao. Other famous Oaxacans include Rufino Tamayo, Porfirio Diaz, José Vasconcelos, Francisco Toledo, María Sabina, J. Alberto Canseco Díaz, Major League Baseball player Vinny Castilla and many other writers, artists and politicians.

1 History
2 Recent History
3 Crafts
4 Cuisine
5 Plants and Shamanism
6 Religion
7 See also
8 External links

History

President Benito Juárez, National Hero

During the millennia prior to the arrival of the Aztecs in 1436, the most powerful and influential groups in what is today Oaxaca were the Zapotec, the Mixtec and the Mixe. The civilizations achieved by these groups are reflected in important archeological sites including Monte Albán, Mitla, Guiengola and Huijatzoo.

The influences changed when the Aztecs settled around the Cerro del Fortín and down to the present Church of Carmen Alto where their temple was located. The name of the state comes from the Nahuatl designation they gave to the Central Valley around the capital – "Huaxyácac" or place of guaje trees because of the great number of this species (Leucaena leucocephala).

As the Spanish who arrived less than a century later found this difficult to pronounce it evolved into the present name of Oaxaca, for the city and for the state. The settlement founded by the Spanish in 1521 as Segura de la Frontera, later known as Nueva Antequera, was officially raised to the category of a "royal" city in 1532 by decree of Emperor Charles V (Carlos I) with the name of Antequera de Guaxaca.

Recent History

Main article: 2006 Oaxaca protests

In May of 2006 a teachers strike calling for higher wages led to the occupation of many buildings and streets in Oaxaca's capital city. On June 14, 2006, the Oaxaca Teachers Union was evicted. By October of 2006, supporters of the strike which was led by the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO) had grown to tens of thousands calling for Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruíz Ortíz to resign. Demonstrators launched a widespread campaign of civil disobedience and took over the state-run television station. [1] On October 27, 2006, paramilitary forces fired on a crowd of protesters, killing three: Esteban Zurrita and Emilio Alonso Fabian, two locals involved in the demonstrations, and Brad Will, a U.S. independent journalist and activist who had been videotaping the protest. [2] On October 28, 2006, Mexican President Vicente Fox ordered riot police to regain control of the city. [3] On October 29, police and military forces used bulldozers, water cannons and tear gas to push Oaxaca's citizens back. [4] Government forces seized Oaxaca's town hall by mid-afternoon. At least one more person was killed in the most recent violence, raising the total of persons killed to "more than a dozen."[5] Early in the morning on November 2, Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday, the PFP attempted to clear barricades surrounding the Autonomous University of Oaxaca Benito Juarez, which houses the radio station Radio Universidad, one of the last radio or television outlets still under the control of the APPO. A pitched battle ensued, during which police lobbed tear gas onto University grounds and dropped gas canisters from low-flying helicopters, and protesters hurled rocks and fireworks at police and set buses and vehicles on fire as impromptu barricades. After several hours the police withdrew, having failed at least temporarily to gain control of the area surrounding the University or to take the radio station off the air. Subcomandante Marcos of the EZLN has also called for the resignation of Governor Ruíz. [6]

Crafts

Oaxaca has a number of native crafts, including the production of alebrijes, weaving and black clay objects. Oaxaca is also known for producing mezcal, similar to tequila and sometimes with the worm inside the bottle. Oaxaca also produces alebrijes, which are popular wooden figurines of mythical beings, animals, and fantastic combinations of both, usually painted with very vibrant colors.

Zapotec weaving traditions were studied at length by Edwin Scheier and Mary Goldsmith in the 1960s [7].

Cuisine

Oaxaca is known for its seven moles' and for Oaxaca Cheese that is now exported around the world and even made in many locations in the United States'. There is also a breakfast specialty, generally only available in Oaxaca - huevos oaxaqueño - eggs poached in a chili-tomato soup. Another specialty is chapulines, an unusual dish composed primarily of barbequed grasshoppers.

Plants and Shamanism

Oaxaca is also known for at least two plants which are native to this particular area of the world, both used in Shamanism: Psilocybe mushrooms and Salvia divinorum. Though the former is preferred in shamanic practice, the latter is known to be the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen ^{[citation needed]}, and belongs to the Mint family.