The
United Mexican States , commonly known as
Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It is bordered on the north by the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; on the south and west by the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
; on the southeast by
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
,
BelizeBelize , is a country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages. Although Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language...
, and the
Caribbean SeaThe Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean situated in the tropics of the Western hemisphere, bounded to the south and west by the American landmass, with the North Atlantic Ocean proper to the northeast and the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest...
; and on the east by the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United...
. Covering almost 2 million
square kilometreSquare kilometre , symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of surface area, the square metre, one of the SI derived units.1 km2 is equal to:* 1,000,000 m2...
s, Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
by total area and the
14th largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of 109 million, it is the
11th most populous country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a
Federal DistrictMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the
OlmecThe Olmec were an ancient Pre-Columbian civilization living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in what are roughly the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....
, the
ToltecThe word Toltec refers to populations and polities that inhabited pre-Columbian central Mexico. The word has been used in different ways in Mesoamerican studies by different scholars to refer to the ancestors mentioned in the mythical/historical narratives of the Aztecs...
, the
TeotihuacanTeotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
, the
MayaThe Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period , many Maya cities reached their highest...
and the
AztecThe Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Often the term...
before the first contact with
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
ans. In 1521,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of
New SpainThe Viceroyalty of New Spain , was the political unit of Spanish territories in North and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. The territory included the present-day California, Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America , the Caribbean, and the Philippines. It was ruled by a viceroy from...
which would eventually become Mexico as the colony gained
independenceThe Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The Mexican War of Independence movement was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought independence from Spain...
in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, territorial secession and
civil warThe War of Reform was a Mexican civil war fought from December 1857 to January 1861. It began with a coup of generals representing conservative elites. They refused to recognize the reformist Constitution of 1857, and issued a decree overturning it, called the Plan de Tacubaya...
, including foreign intervention,
two empires and
two long domestic dictatorships. The latter led to the
Mexican RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.Over time the Revolution...
in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the
1917 ConstitutionThe Political Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1917 is the present constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro by a Constitutional Convention during the Mexican Revolution...
and the emergence of the country's current
political systemThe politics of Mexico take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic whose government is based on a congressional system, whereby the president of Mexico is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party electoral system...
.
Elections held in July 2000Mexico held a general election on Sunday, July 2 2000.At stake were the Presidency of the Republic, all 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies, and all 128 members of the Senate...
marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the
Institutional Revolutionary PartyThe Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that wielded power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the...
.
As a
regional powerIn international relations, a regional power is a state that has power within a geographic region. They define the polarity of any given regional security complex...
and the only
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n member of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international organisation of 30 countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free-market economy...
(OECD) since 1994, Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country, considered as a newly industrialized country and has the
11th largest economy in the world by
GDPThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
by
purchasing power parityThe purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power...
, and also the largest
GDP per capita in Latin America according to the
International Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
. The
economyThe economy of Mexico is 11th to 13th largest in the world.Since the 1994 crisis, administrations have improved the country's macroeconomic fundamentals. Mexico was not significantly influenced by the recent 2002 South American crisis, and has maintained positive, although low, rates of growth...
is strongly linked to those of its
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) partners. Despite being considered an
emerging powerWorld Power is the first studio album by the electronic band Snap!. It contains the hit single, "The Power".-Track listing:# "The Power" – 5:44# "Ooops Up" – 6:42# "Cult of Snap!" – 5:21# "Believe the Hype" – 4:50...
, the uneven
income distributionIn economics, income distribution is how a nation’s total economy is distributed amongst its population. .Income distribution has always been a central concern of economic theory and economic policy...
and the increase in
drug-related violenceThe Mexican Drug War is an armed conflict taking place between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for quite some time, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín...
are issues of concern.
Etymology
After New Spain won independence from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, it was decided that the new country would be named after its capital,
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
, which was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Aztec capital of
México-Tenochtitlan--Please DO NOT change the spelling of "Tenochtitlan" to "Tenochtitlán"There are some towns in Mexico which are spelled "Tenochtitlán", like San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, in which case the accent is used. However, the Aztec capital is not spelled that way in either Spanish --Please DO NOT change the...
. The name comes from the Nahuatl language, but its meaning is not known. It has been suggested that it is derived from
MextliIn Aztec mythology, Mextli was a god of the moon and was born fully armed as a warrior. He accepted hundreds of sacrifices annually. His name is thought by many to be the source of the name "Mexico".-References:...
or
Mēxihtli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Aztecs,
HuitzilopochtliIn Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli , was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan...
, in which case
Mēxihco means "Place where
Mēxihtli lives". Another hypothesis suggests that the word
Mēxihco derives from the
mētztli ("moon"),
xictli ("navel", "center" or "son"), and the suffix
-co (place), in which case it means "Place at the center of the moon" or "Place at the center of the Lake Moon", in reference to
Lake TexcocoLake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico, a basin with an average elevation of above mean sea level located in the southern highlands of Mexico's central altiplano...
. The system of interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco was at the center, had the form of a rabbit, the same image that the Aztecs saw in the moon. Tenochtitlan was located at the center (or navel) of the lake (or rabbit/moon). Still another hypothesis suggests that it is derived from
Mēctli, the goddess of maguey.
The name of the city was transliterated to Spanish as
México with the phonetic value of the
x in Medieval Spanish, which represented the
voiceless postalveolar fricativeThe voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages....
. This sound, as well as the
voiced postalveolar fricativeThe voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is <>, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some...
, represented by a
j, evolved into a
voiceless velar fricativeThe voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x...
during the sixteenth century. This led to the use of the variant
Méjico in many publications in Spanish, most notably in Spain, whereas in Mexico and most other Spanish–speaking countries
México was the preferred spelling. In recent years the
Real Academia EspañolaThe Real Academia Española , the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one Spanish-speaking nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
, which regulates the
Spanish languageSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
, determined that both variants are acceptable in Spanish but that the normative recommended
spellingSpelling is the writing of a word or words with the necessary letters and diacritics present in an accepted standard order. It is one of the elements of orthography and a prescriptive element of alphabetic languages...
is
México. The majority of publications in all Spanish-speaking countries now adhere to the new norm, even though the alternative variant is still occasionally used. In English, the
x in Mexico represents neither the original nor the current sound, but the consonant cluster .
The official name of the country has changed as the
form of governmentA form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized in order to exert its powers over a body politic. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government"...
has changed. On two occasions (1821–1823 and 1863–1867), the country was known as
Imperio Mexicano (
Mexican EmpireThe Mexican Empire was the name of modern Mexico on two non-consecutive occasions in the 19th century when it was ruled by an emperor.-First Mexican Empire:...
). All three federal constitutions (1824, 1857 and 1917, the current constitution) used the name
Estados Unidos Mexicanos—or the variants
Estados Unidos mexicanos and
Estados-Unidos Mexicanos, all of which have been translated as "United Mexican States". The term
República Mexicana, "Mexican Republic" was used in the 1836 Constitutional Laws.
History
Campfire remains in the
Valley of MexicoThe Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a center for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
have been radiocarbon-dated to 21,000
BCECommon Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date...
, and a few chips of
stone toolA stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made partially, or entirely out of stone. Although stone-tool-dependent cultures exist even today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric societies that no longer exist....
s have been found near the hearths, indicating the presence of humans at that time. Around 9,000 years ago, ancient
indigenous peoplesThe term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number...
domesticated
cornMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
and initiated an agricultural revolution, leading to the formation of many complex
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
s. Between 1,800 and 300 BCE, many matured into advanced
pre-ColumbianThe Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization during the...
MesoamericaMesoamerica or Meso-America is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries...
n civilizations such as: the Olmec, the Teotihuacan, the Maya, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Toltec and the Aztec, which flourished for nearly 4,000 years before the first contact with Europeans. These civilizations are credited with many inventions and advancements in fields such as architecture (
pyramid-templesA pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least four faces...
), mathematics, astronomy, medicine and theology. Estimates of the population before the Spanish conquest range from 6 million to 25 million.
In the early 16th century, from the landing of
Hernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century...
, the Aztec civilization was invaded and conquered by the Spaniards. Unintentionally introduced by Spanish conquerors,
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
ravaged Mexico in the 1520s, killing thousands of Aztecs, including the emperor, and was credited with the victory of Hernán Cortés over the Aztec empire. The territory became part of the
Spanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
under the name of
New SpainThe Viceroyalty of New Spain , was the political unit of Spanish territories in North and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. The territory included the present-day California, Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America , the Caribbean, and the Philippines. It was ruled by a viceroy from...
. Much of the identity, traditions and architecture of Mexico were created during the colonial period.
On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, in the small town of
DoloresDolores Hidalgo is the name of a city and the surrounding municipality in the north-central part of the Mexican state of Guanajuato....
, Guanajuato. The first insurgent group was formed by Hidalgo, the Spanish viceregal army
captainThe army rank of Captain is an officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically the commander, or second in command, of a company or squadron...
Ignacio AllendeIgnacio José de Allende y Unzaga, born Ignacio Jose de Jesus Pedro Regalado Allende y Unzaga was a captain of the Spanish Army in Mexico who came to sympathize with the Mexican independence movement. He attended the secret meetings organized by Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, where the possibility of...
, the
militiaThe term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
captain
Juan AldamaJuan Aldama was a Mexican revolutionary rebel soldier during the Mexican War of Independence in 1810. He was also the brother of Ignacio Aldama....
and "La Corregidora"
Josefa Ortiz de DomínguezJosefa Ortiz de Domínguez was a conspirator and supporter of the Mexican War of Independence, who fought for independence against Spain, in the early 19th century...
. Hidalgo and some of his soldiers were captured and executed by firing squad in
ChihuahuaThe city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is light industry, in the form of maquiladoras.-History:...
, on July 31, 1811. Following his death, the leadership was assumed by priest
José María Morelos José María Teclo Morelos y Pavón was a Mexican Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary rebel leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1811...
, who occupied key southern cities.
In 1813, the
Congress of ChilpancingoThe Congress of Chilpancingo was a meeting held in Chilpancingo, in what is the modern-day Mexican state of Guerrero, from September to November 1813. The result of this meeting was that Mexico formally declared itself to be independent of Spain and what was later to become the first national...
was convened and, on November 6, signed the "
Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern AmericaThe Solemn Act of Northern America's Declaration of Independence is the first Mexican legal historical document which established the separation of Mexico from Spanish rule...
". Morelos was captured and executed on December 22, 1815. In subsequent years, the insurgency was near collapse, but in 1820
ViceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
Juan Ruiz de Apodaca sent an army under the
criolloCriollo is a Spanish term, often translated into English as Creole, which may refer to:*Criollo people, a caste in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system...
general
Agustín de IturbideAgustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Aramburu was a Mexican Army General who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821; decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence...
against the troops of
Vicente GuerreroVicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence, who fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and served briefly as President of Mexico...
. Instead, Iturbide approached Guerrero to join forces, and in 1821 representatives of the Spanish Crown and Iturbide signed the "
Treaty of CórdobaThe Treaty of Córdoba gave Mexico independence from Spain at the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence. It was signed on August 24, 1821 in Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico. The signatories were Mexican insurgent Agustín de Iturbide and, acting on behalf of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII, the last...
", which recognized the independence of Mexico under the terms of the "
Plan of IgualaPlan of Iguala, also known as Plan of the Three Guarantees , was a peace treaty proclaimed on February 24, 1821, in the final stage of Mexican War of Independence from Spain. The plan attempted to establish a constitutional foundation upon which an independent Mexican Empire would be based...
".
