ZAPOTECA culture: economy and politics

When talking about the different Mesoamerican cultures We tend to focus on the three most important, that is, the Olmec, the Mayan and the Aztec, and we tend to forget about the rest of the civilizations with influence in Mesoamerica. To talk about one of these lesser known Mesoamerican cultures, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the economics and politics of Zapotec culture.

The Zapotec civilization was a pre-Columbian culture, that is, that it existed before European colonization, which had great influence in the Mesoamerican area of ​​the Valley of Oaxaca. As for the years of its great influence, it can vary a lot depending on the sources we consult, some speaking of an origin about 2,500 years ago, while other historians place it closer to the 800 a. C.

The great influence of the Zapotecs can be observed in their great permanence in complicated lands, since they inhabited Mesoamerica at the same time as the mayans and aztecsand they managed to survive them. It should be noted that the Zapotecs never tried to conquer any territory and it was their great influence that made them become

the largest culture from the Oaxaca Valley area.

Characteristics of the Zapotec culture

To get to know the Zapotecs in greater depth, we must talk about some of their main characteristics, although leaving those related to economics and politics for later due to its great relevance. Some of the main characteristics of the Zapotecs are the following:

• They were great believers in nature, being a great part of their gods based on natural events such as rain or animals.
• As in many Mesoamerican cultures, a large number of human sacrifices, which were used to win the favor of the gods.
• Surrendered cult of deceased peoples, being very common the decorated vessels that were placed on the tombs.
• His religion was polytheistic, that is, they believed in many gods.
• Art was very important in the Zapotec culture, having a great influence from the Mesoamerican mother culture, that is, from the Olmec.
• The Zapotecs they did not have a unique language, possessing more than 10 different languages.
• His writing was based on symbols and hieroglyphs, like that of many Mesoamerican peoples.

When talking about the Zapotec economy we must bear in mind that there are not too many similarities between the European economies and the pre-Columbian, so it is very interesting to know the Zapotec to see the great evolution and its differences with Europe.

Like many Mesoamerican peoples, the basis of the Zapotec economy was the agriculture, hunting and fishing. All these activities had a mentality of subsistence, since they were used mainly to be able to go from day to day, with very little trade and limited production to be able to live.

Over the years, the Zapotecs were achieving improvements, such as irrigation systems, achieving an increase in production and therefore a society in which trade between peoples was quite more common. Like almost all sectors of Zapotec society, agriculture also had great religious value, since many of the sacrifices and rituals performed by the Zapotecs were aimed at increasing of rain, or the improvement of natural events, all to improve the agricultural production of the zone.

On the other hand, Zapotec society also carried out a series of economic activities of an artisanal nature, which focused mainly on the use of ceramics and the manufacture of different types of textiles. In the last years of the Zapotecs, crafts were already considered one of the great economic sources of the region, with craftsmen being highly respected people.

All of this caused a great economic evolution of Zapotec society, which made it seem that it could be one of the great cultural period but a series of political and climatological problems caused the Zapotecs to end collapsing.

To conclude this lesson on the economy and politics of Zapotec culture we must talk about the different Characteristics of the politics of the Zapotec civilization. Some of the main political characteristics were the following:

• First of all we must bear in mind that the politics of the Zapotec culture had a kind of dual spirit, existing on the one hand the government of the king and on the other the government carried out by the priests, who protected the king in a certain way.
• The political leader of the region was a king, but his presence on the throne was defended by the priests and the military members.
• The soldiers and priests were at the top of the social hierarchy Zapotec, this being the main reason for its important role in society.
• Zapotec society was closely linked to religion, so it was considered that the king had been chosen by divine powers, this being the reason why he could not lose his place.
• The priests served as link between the gods and the people, being the ones who decided the sacrifices and if the people were fulfilling the divine tasks. For all this, the priests lived very close to the nobility, occupying positions of great importance.
• Although at first it may be thought that it was a monarchical state, the reality is that the great religious power shows that it was a theocratic state.