1691 Zapotec map from Santa Catarina Tepuxiula to be repatriated to Mexico. Manuscript map dates to 1691 and 1709, made in Mexico Created to regularize land titles and ownership before Spanish bureaucracy Hand-painted scroll recounting story of Santa Catarina Tepe in the Villa Alta district, Sierra Norte region, Oaxaca, southern Mexico
A hand-painted 1691 manuscript map from Mexico's Ixtlán District in the Sierra Norte region of Oaxaca is heading home after over a century. Written in Zapotec and Spanish, it documented land ownership for Spanish bureaucracy. Zapotec scholars Michael Dürr and Sebastián van Doesburg helped identify it before its return.
Key Facts
- Manuscript map dates to 1691 and 1709, made in Mexico
- Created to regularize land titles and ownership before Spanish bureaucracy
- Hand-painted scroll recounting story of Santa Catarina Tepe in the Villa Alta district, Sierra Norte region, Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- Believed to be written in both Zapotec and Spanish languages
- Held at American Geographic Society library in New York since 1917, purchased from mining engineer A.E. Place for $1,917
- Originally sold by British consular official Constantine Richards of Mexican-Scottish descent in early 20th century
- Believed by Zapotec language scholars Michael Dürr and Sebastián van Doesburg to be one of two documents from Santa Catarina Tepe
- Map previously incorrectly identified as the Lienzo map
- Scroll was rolled rather than folded accordion-style like typical codices
- Being repatriated to Mexico in the coming weeks
Related site: Santa Catarina — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: The Roundtable Chronicles - Ep. 23 by Institute for Natural Philosophy