Agustin de IturbideAgustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Aramburu was a Mexican Army General who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821; decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence...
immediately proclaimed himself emperor of the
First Mexican EmpireThe First Mexican Empire was the official name of independent Mexico under a monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendencies and provinces of New Spain proper and those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala...
. A revolt against him in 1823 established the United Mexican States. In 1824, a Republican Constitution was drafted and
Guadalupe VictoriaGuadalupe Victoria, born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix , was a Mexican revolutionary soldier who fought for independence against Spain in the War of Independence and later became the first president of Mexico.Victoria was born in 1786 in Tamazula de Victoria, Durango, son of Manuel...
became the first president of the newly born country. The first decades of the post-independence period were marked by
economic instability-Independence:Faced with political disruptions, civil wars, unstable currency, and the constant threat of banditry in the countryside, most wealthy Mexicans invested their assets the only stable productive enterprises that remained viable: large agricultural estates...
, which led to the
Pastry WarThe Pastry War was an invasion of Mexico by French forces in 1838.-Background:...
in 1836, and a constant strife between
liberales, supporters of a
federal form of governmentA federal republic is a federation of states with a republican form of government. A federation is the central government. The states in a federation also maintain the federation...
, and
conservadores, proposals of a
hierarchical form of governmentA unitary state is a sovereign state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government chooses to delegate...
.
General
Antonio López de Santa AnnaAntonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, was a Mexican political leader who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government, first fighting against the independence from Spain, and then supporting...
, a centralist and two-time
dictatorA dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power with military control but, without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
, approved the
Siete LeyesThe Siete Leyes were a series of constitutional instruments that fundamentally altered the organizational structure of the young first Mexican republic...
in 1836, a radical amendment that institutionalized the centralized form of government. Suspended the 1824 Constitution,
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
spread across the country, and three new governments declared independence: the
Republic of TexasThe Republic of Texas was an independent state in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1845.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
, the
Republic of the Rio GrandeThe Republic of the Rio Grande was a name given to an independent nation that insurgents against the Central Mexican Government sought to establish in northern Mexico. The rebellion lasted from January 17 to November 6, 1840.- Background :...
and the
Republic of YucatánThe Republic of Yucatán was a sovereign nation in North America that existed from 1841 to 1848. It encompassed the present Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán, which during the Spanish domination were the colonial Captaincy General of Yucatán, under New Spain, but separated from...
. Texas successfully achieved independence and was annexed by the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a
border disputeA territorial dispute is a disagreement over the possession/control of land between two or more states, or over the possession or control of land by one state after it has conquered it from a former state no longer currently recognized by the occupying power....
led to the
Mexican–American WarThe Mexican–American War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico claimed ownership of Texas as a breakaway province and refused to recognize the secession and subsequent military victory by Texas in...
, which began in 1846 and lasted for two years, settled via the "Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo" forcing Mexico to give up nearly half of its land to the U.S., including
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S...
. Further transferred some of its territories, southern
ArizonaThe State of Arizona is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix. The second largest city is Tucson, followed in size by the four Phoenix metropolitan area cities of Mesa, Glendale, Chandler, and Scottsdale.Arizona was the 48th and...
and
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Inhabited by Native American populations for many centuries, it has also been part of the Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S. territory. Among U.S...
, via the
Gadsden PurchaseThe Gadsden Purchase is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by President Franklin Pierce on June 24, 1853, and ratified by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854...
in 1854. The
Caste War of YucatánThe Caste War of Yucatán began with the revolt of native Maya people of Yucatán against the population of European descent in political and economic control. A lengthy war ensued between the Yucateco forces in the north-west of the Yucatán and the independent Maya in the south-east...
, the
MayanThe Maya peoples constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a convenient collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the...
uprising that began in 1847, was one of the most successful modern Native American revolts. Maya rebels, or Cruzob, maintained the Maya free state until the 1930s.
Dissatisfaction with Santa Anna's return to power led to the liberal "
Plan of AyutlaThe Plan of Ayutla was a plan aimed at removing Antonio López de Santa Anna as dictator of Mexico. Initially drafted on February 24, 1854, by Colonel Florencio Villarreal, it was proclaimed on March 1, 1854, in...
", initiating an era known as
La ReformaLa Reforma was a period halfway through the 19th century in the history of Mexico that was characterized by liberal reforms and the transformation of Mexico into a nation state...
, after which a new Constitution was drafted in 1857 that established a
secular stateA secular state is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential...
, federalism as the
form of governmentA form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized in order to exert its powers over a body politic. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government"...
and several freedoms. As the
conservadores refused to recognized, the War of Reform began in 1858, both groups had their own governments, but ended in 1861 with the liberal victory led by Amerindian President
Benito JuárezBenito Pablo Juárez García was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
. In the 1860s underwent a military occupation by France, which established the
Second Mexican EmpireThe Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. For the earlier monarchy in Mexico in 1821-1823 see First Mexican Empire article....
under the rule of Habsburg
ArchdukeThe title of Archduke denotes a rank above Grand Duke and under King. It was rare and has uses too diverse to be given a fixed relative position within the former Holy Roman Empire to which it was restricted...
Ferdinand Maximilian of
AustriaThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
with support from the Roman Catholic clergy and the
conservadores, who later switched sides and joined the
liberales. Maximilian surrendered, was tried on June 14 and was executed on June 19, 1867.
Porfirio DíazJosé de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and one of the most controversial figures of the country...
, a republican general during the
French interventionThe French intervention in Mexico, also known as the Maximilian Affair and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by the army of the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the British and Spanish...
, ruled Mexico from 1876–1880 and then from 1884–1911 in five consecutive reelections, period known as the
PorfiriatoJosé de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and one of the most controversial figures of the country...
, characterized by remarkable economic achievements, investments in
artsaRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is most famous for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
and
scienceScience is in its broadest sense to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome...
s, but also of
economic inequalityIn economics, income distribution is how a nation’s total economy is distributed amongst its population. .Income distribution has always been a central concern of economic theory and economic policy...
and
political repressionRepression may refer to:* Memory inhibition, the ability to filter irrelevant memories from attempts to recall* Political repression, the oppression or persecution of an individual or group for political reasons...
. A likely electoral fraud that led to his fifth reelection sparked the
1910 Mexican RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.Over time the Revolution...
, initially led by
Francisco I. MaderoFrancisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...
. Díaz resigned in 1911 and Madero was elected president but overthrown and murdered in a coup d'état two years later directed by conservative general
Victoriano HuertaJosé Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico.-Early life:...
. Event that re-ignited the civil war, involving figures such as Francisco Villa and
Emiliano ZapataEmiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz...
, who formed their own forces. A third force, the constitutional army led by
Venustiano CarranzaVenustiano Carranza de la Garza was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...
, managed to bring an end to the war, and radically amended the 1857 Constitution to include many of the social premises and demands of the revolutionaries into what was eventually called the
1917 ConstitutionThe Political Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1917 is the present constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro by a Constitutional Convention during the Mexican Revolution...
. It is estimated that the war killed 900,000 of the 1910 population of 15 million.
Assassinated in 1920, Carranza was succeeded by another revolutionary hero,
Álvaro ObregónGeneral Álvaro Obregón Salido was President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. He was assassinated in 1928.A successful Sonoran chickpea farmer and municipal president of Huatabampo, Obregón first volunteered for military service in 1912, when he supported the regime of Francisco I. Madero against a...
, who in turn was succeeded by
Plutarco Elías CallesPlutarco Elías Calles was a Mexican general and politician. He was president of Mexico from 1924 to 1928, but he continued to be the de facto ruler from 1928-1935, a period known as the maximato...
. Obregón was reelected in 1928 but assassinated before he could assume power. In 1929, Calles founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), later renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and started a period known as the
MaximatoThe Maximato is the period in Mexican history between 1928 and 1935, in which the former President Plutarco Elías Calles maintained control of the country as Jefe Máximo, with many regarding succeeding Presidents Emilio Portes Gil, Pascual Ortiz Rubio, and Abelardo Rodríguez as his mere...
, which ended with the election of
Lázaro CárdenasLázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.Lázaro Cárdenas was born into a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
, who implemented many economic and social reforms, and most significantly expropriated the oil industry into
PEMEXPetróleos Mexicanos [Mexican Petroleums] is Mexico's state-owned petroleum company. It is the 10th largest oil company in the world in terms of revenue and ranks 42nd on the list of Fortune 500 companies....
on March 18, 1938, but sparked a diplomatic crisis with the countries whose citizens had lost businesses by Cárdenas radical measure.
Between 1940 and 1980, Mexico experienced a substantial economic growth that some historians call the "
Mexican MiracleThe Mexican miracle is referred to the country's inward-looking development strategy that produced sustained economic growth of 3 to 4 percent and modest 3 percent inflation annually from the 1940s until the 1970s.-Background:...
". Although the economy continued to flourish,
social inequalityDistribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It differs from the distribution of income in a manner analogous to the difference between position and speed.-Definition of wealth:...
remained a factor of discontent. Moreover, the PRI rule became increasingly authoritarian and at times oppressive (i.e.: the
1968 Tlatelolco massacreThe Tlatelolco massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco , was a government massacre of student and civilian protesters and bystanders that took place during the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City...
, which claimed the life of around 30–800 protesters).
Electoral reforms and high oil prices followed the administration of
Luis EcheverríaLuis Echeverría Álvarez served as President of Mexico from 1970 to 1976.-Early history:Echeverría joined the faculty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1947 and taught political theory...
, mismanagement of these revenues led to
inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real...
and exacerbated the
1982 CrisisThe Latin American debt crisis was a financial crisis that occurred in the early 1980s , often known as the "lost decade", when Latin American countries reached a point where their foreign debt exceeded their earning power and they were not able to repay it.-Origins:In the 1960s and 1970s many...
. That year,
oil prices plungedThe 1980s oil glut was a surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1973 and 1979 energy crises. The world price of oil, which had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel, fell in 1986 from $27 to below $10...
, interest rates soared, and the government defaulted on its
debtDebt is that which is owed; usually referencing assets owed, but the term can also cover moral obligations and other interactions not requiring money. In the case of assets, debt is a means of using future purchasing power in the present before a summation has been earned...
.
President Miguel de la MadridMiguel de la Madrid Hurtado is a Mexican politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1982 to 1988.-Biography:...
resorted to currency devaluations which in turn sparked inflation.
In the 1980s, first cracks in the political monopolistic position of PRI were seen such as the election of
Ernesto Ruffo AppelErnesto Ruffo Appel is an American-born Mexican politician famous for being the first state governor not belonging to the Partido Revolucionario Institucional since its formation in 1929....
in
Baja CaliforniaThe Governor of Baja California represents the executive branch of the government of the state of Baja California, Mexico, per the state's constitution. The official title is "Free and Sovereign State of Baja California" , and the position is democratically elected for a period of 6 years, and is...
and the 1988
electoral fraudElectoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about a election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
, which prevented leftist candidate
Cuauhtémoc CárdenasCuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano is a prominent Mexican politician. He is a former governor of Michoacán, former Head of Government of the Federal District and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution .-Biography:...
from winning the national presidential elections, who lost to Carlos Salinas de Gortari, leading to massive protests in Mexico City. Salinas embarked on a program of
neoliberalNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
reforms which fixed the exchange rate, controlled inflation and culminated with the signing of the
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), which came into effect on January 1, 1994. The same day, the
Zapatista Army of National LiberationThe Zapatista Army of National Liberation is an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, the southernmost, and one of the poorest, states of Mexico...
