Costa Region | |
|---|---|
Region | |
 Oaxaca regions - Costa to the south | |
| Coordinates: 15°51′43″N97°4′2″W / 15.86194°N 97.06722°W Coordinates: 15°51′43″N97°4′2″W / 15.86194°N 97.06722°W | |
| Country | Mexico |
| State | Oaxaca |
| Area | |
| • Total | 12,502 km2 (4,827 sq mi) |
The Costa Region or Costa Chica lies on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, south of the more mountainous Sierra Sur inland from the coast. It includes the districts of Jamiltepec, Juquila and Pochutla. [1]
The region has a tropical climate in the coastal plain, with a more temperate climate higher up. Average temperatures range between 24 and 26 °C (75.2 and 78.8 °F), and maximum annual rainfall is between 730 and 2,000 mm (28.7 and 78.7 in) -
The population is mainly engaged in agriculture and waterfront fisheries. One of the best coffees in the world, the Pluma Hidalgo, is cultivated in the Pochutla district. In other parts of the region lemons are grown to make lemon oil, a raw material for perfumes and medicines. Pine and oak wood is harvested for plywood. Ranching is a major source of revenue. There is also small-scale exploitation of iron, copper and magnesium, and the region has titanium deposits.
It is a tourist region, based on the beaches of Huatulco and Puerto Escondido. To develop this industry, the government has emphasized construction of airports, ports and tourist roads.
Historically the region has been tied culturally and economically with the Costa Chica in the state of Guerrero and with Acapulco in particular, rather than with the city of Oaxaca. [2] The reasons are that the coasts of Oaxaca and Guerrero states share a common history, and the Federal Highway 200 connects the coasts of both states. [3]
The population includes Mestizos and Afro-Mexicans, as well as indigenous Mixtec, Amuzgo, Chatino, Chontal, Zapotec peoples. [2] The famous Oaxacan troubadour Álvaro Carrillo was born in San Juan Cacahuatepec.[ citation needed ]
Important towns or municipalities include: Pinotepa Nacional, Pochutla, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Ángel, Santa Catarina Juquila, Santa María Huatulco, Jamiltepec, Tututepec, Pinotepa de Don Luis, San Juan Cacahuatepec, San Pedro Jicayán, Santos Reyes Nopala, San Gabriel Mixtepec, San Agustín Loxicha, and Pluma Hidalgo. [3] Santa Catarina Juquila is one of the most important religious centers of Mexico, where many people visit the shrine of the Virgin of Juquila each year. [4]
Dance is an important element of the coast's cultural life. Dance in this area is an amalgam of indigenous, "African" and Spanish elements, much like the rest of the culture here. Authorities here, including village elders, the town councils, municipal authorities as well as important village figures have worked to keep traditions, such as the "sones" (traditional music) and "chilenas" (dance performed particularly in Pinotepa Nacional) alive. The area hosts an annual ‘’’Coastal Dance Festival’’ with the purpose of preserving and popularizing traditional coast dances. [5]
One example of local dance is the Petate Bull dance. There are numerous bull dances in Mexico but the version that is performed in the village of Santiago Collantes in the municipality of Pinotepa Nacional, is a lively, vivacious dance inspired by local history. This dance is the best-known of the region and was performed in 1911 when Mexican president Francisco Madero visited the village. According to legend, the president was so pleased with the performance that he shook each dancer's hand and promised them gifts from the capital if they continued to perform the dance. While no such gifts came, the town has continued to perform the dance as part of the town's yearly festival. Santiago Collantes is also known for its version of the Devil's Dance, which is related to the hardships of slavery and serf-like conditions that the slaves suffered. Pinotepa Nacional has its well-known Chilena dance, which may be related to the cueca (or zamueca) dances of South America. Other dances performed in the area include the Turtle Dance, the Tiger Dance, and the old and new versions of the Badger's Dance. [5]
Every year in November the government organizes the Coastal Dance Festival, where regional groups from the Oaxaca coast and guests from Michoacán, Guerrero and Chiapas in Puerto Escondido have assembled since 1994 to give exhibitions of the traditional dances of the southern Pacific region. [6]
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 are governed by the system of usos y costumbres with recognized local forms of self-governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez.
Puerto Escondido is a small port and tourist center in the municipality of San Pedro Mixtepec Distrito 22 in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Prior to the 1930s, there was no town. The bay had been used as a port intermittently to ship coffee, but there was no permanent settlement due to the lack of potable water. The name "Puerto Escondido" had roots in the legend of a woman who escaped her captors and hid here. The Nahuatl word for this area was Zicatela, meaning “place of large thorns". Today, it refers to the area's most famous beach.
Huatulco, formally Bahías de Huatulco, centered on the town of La Crucecita, is a tourist development in Mexico. It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca. Huatulco's tourism industry is centered on its nine bays, thus the name Bahias de Huatulco, but has since been unofficially shortened to simply Huatulco. Huatulco has a wide variety of accommodations from rooms for rent, small economy luxury hotels, luxury villas, vacation condominiums, bed and breakfasts, as well as several luxury resorts standing on or near the shores of Tangolunda Bay. The Camino Real Zaashila, Quinta Real Huatulco, Las Brisas, Dreams Resort & Spa, and the Barceló are examples of the most popular larger resorts in the area.
