The Zacatecos were an indigenous people inhabiting part of northern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, one of the peoples called Chichimeca

Chichimeca

Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day Mexico and southwestern United States, and carried the same sense as the European term "barbarian"...

s by the Aztecs. They lived in most of what is now the state of Zacatecas

Zacatecas

Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

 and the northeastern part of Durango

Durango

Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...

. They have many direct descendants, but most of their culture and traditions have disappeared with time. Large concentrations of modern-day descendants may reside in Zacatecas and Durango, as well as other large cities of Mexico and, due to Mexican immigration, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Name

"Zacateco" is a Mexican Spanish

Mexican Spanish

Mexican Spanish is a version of the Spanish language, as spoken in Mexico and in various places of Canada and the United States of America, where there are communities of Mexican origin....

 derivation from the original Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

 Zacatec, pluralized in early Mexican Spanish as Zacatecas, the name given to the state and city. The name was given by the Aztecs to the people inhabiting a region in which a grass they called the zacatl was abundant. The region was thus called Zacatlan by the Aztecs. (Mexica

Mexica

The Mexica were a pre-Columbian people of central Mexico.Mexica may also refer to:*Mexica , a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling*Mexica , a 2005 novel by Norman Spinrad...

)

History

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Zacatec and Guachichil nations were great enemies in constant war with each other over food and boundaries. They later set aside their differences and became friends to wage war against the Spaniards.

Geography

To the east and north they overlapped lands with the Guachichil

Guachichil

Of all the Chichimeca natives, the Guachichiles occupied the most extensive territory, stretching north to Saltillo in Coahuila and to the northern corners of Michoacán in the south...

es. They extended to border the Tepehuanes

Tepehuán

The Tepehuán are a Native American ethnic group in northwest Mexico, whose villages at the time of Spanish conquest spanned a large territory along the Sierra Madre Occidental from Chihuahua and Durango in the north to Jalisco in the south...

 to the west near Durango. To the north their land bordered that of the Irritilas or Laguna

Laguna Pueblo

Laguna is a Native American tribe of the Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico, USA. The name, Laguna, is Spanish and derives from the lake located on their reservation. The real Keresan name of the tribe is Kawaik. The population of the tribe exceeds 7,000 , making it the largest Keresan...

 tribes, up to were Cuencamé and Parras

Parras

Parras de la Fuente is a city located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Coahuila. At the census of 2010, the population was 45,423. There are a large number of factories that produce denim, including a Dickies factory, and Parras is also a wine-making place...

 are located. Their principal population centers were in Malpaís, around Peñón Blanco

Peñón Blanco

Peñón Blanco may refer to:* Peñón Blanco, Durango, a municipality in Durango state of Mexico* Salinas de Peñón Blanco, also known as Salinas de Hidalgo, a town in San Luis Potosí state, Mexico...

, and around El Cerro de la Bufa. They also extended down to what is now Los Altos Jalisco and overlapped territory with the Caxcan

Caxcan

The Caxcan were a partly nomadic indigenous people of Mexico. Under their leader, Francisco Tenamaztle, the Caxcan were allied with the Zacatecos against the Spaniards during the Mixtón Rebellion. During the rebellion, they were described as "the heart and the center of the Indian Rebellion". They...

es.

Way of Life

Most Zacatecos were nomadic, although a few groups were essentially sedentary. Both men and women wore their hair down to their waist. Some Chichimeca tribes wore their head braided, but it is unspecified if any Zacatec tribes did so. Earrings and collars were occasionally used. They used body markings by paint and tattooing to distinguish themselves from other tribes. Zacatecos were known to wear skin coverings below their knees and skin headbands on their foreheads. Occasionally they wore leather-soled sandals. They were "graceful, strong, robust and beardless". Juan Bautista de Pomar

Juan Bautista de Pomar

Juan Bautista Pomar was a historian and writer interested in pre-Columbian Aztec history.According to references by Fray Juan de Torquemada, he was born around 1535 at Texcoco. He was the great grandson of Nezahualcoyotl, and was half-Spanish on his father's side...

 once said "In the opinion of men experienced in foreign lands, the Zacatecos are the best archers in the world"

Religion

The Zacatecos are not known to have built temples. Their only known deities were the sun, moon and certain stars. They rendered them tribute with flowers, weeds, aromatic herbs and dancing. Although they were a nomadic tribe, they did not sacrifice human lives.

Conclusion

The Zacatecos as a culture have vanished or faded, due to assimilation and mestizaje of the Mexican people. However many of their direct descendants still live in large concentrations in central Mexico. Taking all this into account, it is extremely difficult to even approximate the population of their descendants. It is equally hard to elaborate on their culture, language, art, and traditions.