(EZLN) started a two-week-lived armed rebellion against the federal government, and has continued as a non-violent opposition movement against
neoliberalismNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
and
globalizationGlobalization describes an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and exchange....
.
In December 1994, a month after Salinas was succeeded by
Ernesto ZedilloErnesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He served as President of Mexico from December 1 1994 to November 30 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted seventy year line of Mexican presidents from the National Revolutionary Party to the Institutional Revolutionary Party...
, the
Mexican economy collapsedThe 1994 Economic Crisis in Mexico, widely known as the Mexican peso crisis, became an effective crisis with the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in December 1994....
, with a rapid rescue packaged authorized by U.S.
President Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
and major macroeconomic reforms started by president Zedillo, the economy rapidly recovered and growth peaked at almost 7% by the end of 1999. In 2000, after 71 years, the PRI lost a presidential election to
Vicente FoxVicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected President of Mexico in the...
of the opposition
National Action PartyThe National Action Party , is a center-right, Christian democratic party and one of the three main political parties in Mexico. Since 2000, the President of Mexico has been a member of this party; both houses have PAN pluralities, but the party does not have a majority in either the house of the...
(PAN). In the subsequent presidential elections,
Felipe CalderónFelipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for one six-year term that will end in 2012 without the possibility of re-election...
from the PAN was declared the winner, with a razor-thin margin over leftist politician
Andrés Manuel López ObradorAndrés Manuel López Obrador is a Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, before resigning in July 2005 to contend the 2006 presidential election, representing the Coalition for the Good of All, a PRD-led coalition that also...
of the
Party of the Democratic RevolutionThe Party of the Democratic Revolution is one of the three main political parties in Mexico.-History:...
(PRD). López Obrador, however,
contested the electionThe results of the Mexican general election of July 2, 2006 were controversial and are still being contested. According to Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute , the initial "Quick Count" determined the race was too close to call, and when the "Official Count" was complete, Felipe Calderón of the...
and pledged to create an "alternative government".
Administrative divisions
The United Mexican States are a federation of thirty-one free and sovereign states, which form a union that exercises jurisdiction over the Federal District and other territories. Each state has its own Constitution and
CongressA congress is a formal meeting of representatives from different countries , or independent organizations ....
, as well as a judiciary, and its citizens elect by direct voting, a
governor for a six-year term, as well as representatives to their respective unicameral state congresses, for three-year terms.
The states are also divided into
municipalitiesMunicipalities are the second-level administrative division in Mexico . There are 2,438 municipalities in Mexico...
, the smallest administrative political entity in the country, governed by a
mayor or "municipal president""Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
, elected by its residents by plurality. Municipalities can be further subdivided into non-autonomous
boroughsIn Mexico, boroughs in which some municipalities and the Federal District are divided for administrative purposes are known as delegaciones...
or in semi-autonomous auxiliary presidencies.
Constitutionally, Mexico City, as the capital and seat of the federal powers, is the Federal District, a special political division that belongs to the federation as a whole and not to a particular state, and as such, has more limited local rule than the nation's states. Since 1987, it has progressively gained a greater degree of autonomy, and residents now elect a
head of governmentThe Head of Government wields executive power in the Mexican Federal District.The Head of Government serves a six-year term, running concurrently with that of the President of the Republic....
and representatives of a
Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its chambers. The name is used by a number of member-states of Commonwealth of Nations, as well as in a number of Latin American countries....
directly. Unlike the states, the Federal District does not have a Constitution but a Statute of Government. Mexico City is
conterminous and
coextensive with the Federal District.
| Administrative Divisions of Mexico |
| State |
Capital |
State |
Capital |
State |
Capital |
State |
Capital |
| Aguascalientes |
AguascalientesThe city of Aguascalientes is the capital of the state of Aguascalientes in western central Mexico. It stands on the banks of the Río Aguascalientes, 1888 meters above sea level, at...
|
Mexican Federal District |
Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
|
Morelos |
CuernavacaCuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It is also a municipality. It is located about south of Mexico City on the D-95 freeway....
|
Sinaloa |
CuliacánCuliacán is a city in northwestern Mexico, the largest city in the state of Sinaloa as well as its capital and capital of the municipality of Culiacán. With 605,304 inhabitants in the city , and 793,703 in the municipality, it is one of the largest cities in the country...
|
| Baja California |
MexicaliMexicali is the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California Norte. Mexicali is also the seat of the Municipality of Mexicali. Founded on March 14, 1903, Mexicali is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to Calexico and is the northernmost city in Latin America, located at .The link is...
|
Durango |
DurangoDurango, formally Victoria de Durango, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Durango. It stands at an altitude of .The city was founded in 1563. In the Spanish colonial era it was the capital of the Nueva Vizcaya province of New Spain, which included the present day states of...
|
Nayarit |
Tepic Tepic is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Nayarit.It is located in the central part of the state, at.It stands at an altitude above sea level of some 915 metres, on the banks of the Río Mololoa and the Río Tepic, approximately 225 kilometers north-west of Guadalajara, Jalisco....
|
Sonora |
HermosilloHermosillo, formerly named Santísima Trinidad del Pitic is the largest city and capital of the Mexican state of Sonora, and is located in the center of the state, 167 miles from the border with the United States. Hermosillo is known for its extreme hot weather because it is located in the Sonoran...
|
| Baja California Sur |
La PazLa Paz is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city had a 2005 census population of 189,176 persons, but its metropolitan population reaches roughly 200,000 persons because of surrounding towns like el Centenario, el Zacatal...
|
Guanajuato |
GuanajuatoThe Mexican city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state of the same name. It is located at , 370 km northwest of Mexico City, at an elevation of 1,996 m above sea level. The historic town and adjacent mines are a World Heritage Site...
|
Nuevo León |
MonterreyMonterrey Monterrey Monterrey (also known as "Sultana del Norte" (Sultan of the North), is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León It has the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2005, the city...
|
Tabasco |
Villahermosa Villahermosa is the capital city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and the municipal seat of the Centro municipality. Villahermosa reported a population of 658,524 in the 2005 census, whereas its Centro municipality had 558,524 inhabitants. The municipality covers an area of 1,612 km2...
|
| Campeche |
CampecheCampeche is the capital city of the Mexican state of Campeche, located at,on the shore of the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico. The city's population at the 2005 census was 211,671 people...
|
Guerrero |
ChilpancingoChilpancingo , also known as Ciudad Bravo, is the capital, and second-largest city of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. It is located at . In the 2005 census the population of the city of Chilpancingo was 166,796. Its surrounding municipality, of which it is municipal seat, had a population of 214,219...
|
Oaxaca |
OaxacaThe city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of the same name . It is located in the Central Valleys region of the state, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at the base of the Cerro del Fortín extending to the banks of the...
|
Tamaulipas |
Ciudad VictoriaVictoria, formally Ciudad Victoria, is the capital city of the Mexican state ofTamaulipas. It is located in the west-central part of the state. It is the municipal seat of the surrounding Victoria municipality, which covers an area of 1,638 km² . In the 2008, the population of the city was...
|
| Chiapas |
Tuxtla GutiérrezTuxtla Gutiérrez is a municipality and the capital city of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the local public administration, the local authorities, and of the federal government delegations in the state...
|
Hidalgo |
Pachuca |
Puebla |
PueblaThe city of Puebla, officially Heroic Puebla de Zaragoza is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Puebla. The city has a population of 1,399,519...
|
Tlaxcala |
TlaxcalaThe city of Tlaxcala is the capital and chief center of population of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. The city is located at in the south-central portion of the state. At the census of 2005 the city had a population of 15,777 inhabitants and was by far the smallest state capital in Mexico...
|
| Chihuahua |
Chihuahua The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is light industry, in the form of maquiladoras.-History:...
|
Jalisco |
Guadalajara Guadalajara may refer to the following places:*Guadalajara, Jalisco, the capital of the state of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico*Club Deportivo Guadalajara, a Mexican football club*Guadalajara , a province in Castile-La Mancha...
|
Querétaro |
Querétaro |
Veracruz |
XalapaXalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of 413,136....
|
| Coahuila |
SaltilloSaltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located at 400km south of the U.S...
|
México (state) |
TolucaToluca, formally: Toluca de Lerdo is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the western...
|
Quintana Roo |
ChetumalChetumal is a city on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Quintana Roo and the municipal seat of the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco...
|
Yucatán |
Mérida Mérida is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Yucatán and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is located in the northwest part of the state, about 35 km from the Gulf of Mexico coast, at...
|
| Colima |
ColimaColima is the name of a city and a state in Mexico. This article is about the city. For the state, see: state of Colima. There is also the Colima Volcano....
|
Michoacán |
MoreliaMorelia is the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is situated at an elevation of 1,921 meters above sea level in the region of the Guayangareo Valley, surrounded by the Punhuato and Quinceo Hills....
|
San Luis Potosí |
San Luis PotosíSan Luis Potosí, commonly called SLP or simply San Luis, is the capital of, and most populous city in, the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. The city lies at an elevation of 1,850 meters ....
|
Zacatecas |
ZacatecasZacatecas is a city in Mexico, the capital of the state of Zacatecas. It was founded 1548, two years after the nearby discovery of silver, and became an officially-recognized city in 1584. Its population as of the 2005 census was 122,889. Zacatecas is also the municipal seat of the municipality...
|
Geography and climate
Mexico is located at about 23° N and 102° W in the southern portion of North America. Almost all of Mexico lies in the
North American PlateThe North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland and parts of Siberia and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust. The interior of the...
, with small parts of the
Baja California peninsulaThe Baja California peninsula is a peninsula in western Mexico. It extends some 1250 km from Mexicali, Baja California, in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, in the south, separating the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California...
on the
PacificThe Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean.The north-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the Explorer Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Gorda Plate forming respectively the Explorer Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Gorda Ridge...
and
Cocos PlateThe Cocos Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it....
s.
GeophysicallyGeophysics, a major discipline of the Earth sciences and a subdiscipline of physics, is the study of the whole Earth by the quantitative observation of its physical properties. Geophysical data are used in academics to observe tectonic plate motions, study the internal structure of the Earth,...
, some geographers include the territory east of the
Isthmus of TehuantepecThe Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
(around 12% of the total) within
Central AmericaManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
.
GeopoliticallyGeopolitics is the art and practice of using political power over a given territory. Traditionally, the term has applied primarily to the impact of geography on politics, but its usage has evolved over the past century to encompass a wider connotation....
, however, Mexico is entirely considered part of North America along with Canada and the United States.
Mexico's total area is 1,972,550 km², making it the
world's 14th largest country by total area, and includes approximately 6,000 km² of islands in the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
(including the remote
Guadalupe IslandGuadalupe Island, or Isla Guadalupe is a volcanic island located 241 kilometers off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and some 400 kilometers southwest of the city of Ensenada in Baja California state, in the Pacific Ocean...
and the
Revillagigedo IslandsThe Revillagigedo Islands are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem...
),
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United...
,
Caribbean SeaThe Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean situated in the tropics of the Western hemisphere, bounded to the south and west by the American landmass, with the North Atlantic Ocean proper to the northeast and the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest...
, and
Gulf of CaliforniaThe Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
. On its north, Mexico shares a 3,141 km border with the United States. The meandering Río Bravo del Norte (known as the
Rio GrandeThe Rio Grande is a river that forms part of the border between the United States and Mexico. At long, it is the fourth-longest river system in the United States...
in the United States) defines the border from
Ciudad JuárezCiudad Juárez, also known as just Juárez and formerly known as Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez has an estimated population of 1.5 million people. It stands on the Rio Grande , across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas...
east to the Gulf of Mexico. A series of natural and artificial markers delineate the United States-Mexican border west from Ciudad Juárez to the Pacific Ocean. On its south, Mexico shares an 871 km border with Guatemala and a 251 km border with Belize.