San Marcos is a town in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It serves as the municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of San Marcos.
Playa Zipolite is a beach community located in San Pedro Pochutla municipality on the southern coast of Oaxaca state in Mexico between Huatulco and Puerto Escondido.
San Pedro Pochutla is a city and municipality located in the south of Oaxaca state, Mexico next to the Pacific Ocean. It is an important commercial, transportation and administrative hub for the Pochutla District in the east of the Costa Region. Pochutla is located at the junction of coastal Highway 200 and Highway 175 to Oaxaca, with 175 functioning as the town's main thoroughfare. Its name means "place of kapok trees ", and most of the city is built on a lakebed which was drained during the colonial period. The municipality is best known as being the home of the oceanside communities of Puerto Ángel and Zipolite.
Pinotepa Nacional is a city and seat of the municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located in the Jamiltepec District in the west of the Costa Region. The name Pinotepa means "toward the crumbling hill" in Náhuatl.
Santa Catarina Juquila is a town in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, and is the seat of the municipality also called Santa Catarina Juquila. It is part of the Juquila District in the center of the Costa Region. The name "Juquila" comes from "Xuhquililla", which means "Place of blue milkweed".
The Costa Chica of Guerrero is an area along the south coast of the state of Guerrero, Mexico, extending from just south of Acapulco to the Oaxaca border. Geographically, it consists of part of the Sierra Madre del Sur, a strip of rolling hills that lowers to coastal plains to the Pacific Ocean. Various rivers here form large estuaries and lagoons that host various species of commercial fish.
Santiago Jamiltepec is a town, and the seat of surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located in the Jamiltepec District in the west of the Costa Chica Region, 30 km east of Pinotepa Nacional on Federal Highway 200, and 460 km southwest of state capital Oaxaca de Juárez.
San Juan Cacahuatepec is a city in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, near the border with Guerrero. It is located in the Jamiltepec District in the west of the Costa Region. Its population in 1990, according to The Columbia Gazetteer of North America, was 3,116; in 2006, it was about 5,000. Along with San Pedro Amusgos, it is a heavy center of population for the indigenous Amuzgo. The name Cacahuatepec is Nahuatl, translating "Place of Cacao-bean mountain".
San Pedro Mixtepec is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It is part of the Juquila District in the center of the Costa Region.
Jamiltepec District is located in the west of the Costa Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Juquila District is located in the center of the Costa Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, on the Pacific coast. It has an area of 5,055 km2. As of 2005 it had a total population of 134,365 of whom 33,106 spoke an indigenous language. Economic activities include agriculture and tourism. The Santuario (Sanctuary) de Juquila is a major attraction.
Pochutla District is located in the east of the Costa Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The primary city is San Pedro Pochutla.
The Indigenous people of Oaxaca are descendants of the inhabitants of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico who were present before the Spanish invasion. Several cultures flourished in the ancient region of Oaxaca from as far back as 2000 BC, of whom the Zapotecs and Mixtecs were perhaps the most advanced, with complex social organization and sophisticated arts.
Alejandra Robles Suastegui is a dancer and singer of traditional music. Her musical style represents her Afro-Mexican roots and that of the indigenous peoples of Latin America, in addition to the regional music of Mexico, Colombia and the Caribbean. Her style is based on the sounds of the coast of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Veracruz.
According to the Mexican government agency Conapo, Oaxaca is the third most economically marginalized states in Mexico. The state has 3.3% of the population but produces only 1.5% of the GNP. The main reason for this is the lack of infrastructure and education, especially in the interior of the state outside of the capital. Eighty percent of the state's municipalities do not meet federal minimums for housing and education. Most development projects are planned for the capital and the surrounding area. Little has been planned for the very rural areas and the state lacks the resources to implement them. The largest sector of Oaxaca's economy is agriculture, mostly done communally in ejidos or similar arrangements. About 31% of the population is employed in agriculture, about 50% in commerce and services and 22% in industry. The commerce sector dominates the gross domestic product at 65.4%, followed by industry/mining at 18.9% and agriculture at 15.7%.
The internal classification of Mixtec is controversial. Many varieties are mutually unintelligible and by that criterion separate languages. In the 16th century, Spanish authorities recognized half a dozen lenguas comprising the Mixtec lengua. It is not clear to what extent these were distinct languages at the time. Regardless, the colonial disintegration of the Mixtec nation and resulting isolation of local communities led to the rapid diversification of local dialects into distinct languages. Below are some attempts at Mixtec classification by various scholars.
The chilena is a Mexican musical genre from the Costa Chica coastal regions of the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, although its influence also reaches other nearby regions. Its origins lie in the cueca of Chile, whence its name. The cueca is a dance that was brought by Chilean sailors in 1822 and later by Chilean immigrants between 1848 and 1855, during the height of the California Gold Rush. They passed through the ports of Acapulco in Guerrero and Puerto Ángel, Huatulco, and Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca.