Zapata, Emiliano 1879-1919
Mexican revolutionary

Born in Anencuilio, Morelos, the son of a mestizo peasant, he became a sharecropper and local peasant leader. After the onset of the Mexican Revolution, he occupied estates by force and mounted a programme for the return of land to the Indians in the areas he controlled. He initially supported Francisco Madero, and with a small force of men was largely responsible for toppling the dictatorship of Porfirio D�az. Along with Pancho Villa, he subsequently fought the Carranza government. Meanwhile, he continued to implement agrarian reforms in the southern area under his control, creating impartial commissions responsible for land distribution and setting up the Rural Loan Bank. He was eventually lured to his death at the Chinameca hacienda in Morelos.