The Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located in the southern part of the country, west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (the Isthmus of Tehuantepec includes the southeastern parts of Veracruz and Oaxaca). Oaxaca borders the states of Guerrero to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north, Chiapas to the east, and the Pacific Ocean in the south.

Oaxaca is the historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples, and contains more speakers of indigenous languages than any other Mexican state. The state is named for its largest city. With an area of 95,364 km² (36,820.2 mi²), Oaxaca is the fifth largest state in the Republic. According to the 2005 census it had a population of 3,506,821 inhabitants.Notable Oaxacans include President Benito Juárez, born in the Oaxacan village of San Pablo Guelatao, as well as Rufino Tamayo, Porfirio Diaz, José Vasconcelos, Francisco Toledo, María Sabina, J. Alberto Canseco Díaz, Major League Baseball player Vinicio Castilla, Bundesliga player Ricardo Osorio, chemical engineer Marco Rito-Palomares, Anarchist revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magon and many other writers, artists and politicians.

Major festivals include the día de los muertos ("day of the dead") and noche de los rabanos ("night of the radishes"). In Zapotec villages, families traditionally finance the large communally organized dances and feasts on patron saints' days through a system of making small loans over many years and then calling them in on an occasion when the family has volunteered to be the festival sponsor or mayordomo; this economic system is known in Zapotec as guelaguetza. This practice has given its name to the largest festival of dance and music in the state, the Guelaguetza, a major attraction for regional, national, and international tourists that is put on annually at a stadium built for the purpose overlooking the city of Oaxaca.

For the same reasons its people are so diverse, Oaxaca boasts a tremendous diversity of regional cuisine, nicknamed "Land of the Seven Moles". An abundance of fruits and vegetables are grown in the central valley, tropical fruits are found in the north and fish and shellfish dominate the cuisine of the south. Oaxaca is also known for Oaxaca cheese (quesillo) which is now exported around the world and even made in many locations in the United States.Corn tortillas are the staple food but a vast array of foods are prepared from corn dough, from entomatadas and empanadas to tamales and tlayudas. Black beans are also a common ingredient, as is the pasilla chile which gives many dishes their distinct hot, smoky taste and red color.A breakfast specialty, generally only available in Oaxaca, is huevos oaxaqueños - eggs poached in a chili-tomato soup. Another specialty is chapulines, or roasted grasshoppers, a popular dish in the state's central valleys region. Chapulines are eaten after the rains begin and through early autumn.Oaxaca is well-known for producing mezcal, a liquor somewhat similar to tequila. Like tequila, it derives from fermented agave fruit, but differs in taste and its tradition of family artisan production. The state is also famous for its chocolate, which is made from ground cacao beans, and often includes almonds, cinnamon and many other ingredients.