Mixtec

The Mixtec are an indigenous people of Mesoamerica, primarily living in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, with smaller populations in Guerrero and Puebla. They occupy the Mixteca, a region comprising highland and lowland areas known for a long history of independent communities and shifting polities. The name “Mixtec” is an exonym used in Spanish and other languages; groups within the Mixteca refer to themselves by a variety of names in their own languages.

Language and classification

The term also refers to a large family of related languages, the Mixtecan branch of the Oto-Manguean language family. There are many distinct Mixtecan varieties, often not mutually intelligible, and most speakers are bilingual in Spanish. Mixtec languages are typically tonal and feature complex phonologies. Because of regional diversity, linguistic classification treats Mixteca as a cluster rather than a single language. In writing, the Mixtec tradition includes pictorial codices created in the pre-Columbian and early colonial periods, which record genealogies, histories, and cosmologies. Notable codices associated with Mixtec culture include the Codex Nuttall and the Codex Zouche-Nuttall.

Culture and history

Historically, Mixtec polities were organized around city-states and chiefdoms in the Mixteca region. They interacted with neighboring groups such as the Zapotec and Otomí and played a significant role in the post-conquest context through continued craft production and community life. Today, Mixtec communities continue many traditional practices alongside modernization, including agriculture, weaving, embroidery, featherwork, and silver and goldsmithing, while languages face pressures from widespread Spanish use.

Demographics and status

Estimates place hundreds of thousands of Mixtec-language speakers, concentrated in Oaxaca and surrounding areas, with a substantial diaspora in the United States. Efforts to preserve language and culture include bilingual education and cultural preservation programs.