Topography
Mexico is crossed from north to south by two mountain ranges known as
Sierra Madre OrientalThe Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico, spanning 1000 km from Coahuila south through Nuevo León, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volcánico Transversal of central...
and
Sierra Madre OccidentalThe Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico and the extreme southwest of the United States, extending 1,500 km from southeast Arizona southeast through eastern Sonora, western Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Jalisco, Aguascalientes to Guanajuato, where it...
, which are the extension of the
Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
from northern North America. From east to west at the center, the country is crossed by the
Trans-Mexican Volcanic BeltThe Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt also known locally as Sierra Nevada, is a volcanic belt that extends 900 km from west to east across central-southern Mexico...
also known as the
Sierra Nevada. A fourth mountain range, the
Sierra Madre del SurThe Sierra Madre del Sur is a mountain range in southern Mexico, extending 1000 km from southern Michoacán east through Guerrero, to the Istmo de Tehuantepec in eastern Oaxaca...
, runs from
MichoacánMichoacán formally Michoacán de Ocampo , is one of the 31 constituent states of Mexico. It borders the states of Colima and Jalisco to the west, Guanajuato and Querétaro to the north, México to the east, Guerrero to the south-east, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.Michoacán has an area of...
to
OaxacaThe 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...
.
As such, the majority of the Mexican central and northern territories are located at high altitudes, and the highest elevations are found at the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt:
Pico de OrizabaThe Pico de Orizaba, or Citlaltépetl , is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America. It rises 5,636 meters above sea level in the eastern end of the Eje Volcánico Transversal mountain range, on the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla...
(5,700 m),
PopocatépetlPopocatépetl is an active volcano and, at , the second highest peak in Mexico after the Pico de Orizaba . Popocatépetl is linked to the Iztaccíhuatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cortés, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt.The name...
(5,462 m) and
IztaccíhuatlIztaccíhuatl , is the third highest mountain in Mexico, after the Pico de Orizaba and Popocatépetl...
(5,286 m) and the
Nevado de TolucaNevado de Toluca is a large stratovolcano in central Mexico, located about west of Mexico City near the city of Toluca. It is generally cited as the fourth highest of Mexico's peaks, after Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, although by some measurements, Sierra Negra is slightly higher...
(4,577 m). Three major urban agglomerations are located in the valleys between these four elevations:
TolucaToluca, formally: Toluca de Lerdo is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the western...
,
Greater Mexico CityGreater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Mexico City Metropolitan Area , constituted by the Federal District—itself composed of 16 boroughs—and 41 adjacent municipalities of the states of Mexico and Hidalgo...
and
PueblaThe city of Puebla, officially Heroic Puebla de Zaragoza is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Puebla. The city has a population of 1,399,519...
.
Climate
The
Tropic of CancerThe Tropic of Cancer, or the Northern tropic, is one of five major degree measures or major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the northmost latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon...
effectively divides the country into temperate and tropical zones. Land north of the twenty-fourth parallel experiences cooler temperatures during the winter months. South of the twenty-fourth parallel, temperatures are fairly constant year round and vary solely as a function of elevation. This gives Mexico one of the world's most diverse weather systems.
Areas south of the twenty-fourth parallel with elevations up to 1,000 meters (the southern parts of both coastal plains as well as the
Yucatán PeninsulaThe Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...
), have a yearly median temperature between 24 and 28 °C. Temperatures here remain high throughout the year, with only a 5 °C difference between winter and summer median temperatures. Although low-lying areas north of the twentieth-fourth parallel are hot and humid during the summer, they generally have lower yearly temperature averages (from 20 to 24 °C) because of more moderate conditions during the winter.
Many large cities in Mexico are located in the Valley of Mexico or in adjacent valleys with altitudes generally above 2,000 m, this gives them a year-round temperate climate with yearly temperature averages (from 16–18 °C) and cool nighttime temperatures throughout the year.
Many parts of Mexico, particularly the north, have a dry climate with sporadic rainfall while parts of the tropical lowlands in the south average more than 200 cm of annual precipitation.
Biodiversity
Mexico is one of the 18
megadiverse countriesThe megadiverse countries are a group of countries that harbor the majority of the Earth's species and are therefore considered extremely biodiverse. The World Conservation Monitoring Centre, an agency of the United Nations Environment Programme, has identified 17 megadiverse countries, most...
of the world. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity. Mexico ranks first in biodiversity in
reptileReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
s with 707 known species, second in mammals with 438 species, fourth in
amphibianAmphibians , such as frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians, are ectothermic animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, to an adult air-breathing form. Though amphibians typically have four limbs, the Caecilians are notable for being limbless. Unlike other land...
s with 290 species, and fourth in flora, with 26,000 different species. Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in
ecosystemAn ecosystem is a system of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat, in an area functioning together with all of the physical factors of the environment. Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs...
s and fourth in overall species. Approximately 2,500 species are protected by Mexican legislations.
The Mexican government created the National System of Information about Biodiversity, in order to study and promote the sustainable use of ecosystems.
DeforestationDeforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by the processes of logging and/or burning of trees in a forested area. There are several reasons deforestation occurs: trees or derived charcoal can be sold as a commodity and used by humans, while cleared land is used as pasture,...
is one of the most serious environmental issues in Mexico, with more than one million hectares of forest being lost each year. As of 2002, Mexico had the second fastest rate of deforestation in the world, second only to Brazil.
In Mexico, 170,000 square kilometres are considered "Protected Natural Areas." These include 34 reserve biospheres (unaltered ecosystems), 64 national parks, 4 natural monuments (protected in perpetuity for their aesthetic, scientific or historical value), 26 areas of protected flora and fauna, 4 areas for natural resource protection (conservation of soil, hydrological basins and forests) and 17 sanctuaries (zones rich in diverse species).
The discovery of the Americas brought to the rest of the world many widely used
food cropAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
s and edible plants. Some of Mexico's native
culinaryCulinary art is the art of cooking. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking or kitchens. A culinarian is a person working in the culinary arts. A culinarian working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook or a chef. Culinary artists are responsible for...
ingredients include:
chocolateChocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC...
,
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
,
maizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
,
vanillaVanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod. Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both the spice and...
,
avocadoThe avocado , also known as palta or aguacate , butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
,
guavaGuavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium, which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America...
,
chayoteThe chayote , also known as sayote, tayota, choko, chocho, chow-chow, christophene, mirliton, alligator pear, and vegetable pear, is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae along with melons, cucumbers and squash.The plant has large leaves that form a canopy over the fruit...
, epazote,
camoteThe sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of this family, only I. batatas is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable...
,
jícamaJícama , also Yam and Mexican Turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícama is one species in the genus Pachyrhizus that is commonly called yam bean, although the "yam bean" sometimes is another name for jícama...
,
nopalNopales are a vegetable made from the young cladophyll segments of prickly pear, carefully peeled to remove the spines. They are particularly common in their native Mexico...
, tejocote,
huitlacocheCorn smut is a disease of maize caused by the pathogenic plant fungus Ustilago maydis. U. maydis causes smut disease on maize and teosinte . Although it can infect any part of the plant it usually enters the ovaries and replaces the normal kernels of the cobs with large distorted tumors analogous...
,
sapoteSapote or tzapotl is a Nahuatl language word for a soft, edible fruit. The word is incorporated into the common names of several unrelated fruit-bearing plants native to Mexico, Central America and northern parts of South America....
,
mamey sapoteThe mamey sapote is a species of tree that is native to southern Mexico. Today, the tree is cultivated not only in Mexico, but also in Central America, the Caribbean, and South Florida for its fruit, which is commonly eaten in many Latin American countries...
, many varieties of
beanBean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, and an even greater variety of
chilesChili pepper is the vegetable of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Botanically speaking, the fruit of capsicums are berries...
, such as the Habanero. Most of these names come from indigenous languages like Nahuatl.
Government and politics
The United Mexican States are a federation whose government is representative, democratic and republican based on a presidential system according to the 1917 Constitution. The constitution establishes three levels of government: the federal Union, the state governments and the municipal governments. All officials at the three levels are elected by voters through
first-past-the-postThe plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies....
plurality,
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
or are appointed by other elected officials.
The federal government is constituted by the Powers of the Union, the three separate branches of government:
- Legislative
A legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law...
: the bicameral Congress of the UnionCongress is the legislative branch of the Mexican government. Its structure and responsibilities are defined in Articles 50 to 79 of the 1917 Constitution....
, composed of a SenateThe Senate is the upper house of Mexico's bicameral Congress.After a series of reforms during the 1990s, it is now made up of 128 senators:...
and a Chamber of Deputies, which makes federal law, declares war, imposes taxes, approves the national budget and international treaties, and ratifies diplomatic appointments.
- Executive
}}In the study of political science the executive branch of government has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the democratic idea of the separation of powers .In many...
: the President of the United Mexican StatesThe Constitutional Citizen President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the head of government and the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
, who is the head of stateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
and governmentHead of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc...
, as well as the commander-in-chiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the...
of the Mexican military forces. The President also appoints the CabinetThe Cabinet of Mexico is a part of the executive branch of the Mexican government. It consists of eighteen Secretaries of State, the head of the federal executive legal office and the Attorney General....
and other officers. The President is responsible for executing and enforcing the law, and has the authority of vetoing bills.
- Judiciary
The judiciary is the system of courts which interprets and applies the law in the name of the sovereign or state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
: The Supreme Court of JusticeThe Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( (SCJN) is the highest federal court in the United Mexican States. It consists of a President of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice) and ten Ministers (Associate...
, comprised by eleven judges appointed by the President with Senate approval, who interpret laws and judge cases of federal competency. Other institutions of the judiciary are the Electoral Tribunal, collegiate, unitary and district tribunals, and the Council of the Federal Judiciary..
All elected executive officials are elected by
pluralityThe plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies....
(first-past-the-post). Seats to federal and state legislatures are elected by a system of
parallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
that includes plurality and
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
. The Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union is conformed by 300 deputies elected by plurality and 200 deputies by proportional representation with
closed party listsClosed list describes the variant of party-list proportional representation where voters can only vote for political parties as a whole and thus have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected...
for which the country is divided into 5 electoral constituencies or circumscriptions.
The Senate is conformed by a total of 128 senators: 64 senators, two for each state and two for the Federal District, elected by plurality in pairs; 32 senators assigned to the first minority or first-runner up (one for each state and one for the the Federal District), and 32 are assigned by proportional representation with closed party lists for which the country conforms a single electoral constituency.
According to the constitution, all constituent states of the federation must have a republican form of government composed of three branches: the executive, represented by a governor and an appointed cabinet, the legislative branch constituted by a unicameral congress and the judiciary, which will include called state Supreme Court of Justice. They also have their own civil and judicial codes.
In the 2009-20012 Congress of the Union, seven parties are therein represented; four of them, however, have not received neither in this nor in previous congresses more than 4% of the national votes. The other three parties have historically been the dominant parties in Mexican politics:
- National Action Party
The National Action Party , is a center-right, Christian democratic party and one of the three main political parties in Mexico. Since 2000, the President of Mexico has been a member of this party; both houses have PAN pluralities, but the party does not have a majority in either the house of the...
(Partido Acción Nacional, PAN): a center-right conservative party founded in 1939. PAN has gained plurality, but not absolute majority in several parliamentary elections. In 2000, it gained the presidency for the first time. It belongs to the Christian Democrat Organization of AmericaThe Christian Democrat Organization of America is an international organization made up of political parties, groups and associations that share Christian humanist principles...
