Oaxaca, Oaxaca
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Famous Oaxacans
Important people associated with Oaxaca include
• Benito Juárez
• Porfirio Díaz
• Margarita Maza, wife of Benito Juárez
• Rufino Tamayo
• Adriana Albores, actress
Education
Oaxaca is the site of the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, which has buildings throughout the city center. The Universidad de Mesoamérica also has a base in the city.
Transport
Oaxaca-Xoxocotlan airport (IATA code OAX) is approximately 10 km south of the city center. Most flights are to Mexico City for onward connection, but there are also flights to Huatulco and Puerto Escondido (via Aero-Tucan) Cancún, Guadalajara and Tijuana.
The city has separate first class and second class bus stations, offering services to most places within the state of Oaxaca, including the coastal resorts of Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Ángel and Pinotepa Nacional, and also long-distance services to Puebla and Mexico City and other Mexican locations such as Veracruz.
The major highways serving Oaxaca are Federal Highways 175 and 131, southwards to the Oaxacan coastal resorts; National Highways 190 and 125, southwest to Pinotepa Nacional, Guerrero; National Highways 190 and 130, to Mexico City; the autopista 150D/131D, offering a more rapid route to Mexico City; and National Highway 175 north to Veracruz, Veracruz.
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OAXACA: The State
Oaxaca is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city. This article is about the state.
Estado de Oaxaca
Capital Oaxaca
Area 93,952 km
Population (2000 census) 3,432,180
Governor (2004-2010) Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (PRI)
Federal Deputies PRI: 11
Federal Senators PRI: 2 PRD: 1
Postal abbr. MX-OAX Oax.
The Mexican state of Oaxaca is in the south west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Oaxaca borders the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the north west, Veracruz to the north, and Chiapas to the east. To the south Oaxaca fronts the Pacific Ocean.
Oaxaca has an area of 95,364 km; 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. Mexico's most famous leader, President Benito Juárez, came from the Oaxacan village of San Pablo Guelatao. Other famous oaxacans include Francisco Toledo, María Sabina, J. Alberto Canseco Díaz and many other writers, artists and politicians.
History
During the three 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 is reflected in important archeological sites including Monte Albán, Mitla, Cerro de Minas, 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 the 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 Carlos V with the name of Antequera de Guaxaca.
Crafts
Oaxaca has a number of native crafts, including the production of alebrijes, weaving and black clay objects.
Municipalities
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Oaxaca is subdivided into 570 municipalities (municipios).
Some Important Towns:
Juchitán de Zaragoza
Juchitán de Zaragoza is a a small indigenous town in the southeast of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The majority of the indigenous inhabitants are zapotecs and huaves. The town also serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name.
Juchitán stands on the Pacific coast of the Isthmus de Tehuantepec
Juchitán is famous for being to first Mexican town to elect a left wing pro-socialist municipal government in Mexico in the 20th century, when Leopoldo de Gyves won the elections for mayor in 1980 against the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI).
The people of Juchitán have led some local revolts over time: In 1834, "Che Gorio Melendre", a native of Juchitán, directed a revolt against the government of Oaxaca, demanding the control of salt mines on the coast located at the southwest of Juchitán and for local autonomy of the county. The revolt was interrupted by the United States invasion of Mexico in 1847. The irregular troops commanded by Melendre joined the resistance against the invasion of Mexico. After the invasion by the United States, the governor of Oaxaca, Benito Juárez responded to the local demands of Che Gorio Melendre on May 19, 1850 by sending troops to burn the city of Juchitán and to assassinate their leader Melendre.
On September 5, 1866, during the French invasion in Mexico, the indigenous people of Juchitán, Unión Hidalgo, San Blas Atempa, and Ixtaltepec defeated the Royal French Army stationed in Tehuantepec. Most of the army of Porfirio Díaz, later the dictator of Mexico, were natives of Juchitán. José Fructuoso Gómez, nicknamed Che Gómez directed a 1910 revolt in support of the Mexican Revolution, allied with Zapata and Villa. In the 1970s, a group of left wing students, workers and farmers organized with the intent of taking control of the local county through elections, instead of by force. In February 2001, Juchitán municipality received the caravan of Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).
The violent history of Juchitán involves the strategic geopolitical location of the area, which is located on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the thin part of Mexico between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The zone has been coveted by many countries since the McLane-Ocampo Treaty, which was signed in December 1859. Under the treaty, President Benito Juárez received a loan in exchange for the use of the isthmus of Tehuantepec by the United States. In 1970s an attempt to resurrect the treaty, called the Alfa-Omega project, was aborted. In 2000, the project was finally approved as the Isthmus Megaproject.
Citizens of Juchitán have also made contributions in the arts, such as painting, poetry, music, folk dance, and sculpture.
Salina Cruz
Salina Cruz is a major seaport in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
The port expanded in the late 19th century due to its location at the southern terminus of the Tehuantepec National Railway. It is situated near the mouth of the Río Tehuantepec, on the open coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and has no natural harbour. There was only a small Native American village here before Salina Cruz was chosen as the Pacific terminus of the railway, whereupon a modern town was laid out and built on adjacent higher ground. The new port was opened to traffic in 1907 and in 1909 its population was largely composed of labourers. A costly artificial harbour was built by the Mexican government to accommodate the traffic of the Tehuantepec railway. It is formed by the construction of two breakwaters, the western 3260 ft. and the eastern 1900 ft. long, which curve toward each other at their outer extremities and leave an entrance 635 ft. wide. The enclosed space is divided into an outer and inner harbour by a double line of quays wide enough to carry six great warehouses with electric cranes on both sides and a number of railway tracks. Connected with the new port works is one of the largest dry docks in the world6io ft. long and 89 ft. wide, with a depth of 28 ft. on its sill at low water. The works were planned to handle an immense volume of transcontinental freight, and before they were finished four steamship lines had arranged regular calls at Salina Cruz; this number has since been largely increased.
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