Ashley Mendez
Phil Saenz
PS101
6 November 2014
1). Early Years/Childhood/Influences
On august eighth Emiliano Zapata is born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Salazar . He was born in Anencuilco, Morelos, into a land-less family that worked with livestock for a living. Emiliano was the ninth of the tenth children that his parents gave birth to. Having European and Native American descent his family was mestizo or mixed origin( Burke 4).He was among only four of ten who survived their childhood.. The Zapata’s operated a plot of village land, and had possession of some cattle and horses in which they did business by selling horses. As mentioned above, Emiliano's father raised, trained and sold horses. He had to take responsibility for supporting his mother and siblings at a very young age because his father had died when he was 17. Emiliano purchased a team of ten mules and used them to haul corn from the farms of the area to the town. He was proud of his entrepreneurship. But Emiliano also farmed. He said,
“One of the happiest days of my life is when I made five or six hundred pesos from a crop of watermelons I raised all on my own”( Brunk 6). They were not especially poor, luxuries and comforts were a little, but when it came to supplies like food, they did better than most of their neighbors. Having been born to a peasant family Zapata spent a tough and deprived childhood. He witnessed severities uncontrolled in his nation since his childhood ( Brunk 8). Zapata’s father sent him to school at about age seven so he could learn a little. Zapata was tutored by his teacher, Emilio Vara. He had partial education because work was most important, so Zapata’s schooling was irregular. He learned to read, write, and also developed an interest in Mexican history. When it involved animals, He enjoyed the work of a campesino. Zapata began by the age of nine to give back to his family by pulling wood and fodder, helping with the livestock and planting. He also assisted an aunt who lived next door with her chores, and cared for the cattle of a local Spaniard. Over the time of his hard work he gathered animals of his own. His father gave him a mule when he started school, and then a horse named “la papaya”. Other employers made him related gifts. Zapata was lively and possibly a fairly nervous child. His dad was himself an excellent horseman, and had emiliano practicing jumps by the age of twelve. He perfected his jumps and was taken out to the main street to reveal his talent in public. Another talent he had was the use of a firearm; he was trained by his uncle Jose Zapata on their deer hunting outings together. From another uncle he was told stories. Some of these stories had to do with the adventure of his uncles on behalf of the liberals throughout the battles of the reform era; battles that helped form the Mexican nation (Brunk 8). As he grew he heard about the fight against the haciendas. Zapata became aware when he was young that injustice and inequality surrounded him.
Anarchist politics was a deep influence for Zapata. Ricardo Flores Magon, a famous anarchist from Oaxaca, Mexico was his major source of encouragement. Most of Zapata’s Plan de Ayala, influences of Flores Magón’s “Tierra y libertad" or "land and liberty" which was the title of Flores Magón's most popular work. Otilio Montaño Sánchez who taught Zapata about anarchism later became Zapata’s trusted general in Zapata's army. Sanchez was executed on May 17 of 1917 after teaching Zapata the thoughts of Peter Kropotkin and Flores Magón.

. Political development
Later in his life he attained leadership of a small group of Guerrilla revolutionists. As he led the group, it began to grow and eventually became large enough to take over Cauatla, Mexico. The press began to attack Zapata, and called him Attila of the South because of the acts committed by his followers. In August of 1911, under the command of General Victoriano Huerta, troops were sent out against Zapata ;Zapata