.
- Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that wielded power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the...
(Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI): a center-left party that ascribes to social democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the political left and centre-left on the classic political spectrum. Social democracy emerged in the late 19th century from the socialist movement and continues to exert influence worldwide....
—it is a member of Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organisation of democratic socialist, social democratic, socialist, and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
—founded in 1929 to unite all the factions of the Mexican RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.Over time the Revolution...
. Prominent left-wing Mexican politicians have been members of the party. Having dominated Mexican politics since the Revolution, PRI includes diverse factions including some center-right members.
- Party of the Democratic Revolution
The Party of the Democratic Revolution is one of the three main political parties in Mexico.-History:...
(Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD): a left-wing party, founded in 1989 as the successor of the coalition of socialists and liberal parties, the National Democratic FrontThe National Democratic Front was a coalition of left-wing Mexican political parties created in 1988 presidential elections, and that is the immediate antecedent of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. It was result of an agglutination of small political left and center-left forces with a...
that had presented the candidacy of Cuauhtémoc CárdenasCuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano is a prominent Mexican politician. He is a former governor of Michoacán, former Head of Government of the Federal District and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution .-Biography:...
in the controversial 1988 elections.
The PRI held an almost hegemonic power in Mexican politics since 1929. Since 1977 consecutive electoral reforms allowed opposition parties to win more posts at the local and federal level. This process culminated in the 2000 presidential elections in which
Vicente FoxVicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected President of Mexico in the...
, candidate of the PAN, became the first non-PRI president to be elected in 71 years.
In 2006, Felipe Calderón of the PAN faced
Andrés Manuel López ObradorAndrés Manuel López Obrador is a Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, before resigning in July 2005 to contend the 2006 presidential election, representing the Coalition for the Good of All, a PRD-led coalition that also...
of the PRD in a
very close election*A new President of the Republic to serve a six-year term, replacing then Mexican President Vicente Fox ....
(0.58% difference), by simple plurality—the Mexican electoral system does not include
runoff votingRunoff voting can refer to:* Two-round system, a voting system used to elect a single winner, whereby only two candidates from the first round continue to the second round...
. López Obrador contested the elections, but on September 6, 2006,
Felipe CalderónFelipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for one six-year term that will end in 2012 without the possibility of re-election...
was declared
President-electA president-elect is a political candidate who has been elected president but who has not yet been sworn in, or officially taken office, as it is still occupied by the current outgoing president. Similar terms can be used depending on the type and level of government, including prime...
by the Electoral Tribunal. His cabinet was sworn in at midnight on December 1, 2006 and Calderón was handed the presidential band by outgoing Vicente Fox at
Los PinosLos Pinos is both Mexico's official presidential residence and offices, the home – for a six-year period – of the President of Mexico....
. He was officially sworn as President on the morning of December 1, 2006 in
CongressCongress is the legislative branch of the Mexican government. Its structure and responsibilities are defined in Articles 50 to 79 of the 1917 Constitution....
.
Foreign relations and military
The
foreign policyA country's foreign policy, also called the international relations policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will interact with other countries economically, politically, socially and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will interact with non-state actors...
of Mexico is directed by the
PresidentThe Constitutional Citizen President of the United Mexican States is the head of state of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the head of government and the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
and managed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose constitutionally recognized principles are: respect for
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and
legal equality of statesA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
, their
sovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
and
independenceIndependence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
,
non-interventionNon-intervention is the norm in international relations and international law that one state cannot interfere in the internal politics of another state, based upon the principles of state sovereignty and self-determination-Overview:...
,
peaceful resolution of conflictsDispute resolution is the process of resolving disputes between parties.-Methods:Methods of dispute resolution include:* lawsuits * arbitration* collaborative law* mediation* conciliation* many types of negotiation* facilitation...
and promotion of
collective securityInternational security consists of the measures taken by nations and international organizations, such as the United Nations, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions...
through active participation in international organizations.
Since the 1930s, the
Estrada DoctrineThe Estrada Doctrine is the name of Mexico's core foreign policy ideal from 1930 to the early 2000s. Its name derives from Genaro Estrada, Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the presidency of Pascual Ortiz Rubio ....
has served as a crucial complement to these principles. The
foreign relationsA country's foreign policy, also called the international relations policy, is a set of goals outlining how the country will interact with other countries economically, politically, socially and militarily, and to a lesser extent, how the country will interact with non-state actors...
of Mexico have been focused primarily on the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and its historically tied neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the
20th centuryThe 20th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.The British Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the...
, Mexico developed a foreign policy based on
hemispheric prestigeIn international relations, a regional power is a state that has power within a geographic region. They define the polarity of any given regional security complex...
. However, in the second millennium, former President
Vicente FoxVicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected President of Mexico in the...
adopted a
new foreign policyThe Castañeda Doctrine is a term used as reference to Mexico's foreign policy during the presidency of Vicente Fox. Its name derives from Jorge G. Castañeda, proponent of the policy....
that called for an openness and an acceptance of criticism from the
international communityThe international community is a vague term used in international relations to refer to all the governments of the world or to a group of them...
and the increase of Mexican involvement in
foreign affairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
, as well as a further integration towards its northern neighbors. A greater priority to
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
has been given in the administration of President Felipe Calderón.
Historically, Mexico has remained neutral in
international conflictsWar is a reciprocated, armed conflict, between two or more non-congruous entities, aimed at reorganising a subjectively designed, geo-politically desired result...
. However, in recent years some political parties have proposed an amendment of the
ConstitutionThe Political Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1917 is the present constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro by a Constitutional Convention during the Mexican Revolution...
in order to allow the
Mexican armyThe Mexican Army is the land branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue weapons, in 1908...
,
air forceThe Mexican Air Force is the aviation branch of the Mexican Army and depends on the National Defense Secretariat . According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it has 11,770 men, 107 combat aircraft and 71 armed helicopters, nevertheless, the global fleet is composed of more...
or
navyThe Mexican Navy is a branch of the Mexican military responsible for conducting naval operations. Its stated mission is "to use the naval force of the federation for the exterior defense, and to help with internal order". The Navy consists of about 56,000 men and women, over 189 ships, and about...
to collaborate with the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
in
peacekeeping missionsPeacekeeping, as defined by the United Nations, is "a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace." It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
, or to provide military help to countries that officially ask for it.
In addition, since the 1990s Mexico has sought a
reform of the United Nations Security Council and its working methodsReform of the United Nations Security Council encompasses a variety of proposals, including procedural reforms, such as eliminating the veto held by the five permanent members, and expansion of the Council...
with the support of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
and other nine countries, which form a group informally called the
Coffee ClubUniting for Consensus is a movement that developed in the 1990s in opposition to the possible expansion of the United Nations Security Council...
. As an
regionalIn international relations, a regional power is a state that has power within a geographic region. They define the polarity of any given regional security complex...
and
emerging powerWorld Power is the first studio album by the electronic band Snap!. It contains the hit single, "The Power".-Track listing:# "The Power" – 5:44# "Ooops Up" – 6:42# "Cult of Snap!" – 5:21# "Believe the Hype" – 4:50...
, Mexico has a significant global presence and is a member of several international organizations and forums such as the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, the
Organization of American StatesThe Organization of American States is an international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States. Its members are the thirty-five independent states of the Americas with two countries suspended...
, the
G8+5The G8+5 group of leaders consists of the heads of government from the G8 nations , plus the heads of government of the five leading emerging economies .-February 2007 Declaration:On February 16, 2007, at meeting of the G8+5 Climate Change...
, the G-20 major economies, the
Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries to cooperate on regional trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation. APEC's objective is to enhance economic growth and prosperity in the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community...
and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international organisation of 30 countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free-market economy...
.
Mexico has the third largest defense budget in Latin America, with annual military expenditures of USD $24.944 billion or about 1.6% GDP. Mexico's military includes 1,203,777 total personnel including paramilitary forces and military police, of which around 192,770 are active in the frontline. Since the 1990s, when the military escalated its role in the
war on drugsThe Mexican Drug War is an armed conflict taking place between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for quite some time, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín...
, increasing importance has been placed on acquiring airborne surveillance platforms,
light aircraftA Light aircraft an aircraft that has a maximum gross take-off weight of or less.Many aircraft used commercially for freight, sightseeing, photography and scheduled flights are light aircraft....
, helicopters and rapid troop transport.
The Mexican Military has two branches: the
Mexican ArmyThe Mexican Army is the land branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue weapons, in 1908...
(which includes the
Mexican Air ForceThe Mexican Air Force is the aviation branch of the Mexican Army and depends on the National Defense Secretariat . According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it has 11,770 men, 107 combat aircraft and 71 armed helicopters, nevertheless, the global fleet is composed of more...
), and the
Mexican NavyThe Mexican Navy is a branch of the Mexican military responsible for conducting naval operations. Its stated mission is "to use the naval force of the federation for the exterior defense, and to help with internal order". The Navy consists of about 56,000 men and women, over 189 ships, and about...
. The Mexican armed forces maintain significant infrastructure, including small electronics and weapons testing and research facilities, weapons and vehicle manufacturing centers, and naval dockyards that have the capability of building heavy military vessels. These dockyards and facilities have a significant employment and economic impact in the local economies. In recent years, Mexico has improved its training techniques, military command and information structures and has taken steps to becoming more self-reliant in supplying its military by designing as well as manufacturing its own guns, missiles,
unmanned air vehiclesHydra Technologies of Mexico is a firm dedicated to the design and development of unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance operations and aircraft avionics...
and naval ships.
Law enforcement
Public security is enacted at the three levels of government, each of which has different prerogatives and responsibilities. Local and state police department are primarily in charge of law enforcement, whereas the
Federal Preventive PoliceThe Federal Police , formerly known as the Policía Federal Preventiva , are the uniformed federal police force of Mexico. The agency is directed by the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública...
is in charge of specialized duties. All levels report to the
Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (Secretariat of Public Security). The General Attorney's Office (
Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) is the
executive power}}In the study of political science the executive branch of government has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the democratic idea of the separation of powers .In many...
's agency in charge of investigating and prosecuting crimes at the federal level, mainly those related to drug and arms trafficking, espionage, and bank robberies. The PGR operates the
Federal Investigations AgencyThe Federal Investigations Agency was an elite Mexican federal agency set up on November 1, 2001, to fight corruption and organized crime, through an executive order by President Vicente Fox Quesada. The AFI replaced an earlier agency, the Federal Judicial Police...
(
Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) an investigative and preventive agency.
While the government respects the human rights of most citizens, serious abuses of power have been reported in security operations in indigenous communities and poor urban neighborhoods. The National Human Rights Commission has had little impact in reversing this trend, engaging mostly in documentation but failing to use its powers to issue public condemnations to the officials who ignore its recommendations. By law, all defendants have the rights that assure them fair trials and human treatment; however, the system is overburdened and overwhelmed with several problems.
Despite the efforts of the authorities to fight crime and fraud, few Mexicans have strong confidence in the police or the judicial system, and therefore, few crimes are actually reported by the citizens. In 2008, president Calderón proposed a major reform of the judicial system, which was approved by the Congress of the Union, which included oral trials, the presumption of innocence for defendants, the authority of local police to investigate crime—until then a prerogative of special police units—and several other changes intended to speed up trials.
