Emiliano Zapata was born on Aug. 8, 1879, in Anenecuilco, Mexico and died on April 10, 1919, in the state of Morelos, Mexico. He was a Mexican revolutionary, champion of agrarianism, and fought in guerrilla actions during and after the Mexican Revolution (1911-17).
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 neighbors 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.
Francisco Madero, a landowner of the north, had lost the elections in 1910 to the dictator Porfirio DÕaz 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, DÕaz resigned and left for Europe, appointing a provisional president. Zapata, with 5,000 men, entered Cuernavaca, capital of the state of Morelos.
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