58 Facts About Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a Mexican revolutionary.

In November 1911, Emiliano Zapata promulgated the Plan de Ayala, which called for substantial land reforms, redistributing lands to the peasants.

Such actions strengthened Emiliano Zapata's standing among the peasants, and succeeded in driving the forces of Madero, led by Victoriano Huerta, out of Morelos.

Emiliano Zapata did not recognize the authority that Carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement, continuing his adherence to the Plan de Ayala.

Emiliano Zapata re-took Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranza's troops until he was killed in an ambush in April 1919.

Emiliano Zapata remains an iconic figure in Mexico, used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement.

Emiliano Zapata was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Jertrudiz Salazar of Anenecuilco, Morelos, the ninth of ten children.

Emiliano's maternal grandfather, Jose Salazar, had served in the army of Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon during the siege of Cuautla, while his paternal uncles Cristino and Jose Zapata fought in the Reform War and the French Intervention.

Emiliano Zapata's godfather was the manager of a large local hacienda and his godmother was the manager's wife.

The Emiliano Zapata family were descended from the Emiliano Zapata of Mapaztlan and were likely mestizos, Mexicans of both Spanish and Nahua heritage.

Gabriel Zapata was a farmer and horse trainer, and Emiliano's upbringing on the farm gave him an intimate familiarity with the difficulties of the countryside and his village's long struggle to regain the land taken by expanding haciendas.

Emiliano Zapata received a limited education from his teacher, Emilio Vara, but it included "the rudiments of bookkeeping".

Gabriel died when Emiliano Zapata was about 16 or 17, leaving the latter to care for his family.

Emiliano Zapata was entrepreneurial and bought a team of mules to haul maize from farms to town and bricks to the Hacienda of Chinameca; he was a successful farmer, growing watermelons as a cash crop.

Emiliano Zapata was a skilled horseman and competed in rodeos and races, as well as bullfighting from horseback.

Community members in Anenecuilco, including Emiliano Zapata, sought redress against land seizures.

Emiliano Zapata was one of many rebel leaders who were conscripted at some point.

Emiliano Zapata became a leading figure in the village of Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, though he did not take the title of Don, as was custom for someone of his status.

Emiliano Zapata, seeing an opportunity to promote land reform in Mexico, joined with Madero and his Constitutionalists, who included Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa, whom he perceived to be the best chance for genuine change in the country.

The first military campaign of Emiliano Zapata was the capture of the Hacienda of Chinameca.

When Emiliano Zapata's army captured Cuautla after a six-day battle on May 19,1911, it became clear that Diaz would not hold on to power for long.

Emiliano Zapata decided that on the surface it seemed as though Madero was doing good things for the people of Mexico, but Emiliano Zapata did not know the level of sincerity in Madero's actions and thus did not know if he should support him completely.

Compromises between the Madero and Emiliano Zapata failed in November 1911, days after Madero was elected president.

Emiliano Zapata had supported the ouster of Diaz and had the expectation that Madero would fulfill the promises made in the Plan of San Luis Potosi to return village lands.

Emiliano Zapata did not share Madero's vision of democracy built on particular freedoms and guarantees that were meaningless to peasants:.

Emiliano Zapata believed that the best route of attack would be to center the fighting and action in Cuautla.

Emiliano Zapata finally gained the support necessary by his peers and was considered a "singularly qualified candidate".

Emiliano Zapata was not alone: in the north, Pancho Villa, who had supported Madero, immediately took to the field against Huerta.

Emiliano Zapata revised the Plan of Ayala and named himself the leader of his revolution.

Emiliano Zapata was joined by two newcomers to the Revolution, Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregon, who raised large armies in Coahuila and Sonora respectively.

In spite of being faced with a possible foreign invasion, Emiliano Zapata refused to unite with Huerta in defense of the nation.

Emiliano Zapata stated that if need be he would defend Mexico alone as chief of the Ayalan forces.

For Carranza, an agreement with Emiliano Zapata would mean that he did not need to worry about his force's southern flank and could concentrate on defeating Villa.

Emiliano Zapata demanded veto power over Carranza's decisions, which Carranza rejected and negotiations broke off.

Emiliano Zapata issued a statement, perhaps drafted by his advisor, Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama.

Nonetheless, during the ensuing campaign in Puebla, Emiliano Zapata was disappointed by Villa's lack of support.

Emiliano Zapata attacked Carrancista positions with large forces trying to harry the Carrancistas in the rear as they were occupied with routing Villa throughout the Northwest.

Emiliano Zapata received no reinforcements, as Obregon, the Minister of War, needed all his forces against Villa in the north and against Felix Diaz in Oaxaca.

Emiliano Zapata began looking for allies among the northern revolutionaries and the southern Felicistas, followers of the Liberalist Felix Diaz.

Emiliano Zapata sent Gildardo Magana as an envoy to communicate with the Americans and other possible sources of support.

Emiliano Zapata continued his work to try to unite with the national anti-Carrancista movement through the next year, and the constitutionalists did not make further advances.

Furthermore, Emiliano Zapata began to worry that by the end of the World War, the United States would turn its attention to Mexico, forcing the Zapatistas to either join the Carrancistas in a national defense or to acquiesce to foreign domination of Mexico.

Emiliano Zapata released statements accusing Carranza of being secretly sympathetic to the Germans.

Emiliano Zapata accused Guajardo of not only being a drunk, but of being a traitor.

Emiliano Zapata answered Guajardo's letter on April 1,1919, agreeing to all of Guajardo's terms.

However, when Emiliano Zapata arrived at the Hacienda de San Juan, in Chinameca, Ayala municipality, Guajardo's men riddled him with bullets.

Emiliano Zapata's body was photographed, displayed for 24 hours, and then buried in Cuautla.

However, Emiliano Zapata's clothing was displayed outside a newspaper's office across from the Alameda Park in the capital.

Emiliano Zapata's influence continues to this day, particularly in revolutionary tendencies in southern Mexico.

Emiliano Zapata became to be viewed as a martyr to the cause of land reform after his murder.

However, a great deal of the significant land distribution which Emiliano Zapata sought would later be enacted after Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas took office in 1934.

Emiliano Zapata is one of the most revered national heroes of Mexico.

Emiliano Zapata was a realist with the goal of achieving political and economic emancipation of the peasants in southern Mexico and leading them out of severe poverty.

Towns, streets, and housing developments called "Emiliano Zapata" are common across the country and he has, at times, been depicted on Mexican banknotes.

The tomb of Emiliano Zapata is located in Cuautla, Morelos, and every year several festivities are held around the anniversary of his death.

Emiliano Zapata has been depicted in movies, comics, books, music, and clothing.

For example, there was the stage musical Emiliano Zapata, written by Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkin, with a libretto by Allan Katz, which ran for 16 weeks at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut.

Emiliano Zapata is a major character in The Friends of Pancho Villa, by James Carlos Blake.