A Brief Introduction to Oaxaca's History

1. The Zapotecs were the earliest to gain dominance over the Central Valleys region. The first major dominion was centered in Monte Alban, which flourished from 500 BC until AD 750. At its height, Monte Alban was home to some 25,000 people and was the capital city of the Zapotec nation. 
2. From about 1200 the Zapotecs came under the growing dominance of the Mixtecs from Oaxaca's northwest uplands. 
3. Expansion of the Aztecs into the region began in the 15th century. In 1457, Moctezuma I invaded Mixtec areas, gaining control, demanding tribute, establishing military outposts, and beginning to take control of trade routes in the area and part of the Pacific Coast. By this time, the Zapotec were led by Cosijoeza with the government in Zaachila. However, Aztec rule in Oaxaca would last only a little more than thirty years.
4. Cortes sent an expedition to the Pacific and into the Sierra looking for gold. The reports led Cortes to reserve for himself the riches of Oaxaca territory, claimin the title of Marques del Valley of Oaxaca on November 25, 1521. 
5. Oaxaca City was founded in 1529. 
6. During the colonial time, Oaxaca territory had a decimated and impoverished remnant of its original inabitants, deforestation and erosion began, and the mestizo population seeking its place in the hierarchy started to grow rapidly. 
7. By 1810, the city of Oaxaca had 18,000 inhabitants, most of whom were mestizos or mixed indigenous/European. During the Mexican War of Independence, the government of this area remained loyal to the Spanish Crown. 
8. July 29, 1821: Troops under Antonio de Leon won the decisive battle agains Spanish General Obeso at Etla and from that date Oaxaca considered itself independent - nearly one month before the signing of the treaty. 
9. Oaxaca's territory became a state in 1824 with Jose Maria Murguia named as its first governor. In 1824, the total population of Oaxaca was 457,504, of which approxiamately 17,000 - mostly mestizos and criollos - inhabited the capital city of Oaxaca.
10. Benito Juarez, Ricardo Flores Magon, Porfirio Diaz and Jose Vasconcelos are the most known Oaxacan people that took an important part in Mexico's history during the 19th and 20th Century.
11. During the second half of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, Oaxaca remained basically an agricultural community with little industry. The mineral deposits were exploited in a few communities on a small scale. Roads were built, but the coming of the automobile changed the pattern of travel, leaving villages, which had been important in earlier epochs, totally outside the new communication network. Centuries of deforestation resulted in areas of widespread erosion, particularly in the Mixteca. As early as 1900, people in search of a better life began emigrating to the cities, and to agricultural areas in the north and the United States. 
12. In 1928, a series of earthquakes destroyed many of the building in the capital. A much larger earthquake in 1931, was the largest in the state's history, devastated a number of cities along the coast. 
13. Teachers' strikes had been frequent since the 70's, culminating in the 2006 uprising in Oaxaca City. which brought in groups protesting the heavy marginalization of the poor. Oaxacans took over the state capital demanding the ouster of PRI, Gobernor Ulises Ruiz
14. The PRI lost its 80 year hold on the state government in 2010 with the election of the Convergencia Ciudadana (PRD, PAN and PT alliance) gubernatorial candidate Gabino Cue Monteagudo.