The Zapotec are an indigenous people of Mexico. The population is concentrated in the southern state of Oaxaca, but Zapotec communities also exist in neighboring states. The present-day population is estimated at 400,000 to 650,000 persons, many of whom are monolingual in one of the native Zapotec languages and dialects. In pre-Columbian times, the Zapotec civilization was one of the highly developed cultures of Mesoamerica that had a system of writing.

San Martín Tilcajete is a town and municipality located about 23 kilometres (14 mi) from the city of Oaxaca, in the state of Oaxaca, in the south of Mexico. It is part of the Ocotlán District in the south of the Valles Centrales Region