The Zapotecs are an indigenous people of Mexico, concentrated in the state of Oaxaca but also with communities spread into some of the neighboring states. Present-day population may be estimated at approximately 300,000 to 400,000 persons, many of whom are monolingual in one of their native Zapotec languages and dialects (The Zapotec languages together with the near-relative Chatino language form a wider language group, called also Zapotecan.) In pre-Columbian times the Zapotec civilization was one of the highly developed cultures of Mesoamerica, which among other things, included a system of writing. ************************ The name Zapotec is an exonym coming from Nahuatl tzapotecah (singular tzapotecatl), which means "inhabitants of the place of sapote". The Zapotec call themselves always by some variant of the term "The People" (Be'ena'a). ******************** Though the Zapotecs are now largely Catholics, some of their ancient beliefs and practices, such as the burial of the dead with valuables, still survive. The first missionaries among the Zapotecs were Bartolomé de Olmeda, a Mercedarian, and Juan Díaz, a secular priest, who was killed by the natives in Quechula near Tepeaca for having "overthrown their idols". ********************* The most famous Zapotec person in modern times was Benito Juárez, generally regarded as Mexico's greatest President. *************************** Many people of Zapotec ancestry have emigrated to the United States over several decades, and they maintain their own social organizations in the Los Angeles, California area and Central Valley.