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1879

Emiliano Zapata born

HISTORY.com Editors

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Published: July 21, 2010Last Updated: August 11, 2025

Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and Indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, is born in Anenecuilco, Mexico.

Born a peasant, Zapata was forced into the Mexican army in 1908 following his attempt to recover village lands taken over by a rancher. After the revolution began in 1910, he raised an army of peasants in the southern state of Morelos under the slogan “Land and Liberty.” Demanding simple agrarian reforms, Zapata and his guerrilla farmers opposed the central Mexican government under Francisco Madero, later under Victoriano Huerta, and finally under Venustiano Carranza. Zapata and his followers never gained control of the central Mexican government, but they redistributed land and aided poor farmers within the territory under their control. On April 10, 1919, Zapata was ambushed and shot to death in Morelos by government forces.

Zapata’s influence has endured long after his death, and his agrarian reform movement, known as zapatismo, remains important to many Mexicans today. In 1994, a guerrilla group calling itself the Zapata Army of National Liberation launched a peasant uprising in the southern state of Chiapas.

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Citation Information

Article Title: Emiliano Zapata born
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/august-8/emiliano-zapata-born

Date Accessed: October 21, 2026
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: August 11, 2025
Original Published Date: July 21, 2010