Emiliano Zapata | Biography, History, Mexican Revolution, Death, & Facts (2024)

Mexican revolutionary

verifiedCite

While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.

Select Citation Style

Feedback

Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

  • Emiliano Zapata - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
  • Emiliano Zapata - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

printPrint

Please select which sections you would like to print:

verifiedCite

While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.

Select Citation Style

Feedback

Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

  • Emiliano Zapata - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
  • Emiliano Zapata - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Written by

Victor Alba Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Kent State University, Ohio. Author of The Mexicans and others.

Victor Alba

Fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

Emiliano Zapata

See all media

Born:
August 8, 1879, Anenecuilco, Mexico
Died:
April 10, 1919, Morelos (aged 39)
Role In:
Battle of Ciudad Juárez
Mexican Revolution

See all related content →

Top Questions

What was Emiliano Zapata’s childhood like?

Emiliano Zapata was the ninth of 10 children. His parents were mestizo (a person of mixed Indian and European blood) peasants who worked a small plot of land. His father trained and sold horses. Zapata was orphaned at age 17.

Where did Emiliano Zapata grow up?

Emiliano Zapata grew up in Anenecuilco, a village in Morelos state, roughly 45 miles south of Mexico City.

What were Emiliano Zapata’s accomplishments?

Emiliano Zapata was an accomplished guerrilla leader during the Mexican Revolution, and he strongly opposed the hacienda system that characterized much of rural Mexican life. Partly because of his efforts, fundamental land reform was enshrined in the Mexican constitution of 1917.

How did Emiliano Zapata die?

On April 10, 1919, Emiliano Zapata was assassinated by agents of Venustiano Carranza, Mexico’s president and an opponent of Zapata’s land reform agenda. A little more than a year after Zapata’s murder, Carranza was himself slain by forces under the command of Álvaro Obregón.

Emiliano Zapata (born August 8, 1879, Anenecuilco, Mexico—died April 10, 1919, Morelos) was a Mexican revolutionary, champion of agrarianism, who fought in guerrilla actions during and after the Mexican Revolution (1910–20).

Early career

Zapata was the son of a mestizo peasant who trained and sold horses. He was orphaned at the age of 17 and had to look after his brothers and sisters. In 1897 he was arrested because he took part in a protest by the peasants of his village against the hacienda that had appropriated their lands. After obtaining a pardon, he continued agitation among the peasants, and so he was drafted into the army. He served for six months, at which point he was discharged to a landowner to train his horses. In 1909 his neighbours elected him president of the board of defense for their village. After useless negotiations with the landowners, Zapata and a group of peasants occupied by force the land that had been appropriated by the haciendas and distributed it among themselves.

Britannica QuizHeroes, Rebels, and Killers

Francisco Madero, a landowner of the north, had lost the elections in 1910 to the dictator Porfirio Díaz and had fled to the United States, where he proclaimed himself president and then reentered Mexico, aided by many peasant guerrillas. Zapata and his friends decided to support Madero. In March 1911 Zapata’s tiny force took the city of Cuautla and closed the road to the capital, Mexico City. A week later Díaz resigned and left for Europe, appointing a provisional president. Zapata, with 5,000 men, entered Cuernavaca, capital of the state of Morelos.

Madero entered Mexico City in triumph. Zapata met Madero there and asked him to exert pressure on the provisional president to return the land to the ejidos (the former Indian communal system of landownership). Madero insisted on the disarmament of the guerrillas and offered Zapata a recompense so that he could buy land, an offer that Zapata rejected. Zapata began to disarm his forces but stopped when the provisional president sent the army against the guerrillas.

The Plan of Ayala

Madero was elected president in November 1911, and Zapata met with him again but without success. With the help of a teacher, Otilio Montaño, Zapata prepared the Plan of Ayala, which declared Madero incapable of fulfilling the goals of the revolution. The signers renewed the revolution and promised to appoint a provisional president until there could be elections. They also vowed to return the stolen land to the ejidos by expropriating, with payment, a third of the area of the haciendas; those haciendas that refused to accept this plan would have their lands expropriated without compensation. Zapata adopted the slogan “Tierra y Libertad” (“Land and Liberty”).

In the course of his campaigns, Zapata distributed lands taken from the haciendas, which he frequently burned without compensation. He often ordered executions and expropriations, and his forces did not always abide by the laws of war. But underneath his picturesque appearance—drooping moustache, cold eyes, big sombrero—was a passionate man with simple ideals that he tried to put into practice. The Zapatistas avoided battle by adopting guerrilla tactics. They farmed their land with rifles on their shoulders, went when called to fight, and returned to their plows at the end of a battle or skirmish. Sometimes Zapata assembled thousands of men; he paid them by imposing taxes on the provincial cities and extorting from the rich. Their arms were captured from federal troops.