Total crimes per capita average 12 per 1,000 people in Mexico, ranking 39 in a survey of 60 countries. Violent crime is a critical issue in Mexico; with a rate of homicide varying from 11 to 14 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Drug-traffic and narco-related activitiesThe Mexican Drug War is an armed conflict taking place between rival drug cartels and government forces in Mexico. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for quite some time, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín...
are a major concern in Mexico. The Mexican
drug cartelDrug cartels are criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely-managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises...
s have as many as 100,000 foot soldiers, which is about the size of the Mexican army. Drug cartels are active in the shared border with the US and police corruption and collusion with drug cartels is a crucial problem.
Current president Felipe Calderón made abating drug-trafficking one of the top priorities of his administration. In a very controversial move, Calderón deployed military personnel to cities where drug cartels operate. While this move has been criticized by the opposition parties and the National Human Rights Commission, its effects have been praised by the
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement AffairsThe Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is a part of the Department of State within the United States government that advises the President, Secretary of State, other bureaus in the Department of State, and other departments and agencies within the U.S. Government on the...
as having obtained "unprecedented results..." with "many important successes". In October 2007, the president Calderón and US president
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
announced the
Mérida InitiativeThe Mérida Initiative is a security cooperation between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational crime and money laundering...
a historic plan of law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
Economy
The
economy of Mexico is the 12th largest in the world.
Since the
1994 crisisThe 1994 Economic Crisis in Mexico, widely known as the Mexican peso crisis, became an effective crisis with the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in December 1994....
, administrations have improved the country's
macroeconomic fundamentalsMacroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national or regional economy as a whole. Along with microeconomics, macroeconomics is one of the two most general fields in economics. It is the study of the behavior and decision-making of entire...
. Mexico was not significantly influenced by the recent
2002 South American crisisThe South American Economic Crisis is the economic disturbances which have developed in 2002 in the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay....
, and has maintained positive rates of growth after a brief period of stagnation in 2001.
Moody'sMoody's Corporation is the holding company for Moody's Investors Service which performs financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities. The company also ranks the credit-worthiness of borrowers using a standardized ratings scale. The company has a 40% share in the world...
(in March 2000) and Fitch IBCA (in January 2002) issued investment-grade ratings for Mexico's sovereign debt. In spite of its unprecedented macroeconomic stability, which has reduced inflation and interest rates to record lows and has increased per capita income, enormous gaps remain between the urban and the rural population, the northern and southern states, and the rich and the poor. Some of the government's challenges include the upgrade of infrastructure, the modernization of the tax system and labor laws, and the reduction of income inequality.
The economy contains rapidly developing modern industrial and service sectors, with increasing private ownership. Recent administrations have expanded competition in ports, railroads, telecommunications,
electricity generationThe energy sector in Mexico is considered strategic for national sovereignty. As a result, there are certain limitations for private participation and foreign companies are allowed to operate in the country just through specific service contracts...
, natural gas distribution and airports, with the aim of upgrading infrastructure. As an export-oriented economy, more than 90% of Mexican trade is under
free trade agreementA free trade agreement is a trade treaty between two or more countries. Usually these agreements are between two countries and are meant to reduce or completely remove tariffs to trade. According to the World Trade Organization there are more than 200 FTAs in force...
s (FTAs) with more than 40 countries, including the European Union, Japan, Israel, and much of
CentralManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
and South America. The most influential FTA is the
North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), which came into effect in 1994, and was signed in 1992 by the governments of the United States, Canada and Mexico. In 2006, trade with Mexico's two northern partners accounted for almost 50% of its exports and 45% of its imports. Recently, the Congress of the Union approved important tax, pension and judicial reforms, and reform to the oil industry is currently being debated. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's largest companies in 2008, Mexico had 16 companies in the list.
Mexico has a
free marketA free market describes a market without economic intervention and regulation by government except to regulate against force or fraud. The terminology is used by economists and in popular culture. A free market requires protection of property rights, but no regulation, no subsidization, no single...
mixed economy, and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country. It is the 11th largest economy in the world as measured in
gross domestic productThe gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
in
purchasing power parityThe purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power...
. According to the latest information available from the
International Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments...
, Mexico had the second-highest
Gross National IncomeGross national income ' comprises the total value produced within a country , together with its income received from other countries , less similar payments made to other countries....
per capita in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
in nominal terms, at $9,716 in 2007, and the highest in
purchasing power parityThe purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power...
(PPP), at $14,119 in 2007.
After the
1994 economic debacleThe 1994 Economic Crisis in Mexico, widely known as the Mexican peso crisis, became an effective crisis with the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in December 1994....
, Mexico has made an impressive recovery, building a modern and diversified economy. Oil is Mexico's largest source of foreign income. According to
Goldman SachsThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a bank holding company that engages in investment banking, securities services and investment management. Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869, and is headquartered in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City at 85 Broad Street and has its secondary office at 30...
, BRIMC review of emerging economies, by 2050 the largest economies in the world will be as follows:
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and Mexico. Mexico is the largest North American auto producing nation, recently surpassing
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and U.S.
According to the director for Mexico at the
World BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to poorer countries for capital programs, tied to neoliberal market restructurings...
, the population in poverty has decreased from 24.2% to 17.6% in the general population and from 42% to 27.9% in rural areas from 2000 to 2004.
Nonetheless, income inequality remains a problem, and huge gaps remain not only between rich and poor but also between the north and the south, and between urban and rural areas. Sharp contrasts in income and Human Development are also a grave problem in Mexico. The 2004
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
Human Development IndexThe Human Development Index is an index used to rank countries by level of "human development", which usually also implies whether a country is developed, developing, or underdeveloped.-Summary:...
report for Mexico states that
Benito JuárezBenito Juárez is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. It is a largely residential area, located to the south of downtown Mexico City, with population of 359,334 and a land area of 26.67 km² . It was named after Benito Juárez, Mexico's revered 19th-century...
, a district of Mexico City, and
San Pedro Garza GarcíaSan Pedro Garza García, commonly referred to as either San Pedro or Garza García, is a city and a municipality of the Mexican state of Nuevo León, which is part of Monterrey's Metropolitan Area...
, in the State of
Nuevo LeónNuevo León is a state located in northeastern Mexico. It borders the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León accounts for a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, would have a similar level of economic, educational and life expectancy development to
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
or
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
. In contrast, Metlatonoc, in the state of
GuerreroThe State of Guerrero is a state in the southern meridional region of Mexico. With an area of , it occupies about 3.3% of Mexican territory. It borders the Pacific Ocean to the south , Michoacán to the west , Oaxaca to the east , and Mexico State , Morelos , and Puebla to the north...
, would have an HDI similar to that of
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
.
GDP annual average growth for the period of 1995–2002 was 5.1%. The economic downturn in the United States also caused a similar pattern in Mexico, from which it rapidly recovered to grow 4.1% in 2005 and 3% in 2005. Inflation has reached a record low of 3.3% in 2005, and interest rates are low, which have spurred credit-consumption in the middle class. Mexico has experienced in the last decade monetary stability: the budget deficit was further reduced and foreign debt was decreased to less than 20% of GDP. Along with
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Mexico has the highest rating of long-term sovereign credit in Latin America.
The remittances from Mexican citizens working in the United States account for only 0.2% of Mexico's GDP which was equal to US$20 billion dollars per year in 2004 and is the ninth largest source of foreign income after oil, industrial exports, manufactured good, electronics, heavy industry, construction, automobiles, food and banking and financial services. exports. According to Mexico's central bank, remittances fell 3.6% in 2008 to $25bn.
Ongoing economic concerns include the commercial and financial dependence on the US, low real wages,
underemploymentIn economics, the term underemployment has three different distinct meanings and applications. All meanings involve a situation in which a person is working, unlike unemployment, where a person who is searching for work cannot find a job...
for a large segment of the population, inequitable
income distributionThe concept of inequality is distinct from that of poverty and fairness . Income inequality metrics or income distribution metrics are used by social scientists to measure the distribution of income, and economic inequality among the participants in a particular economy, such as that of a specific...
(the top 30% of income earners account for 55% of income), and few advancement opportunities for the largely
MayaThe Maya peoples constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a convenient collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the...
n population in the southern states. Lack of structural reform is further exacerbated by an ever increasing outflow of the population into the United States, decreasing domestic pressure for reform.
Industry
Among the most important industrial manufacturers in Mexico is the automotive industry, whose standards of quality are internationally recognized. The automobile sector in Mexico differs from that in other Latin American countries and developing nations in that it does not function as a mere assembly manufacturer. The industry produces technologically complex components and engages in some research and development activities. The "Big Three" (
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company, often known as simply GM, is a United States based automaker with headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. GM was the world's 18th largest corporate entity and third largest automaker as ranked by 2008 revenues on the Fortune Global 500. Ranked by global unit sales for 2008, it...
, Ford and
ChryslerChrysler Group, LLC is an American automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG...
) have been operating in Mexico since the 1930s, while
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
and Nissan built their plants in the 1960s. Later, Toyota,
Hondais a Japanese multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. Honda is the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume. Honda surpassed Nissan in 2001 to become...
,
BMW, is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company. Founded in 1916, it is known for its performance and luxury vehicles. It owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.-Company history:...
, and
Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG , after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz...
joined in. Given the high requirements of North American components in the industry, many European and Asian parts suppliers have also moved to Mexico: in
PueblaThe city of Puebla, officially Heroic Puebla de Zaragoza is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Puebla. The city has a population of 1,399,519...
alone, 70 industrial part-makers cluster around Volkswagen. The relatively small domestic car industry still is represented by
DINA Camiones S.A. de C.V., that has built buses and trucks for almost half a century and the new car company Mastrettadesign that builds the race car Mastretta MXT.
Some large industries of Mexico include
CemexCEMEX S.A. de C.V. is the world's largest building materials supplier and third largest cement producer. Founded in Mexico in 1906, the company is based in Monterrey, Mexico...
, the third largest
cementIn the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance which sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term "opus caementicium" to describe masonry which resembled concrete and was made from crushed...
conglomerate in the world; the alcohol beverage industries, including world-renowned players like
Grupo ModeloGrupo Modelo is a large brewery in Mexico founded by Alonso Gomez and Federico Cisneros. It is partly owned by the Mitchell group with the chairwoman Micaela Mitchell. It has 63% of the Mexican beer market, and produces top-selling imported beer in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada...
; conglomerates like FEMSA, which apart from owning breweries and the
OXXOThis page is for the Mexican convenience store chain. For the kitchen gadget manufacturer or the British boullion maker, see OxoOXXO is a chain of convenience stores from Mexico, with over 5,500 stores across Latin America, it is the largest chain of this kind of store in the country...
convenience store chain, is also the second-largest
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries...
bottler in the world;
GrumaGruma SAB de CV is the largest manufacturer of corn flour and tortillas in the world
[Hoover's]. Its brand names include Mission , Maseca, and Guerrero. Founded in 1949 as "Molinos Azteca, S.A.", the company is now based in Monterrey, Mexico and has subsidiaries in the United States,...
, the largest producer of corn flour and tortillas in the world; and
Grupo BimboGrupo Bimbo is a giant Mexican food corporation with brands in Latin America, Europe, China, United States and as of December 2008 Canada.-History:...
,
TelmexTeléfonos de México, S.A.B. de C.V. , commonly known as Telmex, is a telecommunications conglomerate headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and other countries in Latin America...
,
TelevisaTelevisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
, among many others. In 2005, according to the World Bank, high-tech industrial production represented 19.6% of total exports.
