Editing Mixtec (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Codex Zouche-Nuttall - higher definition.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Codex Zouche-Nuttall Mixtec British Museum.]]
[[Image:Mixtecs.png|right|200px|thumb|Map showing the historic Mixtec area. Pre-Classic archeological sites are marked with a triangle, Classic sites with a round dot, and Post-classic sites with a square.|alt=]]

The Mixtec area, both historically and currently, corresponds roughly to the western half of the state of [[Oaxaca]], with some Mixtec communities extending into the neighboring state of [[Puebla]] to the north-west and also the state of [[Guerrero]]. The Mixtec people and their homelands are often subdivided into three geographic areas: The ''[[Mixteca Alta]]'' or Highland Mixtec living in the mountains in, around, and to the west of the [[Valley of Oaxaca]]; the ''[[Mixteca Baja]]'' or Lowland Mixtec living to the north and west of these highlands, and the ''[[Mixteca de la Costa]]'' or Coastal Mixtec living in the southern plains and the coast of the Pacific Ocean. For most of Mixtec history, the Mixteca Alta was the dominant political force, with the capitals of the Mixtec nation located in the central highlands. The valley of Oaxaca itself was often a disputed border region, sometimes dominated by the Mixtec and sometimes by their neighbors to the east, the Zapotec.

An ancient [[Coixtlahuaca District, Oaxaca|Coixtlahuaca Basin]] cave site known as the [[Colossal Natural Bridge]] is an important sacred place for the Mixtec.