Emiliano Zapata | Biography, History, Mexican Revolution, Death, & Facts (4)

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

When Gen. Victoriano Huerta deposed and assassinated Madero in February 1913, Zapata and his men arrived at the outskirts of Mexico City and rejected Huerta’s offer to unite with him. This prevented Huerta from sending all his troops against the guerrillas of the north, who, under the direction of a moderate politician, Venustiano Carranza, had organized the Constitutionalist Army to defeat the new dictator. Huerta was forced to abandon the country in July 1914.

Zapata knew that Carranza’s Constitutionalists feared him. He attracted some intellectuals from Mexico City, among them Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, who became his theorist and later established an agrarian party. When Huerta fell, Zapata invited the Constitutionalists to accept his Plan of Ayala and warned them that he would continue fighting independently until the plan was put to practical use.

In October 1914 Carranza called an assembly of all the revolutionary forces. Pancho Villa, who commanded the most important part of the army of the north, refused to attend the meeting because he considered Mexico City as enemy ground. The assembly was moved to Aguascalientes, where both the Villistas and the Zapatistas attended. These two groups constituted a majority, and the convention agreed to appoint Gen. Eulalio Gutiérrez as provisional president. Carranza rejected this decision and marched with his government to Veracruz.

War broke out between the moderates (Carrancistas) and the revolutionaries (Conventionists). On November 24 Zapata ordered his army (now called the Liberation Army of the South and numbering 25,000 men) to occupy Mexico City. The people of the capital watched in astonishment as the peasants went from door to door humbly asking for food and drink, instead of assaulting palaces and violating women.

Two weeks later Zapata and Villa met on the outskirts of the capital and then visited the National Palace. The two leaders promised to fight together until they put a civilian president in the palace, and Villa accepted the Plan of Ayala.

Agrarian reforms

Zapata created agrarian commissions to distribute the land; he spent much time supervising their work to be sure they showed no favouritism and that the landowners did not corrupt its members. He established a Rural Loan Bank, the country’s first agricultural credit organization; he also tried to reorganize the sugar industry of Morelos into cooperatives. In April 1915 U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s personal representative in Mexico met with Zapata; Zapata asked that Wilson receive his delegation, but Wilson had recognized the Carranza government (the convention’s government under Gutiérrez had dispersed).

Meanwhile, the war continued. Zapata occupied the city of Puebla and won various battles, advised by some professional soldiers who had joined his side. In 1917 Carranza’s generals defeated Villa and isolated Zapata. Carranza then called together a constitutional convention but did not invite Zapata; the convention approved and passed a constitution and elected Carranza as president of the republic.

A new U.S. envoy, William Gates, visited Zapata and then published a series of articles in the United States; he contrasted the order of the Zapata-controlled zone with the chaos of the constitutional zone and said that “the true social revolution can be found among the Zapatistas.” When these articles were read to Zapata, he said, “Now I can die in peace. Finally they have done us justice.”

Soon afterward Gen. Pablo González, who directed the government operations against Zapata, had Col. Jesús Guajardo pretend to want to join the agrarians and contrive a secret meeting with Zapata at the hacienda of Chinameca in Morelos. There Zapata was ambushed and shot to death by Carrancista soldiers. His body was carried to Cuautla and buried there.

Victor Alba
Emiliano Zapata | Biography, History, Mexican Revolution, Death, & Facts (2024)

FAQs

Emiliano Zapata | Biography, History, Mexican Revolution, Death, & Facts? ›

Emiliano Zapata (born August 8, 1879, Anenecuilco, Mexico—died April 10, 1919, Morelos) was a Mexican revolution

Mexican revolution
Mexican Revolution, (1910–20), a long and bloody struggle among several factions in constantly shifting alliances which resulted ultimately in the end of the 30-year dictatorship in Mexico and the establishment of a constitutional republic.
https://www.britannica.com › event › Mexican-Revolution
ary, champion of agrarianism, who fought in guerrilla actions during and after the Mexican Revolution (1910–20).

Why is Emiliano Zapata important in Mexican political history quizlet? ›

Emiliano Zapata was a leader of the Mexican Revolution; he organized an army to fight for land reform and the return of lands that had been taken from the peasants in the south. The Zapatistas were Zapata's army who fought opposing rebel groups and local landowners.

How many wives did Zapata have? ›

After various attempts on his life, Zapata began sending a double to public events. 2. Zapata is believed to have had nine wives, 16 children and 42 grandsons. Other historians say he had 15 wives throughout his life.