MaquiladoraA maquiladora or maquila is a factory that imports materials and equipment on a duty-free and tariff-free basis for assembly or manufacturing and then re-exports the assembled product, usually back to the originating country. A maquila is also referred to as a "twin plant", or "in-bond" industry...
s (Mexican factories which take in imported raw materials and produce goods for export) have become the landmark of trade in Mexico. This sector has benefited from NAFTA, in that real income in the maquiladora sector has increased 15.5% since 1994, though from the non-maquiladora sector has grown much faster. Contrary to popular belief, this should be no surprise since maquiladora's products could enter the US duty free since the 1960s industry agreement. Other sectors now benefit from the free trade agreement, and the share of exports from non-border states has increased in the last 5 years while the share of exports from maquiladora-border states has decreased.
Currently Mexico is focusing in developing an aerospace industry and the assembly of helicopter and commercial jet aircraft is taking place. Foreign firms such as
MD HelicoptersMD Helicopters is an aerospace company that produces helicopters primarily for commercial use. Coverage here includes the company's tenure as McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems, a subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas.- Background :...
and
BombardierBombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc.. It is the third largest aircraft company in the world in terms of yearly delivery of commercial airplanes overall, and the fourth largest in terms of yearly delivery of regional jets...
build helicopter and commercial jets respectively in Mexico. Although the Mexican aircraft industry is mostly foreign, as is its car industry, Mexican firms have been founded such as Aeromarmi, which builds light propeller airplanes, and Hydra Technologies, which builds
Unmanned Aerial VehicleAn unmanned aerial vehicle is an aircraft that flies without a human crew. Their largest uses are in military applications. To distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as a reusable, uncrewed vehicle capable of controlled, sustained, level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating...
s such as the S4 Ehécatl.
As compared with the United States or countries in Western Europe a larger sector of Mexico's industrial economy is food manufacturing which includes several world class companies but the regional industry is undeveloped. There are national brands that have become international and local Mom and Pop producers but little manufacturing in between.
Tourism
According to the
World Tourism OrganizationThe World Tourism Organization , based in Madrid, Spain, is a United Nations agency dealing with questions relating to tourism. It compiles the World Tourism rankings. The World Tourism Organization is a significant global body, concerned with the collection and collation of statistical information...
, Mexico has one of the largest tourism industries in the world. In 2005 it was the seventh most popular The most notable tourist draws are the ancient Mesoamerican ruins, and popular beach resorts. The coastal climate and unique culture – a fusion of European (particularly Spanish) and Mesoamerican cultures; also make Mexico attractive. The peak tourist seasons in Mexico are during December and during July and August, with brief surges during the week before Easter and during spring break at many of the beach resort sites which are popular among vacationing college students from the United States.
Mexico is the twenty-third highest tourism spender in the world, and the highest in Latin America.
Energy
See also: Electricity sector in MexicoThe energy sector in Mexico is considered strategic for national sovereignty. As a result, there are certain limitations for private participation and foreign companies are allowed to operate in the country just through specific service contracts...
Energy production in Mexico is managed by State-owned companies: the Federal Commission of ElectricityThe Comisión Federal de Electricidad is the Mexican state-owned electric monopoly, widely known as CFE. It is the dominant electric company and the second most powerful state-owned company in Mexico after Pemex...
(Comisión Federal de Electricidad
, CFE) and PemexPetróleos Mexicanos [Mexican Petroleums] is Mexico's state-owned petroleum company. It is the 10th largest oil company in the world in terms of revenue and ranks 42nd on the list of Fortune 500 companies....
(Petróleos Mexicanos
). The CFE is in charge of the operation of electricity-generating plants and its distribution all across the territory, with the exception of the states of MorelosMorelos is one of the 31 constituent states of Mexico. Morelos has an area of about , making it the second-smallest of the country's states. Morelos is bordered by Mexico State to the north-east and north-west, the Federal District to the north, Puebla to the east, and Guerrero to the south-west...
, Mexico State, Hidalgo and Mexico City, whose distribution of electricity is in charge of the State-owned Luz y Fuerza del Centro. Most of the electricity is generated in
thermoelectricalA thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which either drives an electrical generator or does some other work, like ship propulsion. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a...
plants, even though CFE operates several
hydroelectricalHydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
plants, as well as wind power, geothermal and
nuclear generatorsNuclear energy is released by the splitting or merging together of the nuclei of atom. The conversion of nuclear mass to energy is consistent with the mass-energy equivalence formula ΔE = Δm.c², in which ΔE = energy release, Δm = mass defect, and c = the speed of light in a vacuum...
.
Natural resources resources are the "nation's property" (i.e. public property) by constitution. As such, the oil sector is administered by the government with varying degrees of private investment. Mexico is the sixth-largest oil producer in the world, with 3.7 million barrels per day.
PemexPetróleos Mexicanos [Mexican Petroleums] is Mexico's state-owned petroleum company. It is the 10th largest oil company in the world in terms of revenue and ranks 42nd on the list of Fortune 500 companies....
, the public company in charge of exploration, extraction, transportation and marketing of crude oil and natural gas, as well as the refining and distribution of petroleum products and petrochemicals, is the one of the largest companies (oil or otherwise) in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, making US $86 billion in sales a year, a sum larger than the GDP of some countries. Nonetheless, the company is heavily taxed, a significant source of revenue for the government, of almost 62 per cent of the company's sales. In 1980 oil exports accounted for 61.6% of total exports; by 2000 it was only 7.3%.
Transportation
- See also: List of Mexican Federal Highways and List of Mexican railroads
The paved-roadway network in Mexico is the most extensive in Latin America at 116,802 km in 2005; 10,474 km were multi-lane
freewayA freeway is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections. This is accomplished by preventing access to and from adjacent properties and eliminating all cross traffic through the use of grade separations and...
s or
expresswayAn expressway is a divided highway for high-speed traffic with at least partial control of access. The degree of access allowed varies between countries and even between regions within the same country. In some jurisdictions, expressways are divided arterial roads with limits on the frequency of...
s, most of which were tollways. Nonetheless, Mexico's diverse orography—most of the territory is crossed by high-altitude ranges of mountains—as well as economic challenges have led to difficulties in creating an integrated transportation network and even though the network has improved, it still cannot meet national needs adequately.
Being one of the first Latin American countries to promote railway development, the network, though extensive at 30,952 km, is still inefficient to meet the economic demands of transportation. Most of the rail network is mainly used for merchandise or industrial freight and was mostly operated by
National Railway of MexicoFerrocarriles Nacionales de México, was Mexico's state owned railroad company from 1938 to 1998, and prior to 1938 a major railroad controlled by the government that linked Mexico City to the major cities of Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez on the U.S. border...
(Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, FNM), privatized in 1997.
In 1999, Mexico had 1,806 airports, of which 233 had paved runways; of these, 35 carry 97% of the passenger traffic. The
Mexico City International AirportMexico City International Airport , also called Benito Juárez International Airport is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. It is Mexico's and Latin America's busiest...
remains the largest in Latin America and the 44th largest in the world transporting 21 million passengers a year. There are more than 30 domestic airline companies of which only two are known internationally:
AeroméxicoAerovías de México, S.A. de C.V., operating as AeroMéxico, is an airline in Mexico based in Mexico City, Mexico. AeroMéxico is considered as the most punctual airline in the world. It operates scheduled domestic services and international services to Asia, Canada, Europe, Central America, South...
and
MexicanaCompañía Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Mexicana, was the first airline established in Mexico and the country's flag carrier. Today, in addition to domestic services, it is the country's largest international airline in terms of most passengers transported, operating...
.
Mass transit in Mexico is modest. Most of the domestic passenger transport needs are served by an extensive bus network with several dozen companies operating by regions. Train passenger transportation between cities is limited. Inner-city rail mass transit is available at Mexico City—with the operation of the
metroThe Mexico City Metro is a rubber-tyred metro system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City...
, elevated and ground train, as well as a Suburban Train connecting the adjacent municipalities of
Greater Mexico CityGreater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Mexico City Metropolitan Area , constituted by the Federal District—itself composed of 16 boroughs—and 41 adjacent municipalities of the states of Mexico and Hidalgo...
—as well as at
GuadalajaraGuadalajara is the capital city of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of the state and in the western-Pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,579,174 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
and
MonterreyMonterrey Monterrey Monterrey (also known as "Sultana del Norte" (Sultan of the North), is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León
It has the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2005, the city...
, the first served by a commuter rail and the second by an
underground and elevated metroThe Monterrey Metro is a fully grade separated light rail system in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. It is the newest of Mexico's metro systems, with operation beginning in 1991. As of October 2008, the system operated 40 high floor electric trains along 31 km of routes...
.
Communications
The telecommunications industry is mostly dominated by Telmex (Teléfonos de México), privatized in 1990. As of 2006, Telmex had expanded its operations to Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay and the United States. Other players in the domestic industry are
AxtelAxtel S.A.B. de C.V. , is a Mexican telecommunications company, headquartered in Monterrey, that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico...
and Maxcom. Due to Mexican
orographyOrography is the study of the formation and relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain...
, providing landline telephone service at remote mountainous areas is expensive, and the penetration of line-phones per capita is low compared to other Latin American countries, at forty-percent, however 82% of Mexicans over the age of 15 own a mobile phone. Mobile telephony has the advantage of reaching all areas at a lower cost, and the total number of mobile lines is almost two times that of landlines, with an estimation of 63 million lines. The telecommunication industry is regulated by the government through Cofetel (Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones
).
Mexicos satellite system is domestic with 120 earth stations. There is also extensive microwave radio relay network and considerable use of fiber-optic and coaxial cable.Mexican satellites are operated by Satélites Mexicanos (Satmex), a private company, leader in Latin America and servicing both North and South America. It offers broadcast, telephone and telecommunication services to 37 countries in the
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
, from
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
. Through business partnerships Satmex provides high-speed connectivity to ISPs and Digital Broadcast Services.
SatmexSatmex is a commercial company from Mexico that operates space satellites that provide services to the Americas.-History:...
maintains it's own satellite fleet with most of the fleet being Mexican designed and built.
Mexico has recently emerged as a major producer of communications technology and produces everything from smart phones to wireless internet enabled mobile computers. In 2008 Mexico manufactured over 130 million mobile phones making it the sixth largest producer of mobile phones. Some companies such as
Zonda TelecomZonda Telecom is a Mexican Telecommunications company. Founded in Guadalajara, Jalisco in 1968 as a Television manufacturer.Zonda Telecom has several manufacturing plants in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area which it utilizes to manufacture its own products as well as to manufacture electronic...
have already expanded into global operations and have presences in Mexico as well as other regions like Europe or Asia.]]
Usage of radio, television, and Internet in Mexico is prevalent. There are approximately 1,410 radio broadcast stations and 236 television stations (excluding repeaters). Major players in the broadcasting industry are
TelevisaTelevisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
—the largest Spanish media company in the Spanish-speaking world—and
TV AztecaTV Azteca is the second largest Mexican television network after Televisa. It was established in 1983 as the state-owned Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión , a holding of the national TV networks channel 13 and 7 and was privatized under its current name in 1993...
.
Demographics
According to the latest official census, which reported a population of 103 million, Mexico is the most populous
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
-speaking country in the world. Mexican annual population growth has drastically decreased from a peak of 3.5% in 1965 to 0.99% in 2005. Life expectancy in 2006 was estimated to be at 75.4 years (72.6 male and 78.3 female). The states with the highest life expectancy are Baja California (75.9 years) and Nuevo Leon (75.6 years). The Federal District has a life expectancy of the same level as Baja California.
The lowest levels are found in Chiapas (72.9), Oaxaca (73.2) and Guerrero (73.2 years). The mortality rate in 1970 was 9.7 per 1000 people; by 2001, the rate had dropped to 4.9 men per 1000 men and 3.8 women per 1000 women. The most common reasons for death in 2001 were heart problems (14.6% for men 17.6% for women) and cancer (11% for men and 15.8% for women).
