Emiliano Zapata Biography and Photos

Emiliano Zapata Salazar was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Salazar on August 8, 1879, in the small central Mexican state of Morelos, in the village of Anenecuilco (modern-day Ayala municipality). He was of mestizo ancestry.

He was the ninth out of ten children. He had to care for his family because his father died when Zapata was 17.

At that time, Mexico was ruled by a dictatorship under Porfirio Diaz, who had seized power in 1876. The social system of the time was a sort of proto-capitalist feudal system, with large landed estates (haciendas) controlling more and more of the land and squeezing out the independent communities of the indigenous and mestizos, who were then subsequently forced into debt slavery (peonaje) on the haciendas.

Diaz ran local elections to pacify the people and run a government that they could argue was self-imposed. Under Diaz, close confidantes and associates were given offices in districts throughout Mexico. These offices became the enforcers of "land reforms" that actually concentrated the haciendas into fewer hands.

Emiliano Zapata died on April 10, 1919 at the age of 39.