What battles did Emiliano Zapata fight in? ›

The Battle of Cuautla was a battle between the forces of Emiliano Zapata and the federal army of the Mexican government that took place in the state of Morelos from May 11–19, 1911, during the Mexican Revolution. It has sometimes been described as "six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution".

How many people died in the Mexican Revolution? ›

The revolutionary conflict was primarily a civil war, but foreign powers, having important economic and strategic interests in Mexico, figured in the outcome of Mexico's power struggles; the U.S. involvement was particularly high. The conflict led to the deaths of around one million people, mostly noncombatants.

What was the primary goal of Zapata's forces within the Mexican Revolution? ›

Emiliano Zapata was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution. As a revolutionary, he commanded the Liberation Army of the South, an important brigade on a mission to force the Mexican government to return lands taken by the elite ruling class to local peoples.

Why was the Mexican Revolution important? ›

The Mexican Revolution sparked the Constitution of 1917 which provided for separation of Church and state, government ownership of the subsoil, holding of land by communal groups, the right of labor to organize and strike and many other aspirations.

What are some important facts about Emiliano Zapata? ›

Emiliano Zapata was an accomplished guerrilla leader during the Mexican Revolution, and he strongly opposed the hacienda system that characterized much of rural Mexican life. Partly because of his efforts, fundamental land reform was enshrined in the Mexican constitution of 1917.

Was Emiliano Zapata smart? ›

Emiliano Zapata was a highly intelligent, rational leader, trying to lead the people of southern Mexico out of extreme poverty. He was a realist who knew when to fight and when to play politics. His legacy lives on today in the contemporary Zapatista Rebels of Chiapas.

Was Zapata a hero? ›

Although revolutionary conditions often meant that Zapata ordered executions and expropriation of property, the general became a hero among Mexicans. His name is still invoked by those seeking reform in Mexico. Perhaps best known are an army of Zapatistas, masked rebels in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

How did Emiliano Zapata help the Mexican Revolution? ›

During the course of the revolution, the Zapatistas (adherents of Zapata) helped overthrow the dictator Porfirio Díaz in 1911, destroyed the semi-feudal hacienda system in Zapata's home state of Morelos by redistributing land from the oligarchy to peasant villagers and hacienda workers, and developed a revolutionary ...

Where did Emiliano Zapata live? ›

What is Zapata's legacy? ›

Emiliano Zapata, a prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution, left an indelible mark on the country's history through his unwavering commitment to agrarian rights, social justice, and the empowerment of the rural poor.

Who stopped the Mexican Revolution? ›

Many historians regard 1920 as the end of the revolution, but sporadic violence and clashes between federal troops and various rebel forces continued until the reformist president, Lázaro Cárdenas, took office in 1934 and institutionalized the reforms that were fought for during the revolution and were legitimized in ...

Who led the Mexican Revolution? ›

Two great figures, Francisco “Pancho” Villa from the north of Mexico and Emiliano Zapata from the south, led the revolution and remain key cultural and historical symbols in this fight for social reform.

How is Emiliano Zapata remembered? ›

In the long run, he has done more for his ideals in death than he did in life. He came to be viewed as a martyr to the cause of land reform after his murder. Even though Mexico still has not implemented the sort of land reform he wanted, he is remembered as a visionary who fought for his countrymen.

What are two accomplishments of Emiliano Zapata? ›

Dissatisfied with the pace of land reform under Madero, Zapata led a guerrilla campaign that took land back from the haciendas and returned it to the communal Indian ejidos. He was instrumental in the defeat of Gen. Victoriano Huerta after Huerta deposed and assassinated Madero.

What roles did Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata play in the Mexican Revolution? ›

They were important leaders of the Mexican Revolution. Emiliano Zapata was based in southern Mexico, while Pancho Villa ruled in the north. When Francisco Madero became president, they took up arms against Madero because he did not meet their demands of land redistribution.

What was Adelitas role in the Mexican Revolution? ›

The figure of the adelita gradually became synonymous with the term soldadera, the woman in a military-support (and sometimes fighting) role, who became a vital force in the revolutionary efforts through provisioning, espionage, and other activities in the battles against Mexican federal government forces.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Manual Maggio

Last Updated:

Views: 5283

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (69 voted)

Reviews: 92% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Manual Maggio

Birthday: 1998-01-20

Address: 359 Kelvin Stream, Lake Eldonview, MT 33517-1242

Phone: +577037762465

Job: Product Hospitality Supervisor

Hobby: Gardening, Web surfing, Video gaming, Amateur radio, Flag Football, Reading, Table tennis

Introduction: My name is Manual Maggio, I am a thankful, tender, adventurous, delightful, fantastic, proud, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.