The Mixtecs or Mixtecos (from Nahuatl mixtecatl [people of Dzahui]) are Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec culture was the main Mixtec civilization, which lasted from around 1500 BCE until being conquered by the Spanish in 1523 CE.

The Mixtec region is generally divided into three divisions depending upon the geographical location: (1) Mixteca Alta, (2) Mixteca Baja, and (3) Mixteca Costa.

The Alta is drier with higher elevations, while the Baja is lower in elevation, hot but dry, and the Costa is also low in elevation but much more humid and tropical.

The Mixteca Alta, (upper Mixtec or Ñuu Savi Sukun) has seen the most study by archaeologists, with evidence for human settlement going back to the Archaic and Early Formative periods. The first urbanized sites emerged here.

The Mexteca Baja, (lower Mixtec or Ñuu I'ni) have been long considered to be part of the larger Mixteca region, groups living in the Baja were probably more culturally related to neighboring peoples in Eastern Guerrero than they were to the Mixtecs of the Alta. They even had their own hieroglyphic writing system which is called ñuiñe.

The Mixteca Costa, (coastal Mixtec or Ñuu Andivi) only came under control of the Mixtecs during the military campaigns of the Mixtec cultural hero Eight Deer Jaguar Claw. Originally from Tilantongo in the Alta, Eight Deer and his armies conquered several major and minor kingdoms on their way to the coast, establishing the capital of Tututepec in the Lower Río Verde valley. Previously, the Costa had been occupied by the Chatinos, who were more closely related to the Zapotecano indigenous people.

The term Mixtec comes from the Nahuatl word "mixtecah" meaning cloud people. There are many names that the Mixtecs have for naming themselves: ñuù savi, nayívi savi, ñuù davi, nayivi davi, of which how to pronounce any evades me. However, methinks that most all of these variations have a common meaning within the translations, that being, The Land of the Rain. The historic homeland of Mixtec people is La Mixteca, which in the Mixtec language is: Ñuu Savi, Ñuu Djau, Ñuu Davi, depending on the local variation.

The Mixtec homeland, both historically and currently, corresponds roughly to the western half of the state of Oaxaca, with some Mixtec communities extending into the neighboring state of Puebla to the north-west and some into the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec as a culture have often been subdivided into three geographic areas: The Mixteca Alta or Highland Mixtec living in the mountains in, around, and to the west of the Valley of Oaxaca; the Mixteca Baja or Lowland Mixtec living to the north and west of these highlands, and the Mixteca de la Costa or Coastal Mixtec living in the southern plains and the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

For most of Mixtec history, the Mixteca Alta was the dominant political force, with the capitals of the Mixtec nation located in the central highlands. The valley of Oaxaca itself was often a disputed border region, sometimes dominated by the Mixtec and sometimes by their neighbors to the east, the Zapotec.

The Mixtecan were also known for their exceptional mastery of jewelry and mosaic, among which gold and turquoise figure prominently. Many of the artwork produced by Mixtec goldsmiths formed an important part of the tribute the Mixtecs paid to the Aztecs during parts of their history. Turquoise mosaic masks also played an important role in both political and religious functions. These masks were used as gifts to form political alliances, or in ceremonies during which the wearer of the mask impersonated a god, and were often afixed to funerary bundles that were seen as oracles.

The Mixtecan languages, in their many variations, were estimated to be spoken by about 300,000 people at the end of the 1900s, although the majority of Mixtec speakers also had at least a working knowledge of the Spanish language. Some Mixtecan languages are called by names other than Mixtec, particularly Cuicatec (Cuicateco), and Triqui (or Trique).

The Mixtec are well known in the anthropological world for their Codices or phonetic pictures in which they wrote their history and genealogies on deerskin in the fold-book form. The best-known story of the Mixtec Codices is that of Lord Eight Deer, named after the day in which he was born, whose personal name is Jaguar Claw, and whose epic history is related upon several codices, including the Codex Bodley and the Codex Zouche-Nuttall. As told within those codices, Jaguar Claw successfully conquered and united most of the Mixteca region.