6-23-2020 – 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocks Huatulco – CLIENTS in Oaxaca please let us know how you’re doing!!! Updates on 2020 Oaxaca Earthquake
Situated in southwest Mexico, the state of Oaxaca borders the Pacific Ocean as well as the Mexican states of Veracruz, Chiapas, Puebla, and Guerrero. Oaxaca is famous for the culture of its indigenous people. While many indigenous tribes make their home in the state, Oaxaca is especially known for its Zapatec and Mixtec populations. With its capital of Oaxaca de Juarez, the state is a remarkable destination that is famous for its scenery as well as its culture and history.
Oaxaca has a population of 3,836,122 people. Its capital is also its most populous city. Oaxaca boasts an area of 36,214 square miles of immensely diverse landscapes filled with a wide array of flora and fauna. The state’s rugged and difficult terrain has served to protect the traditions and cultures of the indigenous peoples of the region. Today, tourism is an important industry throughout the state.
Geography and Landscape
Oaxaca is noted as a geographical meeting place for several mountain chains. For this reason, the state’s topography is tremendously mountainous but also features valleys and canyons. The major chains that converge in Oaxaca include the Sierra Madre del Sur, Sierra Atravesada, and Sierra Madre de Oaxaca. The largest valleys, the Central Valleys, are home to cities like Oaxaca de Juarez; otherwise, there are mainly narrow valleys throughout the terrain. The mountains give rise to small rivers and streams, but there are essentially no navigable rivers in the mountainous regions. Oaxaca has only about ten percent arable land, yet its caves, coast, and jungle scapes lure many travelers today.
Archeologists have traced a human presence in the Oaxaca area that stretches back eleven thousand years. Oaxaca boasts evidence of some of North America’s earliest domesticated crops. The region’s oldest settlements were at Yanhuitlan and Laguna Zope. By this period, 1200 B.C., there was significant agriculture in the valleys and pottery-making. While pictographs exist from this ancient past, most of what is known about these early civilizations is from archeological evidence. By 1520 A.D., it’s estimated that roughly 2.5 million people were living in the region. The Spanish entered Oaxaca after they conquered Tenochtitlan, known present-day as Mexico City. During the ensuing century, there was both alliance between the Spanish and some of the indigenous groups and heated battle, particularly in the Pacific coastal region where resentment of Spanish intrusion was fierce. By 1528, however, the Jesuits settled in Oaxaca (city) where the first church had been built by Juan Diaz, the first priest in Oaxaca. As more religious orders entered the area and increasingly more Spanish began to settle, the indigenous populations were decimated in various intervals due to European diseases. While intermarriage often occurred and the Spanish gained complete control of the region, the isolated terrain still allowed the indigenous people to protect their traditional way of life and cultural practices, perhaps even more than occurred for the indigenous people of any other state.
During the War for Independence, the city of Oaxaca remained a loyalist hub until the end of the war. The state produced two major figures that played integral roles in the later nineteenth and early twentieth-century Mexican history: Benito Juarez, who served five terms as President of Mexico, and Porfirio Diaz, who was also President of Mexico until he was overthrown during the Mexican Revolution. During the twentieth century, earthquakes, floods, and depressions plagued the area, but Oaxaca, today, has become a state that is rich with both cultural and historical attractions.
The state, while famous for many indigenous specialties, is best known for its chocolate. Cacao beans are grown in the region so chocolate is a staple; used in various moles, it is most popularly enjoyed in beverage form. The state is additionally well known for its banana