Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures ruled the area where Oaxaca city is now. Founded in 1532, Oaxaca now relies heavily on tourism, drawing visitors with it's beautiful colonial centro, diverse cultures, plentiful art and crafts and great cuisine. One of the big draws is Monte Alban, a large pre-Columbian archaelogical site, founded around 500 BC, the centre for the Zapotec culture. The Zapotecs leveled off the top of this mountain for this strategically dominating position with it's view of the valley all around. At it's peak, it had a population of 17,200 making it one of the largest cities in Mezoamerica.
A Mesoamerican ballcourt is a large masonry structure of a type used in Mesoamerica for over 2,700 years to play the Mesoamerican ballgame, particularly the hip-ball version of the ballgame.
An unexcavated pyramid.
A few pieces from the museum on site
This is the first of our explorations in and around Oaxaca. Stay tuned.
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