The Zapotec (Valley Zapotec: Bën za) are an Indigenous people of Mexico. Their population is primarily concentrated in the southern state of Oaxaca, but Zapotec communities also exist in neighboring states. The present-day population is estimated at 400,000 to 650,000, many of whom are monolingual in one of the Native Zapotec languages and dialects.
In pre-Columbian times, the Zapotec civilization was one of the highly developed cultures of Mesoamerica that had a Zapotec writing system.
The Zapotecan languages are a group of related Oto-Manguean languages which descend from the common Proto-Zapotecan language spoken by the Zapotec people during the era of the dominance of Monte Albán.
The Zapotecan language group contains the Zapotec languages and the Chatino languages.
The Zapotec /ˈzæpətɛk/ ZAP-ə-tek languages are a group of around 50 closely related indigenous Mesoamerican languages that constitute a main branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and are spoken by the Zapotec people from the southwestern-central highlands of Mexico. A 2020 census reports nearly half a million speakers, with the majority inhabiting the state of Oaxaca. Zapotec-speaking communities are also found in the neighboring states of Puebla, Veracruz, and Guerrero. Labor migration has also brought a number of native Zapotec speakers to the United States, particularly in California and New Jersey. Most Zapotec-speaking communities are highly bilingual in Spanish.