Zapotec Civilization - Geography

Geography

The Oaxaca Valley, the cradle of Zapotec civilization, is a broad valley in the north-eastern part of the state of Oaxaca located about 200 km south of Mexico City. Mountains surround the valley with The Sierra Madre Oriental in the north and the mountains of Tlacolula in the southeast. The area’s environment is well suited for agriculture, especially the cultivation of maize, making it a desirable place for settlers. The valley floor is mostly flat with large tracts of arable land. At the time of the emergence of Zapotec civilization, the valley soil had not suffered erosion, since the oak-pine forest surrounding the valley was intact. The temperate climate is ideal for maize cultivation, and it possible to harvest crops several times a year. Frost rarely occurs as it does at higher altitudes in the region. The high agricultural potential in The Valley of Oaxaca has certainly contributed to making this area become the locus of the first complex societies in the Valley of Oaxaca.

As well as the climate and the quality of the soil, access to water is also crucial for agriculture, more so in the valley of Oaxaca where the soil is low on humus and other nutrients. The valley is traversed from north to south by the Atoyac River which provides water for a small strip of land bordering the river, when it periodically floods. To provide water for crops elsewhere in the valley away from the river, for example to Monte Albán, the Zapotecs used canal irrigation. By irrigating water from small streams the Zapotecs were able to bring water to Monte Albán, situated 400 meter above the valley floor, far from the Atoyac River. Archaeologists have found the mountain’s found remains of a small irrigation system consisting of a dam and a canal two kilometres long on the mountains south-eastern flank. It would not have been sufficient to support all the inhabitants of Monte Albán, and it is therefore assumed that it was just one of many irrigation systems. Because of the rapid growth in population in the Monte Albán I phase the crops that were grown in the valley were not enough to sustain the population of Monte Albán. Therefore crops were grown on the piedmonts where the soil is a less fertile and the artificial irrigation was needed, this strategy has been called "the Piedmont strategy".