Mexican population is increasingly urban, with close to 75% living in cities. The five largest
urban areas in MexicoMetropolitan areas in Mexico have been traditionally defined as the group of municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city...
(
Greater Mexico CityGreater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Mexico City Metropolitan Area , constituted by the Federal District—itself composed of 16 boroughs—and 41 adjacent municipalities of the states of Mexico and Hidalgo...
,
Greater GuadalajaraThe Guadalajara Metropolitan Area is the most populous metropolitan area of the Mexican state of Jalisco and the second largest in the country after Greater Mexico City...
,
Greater MonterreyThe Monterrey metropolitan area refers to the conurbation around the city of Monterrey, officially called Area Metropolitana de la Ciudad de Monterrey or AMM...
,
Greater PueblaThe Metropolitan area of Puebla or Greater Puebla is the fourth largest agglomeration in Mexico with a population of 2.109 million . This agglomeration includes 10 municipalities of the state of Puebla, and 13 municipalities of the state of Tlaxcala...
and
Greater TolucaGreater Toluca or the Metropolitan Area of Toluca is the conurbation formed by Toluca, as the core city, and 12 adjacent municipalities of the state of Mexico, namely Almoloya de Juárez, Calimaya, Chapultepec, Lerma, Metepec, Mexicaltzingo, Ocoyoacac, Otzolotepec, San Mateo Atenco, Xonacatlán and...
) are home to 30% of the country's population. Migration patterns within the country show positive migration to north-western and south-eastern states, and a negative rate of migration for the Federal District. While the annual population growth is still positive, the national net migration rate is negative (-4.7/1000), attributable to the emigration phenomenon of people from rural communities to the United States.
Metropolitan areas
Metropolitan areas in Mexico have been traditionally defined as the group of municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city. In 2004, a joint effort between CONAPO, INEGI and the Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) agreed to define metropolitan areas as either:
- the group of two or more municipalities in which a city with a population of at least 50,000 is located whose urban area extends over the limit of the municipality that originally contained the core city incorporating either physically or under its area of direct influence other adjacent predominantly urban municipalities all of which have a high degree of social and economic integration or are relevant for urban politics and administration; or
- a single municipality in which a city of a population of at least one million is located and fully contained, (that is, it does not transcend the limits of a single municipality); or
- a city with a population of at least 250,000 which forms a conurbation with other cities in the United States.
It should be noted, however, that northwestern and southeastern states are divided into a small number of large municipalities whereas central states are divided into a large number of smaller municipalities. As such, metropolitan areas in the northwest usually do not extend over more than one municipality (and figures usually report population for the entire municipality) whereas metropolitan areas in the center extend over many municipalities.
Few metropolitan areas extend beyond the limits of one state, namely: Greater Mexico City (Federal District, Mexico State and Hidalgo),
Puebla-TlaxcalaThe Metropolitan area of Puebla or Greater Puebla is the fourth largest agglomeration in Mexico with a population of 2.109 million . This agglomeration includes 10 municipalities of the state of Puebla, and 13 municipalities of the state of Tlaxcala...
(Puebla and Tlaxcala, but excludes the city of
TlaxcalaThe city of Tlaxcala is the capital and chief center of population of the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. The city is located at in the south-central portion of the state. At the census of 2005 the city had a population of 15,777 inhabitants and was by far the smallest state capital in Mexico...
),
Comarca LaguneraThe Comarca Lagunera is the 9th largest metropolitan area in Mexico, and is located between two states, Coahuila and Durango.-Geography:The Comarca Lagunera is formed by 15 municipios; 5 in Coahuila The Comarca Lagunera is the 9th largest metropolitan area in Mexico, and is located between two...
(Coahuila and Durango), and Tampico (Tamaulipas and Veracruz).
The following is a list of the major metropolitan areas of Mexico, as reported in the 2005 census.
Immigration
Mexico is home to the largest number of U.S. citizens abroad (estimated at one million as of 1999), which represents 1% of the Mexican population and 25% of all U.S. citizens abroad. Other significant communities of foreigners are those of
CentralManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, most notably from
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
,
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
,
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
,
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
,
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
,
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
, and
BelizeBelize , is a country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages. Although Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language...
. Though estimations vary, the Argentine community is considered to be the second largest foreign community in the country (estimated somewhere between 30,000 and 150,000). Throughout the 20th century, the country followed a policy of granting asylum to fellow Latin Americans and Europeans (mostly Spaniards in the 1940s) fleeing political persecution in their home countries.
Discrepancies between the figures for official legal aliens and those of all foreign-born residents regardless of their immigration status are quite large. The official figure for foreign-born legal residents in Mexico is 493,000 (since 2004), with a majority (86.9%) of these born in the United States (except Chiapas, where the majority of immigrants are from Central America). The five states with the most immigrants are Baja California (12.1% of total immigrants), Mexico City (the Federal District
; 11.4%), Jalisco (9.9%), Chihuahua (9%) and Tamaulipas (7.3%). More than 54.6% of the immigrant population are fifteen years old or younger, while 9% are fifty or older.
Ethnography
See also:
Demographics of MexicoWith a population 103,263,388 in 2005, Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world, the second-most populous country in Latin America after Portuguese-speaking Brazil, and the second in North America, after the United States. Throughout most of the twentieth century Mexico's...
Mexico is ethnically diverse, and the constitution defines the country to be a pluricultural nation.
- Mestizo
Mestizo is a Spanish and Portuguese term that was used in the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire to refer to Latin people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in the Americas....
s (those of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry) form the largest group, comprising up to 60–80% of the total population.
- Amerindians called indigenous peoples (
indígenas) are estimated to be between 12% (pure Amerindian) and 30% (predominantly Amerindian). Indigenous peoples are considered the foundation of the Mexican pluricultural nation and therefore enjoy self-determination in certain areas.
Indigenous languagesMexico is enormously diverse linguistically. In addition to Spanish, the government recognizes 63 indigenous Amerindian languages as national languages...
are also considered "national languages" and are protected by law. The
CDIThe National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples is a decentralized agency of the Mexican Federal Public Administration. It was founded in 2003 as a replacement for the National Indigenist Institute . It has its headquarters in Mexico City and, since 15 December 2006, has been...
identifies 62 indigenous groups in Mexico, each with a unique language.
WhitesA White Mexican is a Mexican citizen of European or Middle Eastern descent. Although Mexico does not have a racial census, some international organizations believe that Mexican people of European descent make nearly one-fifth of the country's population, or about 20 million people, thus making...
make up 9%-17% of the population, mostly descendants of the first SpanishSpanish people or Spaniards constitute the nationality and ethnic group of natives of Spain, a European country in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain...
settlers; although there are Mexicans of FrenchFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
, Italian, PortugueseThe Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the far west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe...
, BasqueThe Basques are the native people of the Basque Country .The Basques as an ethnic group primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country, a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-eastern Spain...
, GermanThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
, IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
, PolishThe Polish people, or Poles , are a Western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic...
, RomanianThe Romanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian ; they are the majority inhabitants of România.In one prominent interpretation of the census results in Moldova, Moldovans are counted as Romanians, which would...
, RussianThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, Arab (mainly LebaneseThe Lebanese people are an ethnic group or nation of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state...
and Syrian) and BritishThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, one of the Channel Islands, or of one of the British overseas territories, and their descendants. In a historical context, the term refers to the ancient Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain south of the...
descents from contemporary migration after the waves of immigration that brought many Europeans at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, along with some Canadians and European AmericanA European American is a person who resides in the United States and is either from Europe or is the descendant of European immigrants or founding colonists. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565...
s from the United States and Argentina. Most are found in major cities and northern states. There are some 80,000 German-speaking Mennonites in Mexico.
Mexico also received a large number of
LebaneseThe Lebanese people are an ethnic group or nation of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state...
, Syrian,
ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92 percent of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98 percent of the population of the Republic of China , 75 percent of the...
,
JapaneseThe are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries are referred to as...
, Korean, and
FilipinoMexicans of Filipino descent refers to Mexican citizens who are descendants of Filipino origin. The actual population amount is not known, but some estimate there may be about 50,000-200,000 people of mixed Filipino ancestry in Mexico...
immigrants.
Afro-MexicanAfro Mexican is a term used to identify Mexican people of African ancestry or African people with Mexican ancestry. African Mexicans, now largely assimilated in the general population, have historically been located in certain communities in Mexico...
s, mostly of mixed ancestry, live in the coastal areas of the states of Veracruz, Tabasco and Guerrero.
In 2004, the Mexican government founded the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) which launched the Mexican Genome Diversity Project. In May 2009, the Institute issued a report on a major genomic study of the Mexican population. Among the findings, it was reported that of the 80% of the population that is mestizo, the proportions of European and indigenous ancestry are approximately even, with the indigenous component slightly, but significantly predominating overall. The proportions of admixture were found to vary geographically from north to south, as previous pre-genomic studies had surmised, with the European contribution predominating in the north and the indigenous component greater in central and southern regions. One of the significant conclusions of the study as reported was that even while it is composed of diverse ancestral genetic groups, the Mexican population is genetically distinctive among the world's populations.
Language
There is no de jure constitutional
official languageAn official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
at the federal level in Mexico.
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
, spoken by 97% of the population, is considered a national language by The General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, which also grants all indigenous minority languages spoken in Mexico, regardless of the number of speakers, the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their native languages.
Along with Spanish, the law has granted them the status of "national languages". The law includes all Amerindian languages regardless of origin; that is, it includes the Amerindian languages of ethnic groups non-native to the territory. As such the
National Commission for the Development of Indigenous PeoplesThe National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples is a decentralized agency of the Mexican Federal Public Administration. It was founded in 2003 as a replacement for the National Indigenist Institute . It has its headquarters in Mexico City and, since 15 December 2006, has been...
recognizes the language of the
KickapooThe Kickapoos are one of the Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes. According to the Anishinaabeg, the name "Kickapoo" means "Stands Here and there". It referred to the tribe's migratory patterns. The name can also mean "wanderer"...
, who immigrated from the United States, and recognizes the languages of the
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
n Amerindian refugees. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Approximately 7.1% of the population speaks an indigenous language and 1.2% do not speak Spanish.
Mexico has the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world with more than twice as many as the second largest Spanish-speaking country. (Spain, Argentina, and Colombia all have about 40 million speakers each.) Almost a third of all Spanish native speakers in the world live in Mexico. Nahuatl is spoken by 1.5 million people and Yucatec Maya by 800,000. Some of the national languages are in danger of extinction;
LacandonThe Lacandon are one of the Maya peoples who live in the jungles of the Mexican state of Chiapas, near the southern border with Guatemala. Their homeland, the Lacandon Jungle, lies along the Mexican side of the Usumacinta River and its tributaries. The Lacandon are one of the most isolated and...
is spoken by fewer than one hundred people.
English is widely used in business at the border cities, as well as by the one million U.S. citizens that live in Mexico, mostly retirees in small towns in Baja California, Guanajuato and Chiapas. Other European languages spoken by sizable communities in Mexico are
VenetianVenetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called vèneto or vènet in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexiàn/venesiàn or veneziano, respectively...
,
PlautdietschPlautdietsch, or Mennonite Low German, was originally a Low Prussian variety of East Low German, with Dutch influence, that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia, today Polish territory. The word is etymologically cognate with Plattdeutsch, or Low German...
, German, French and
RomaniRomani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is the language of the Romani people. It is an Indo-Aryan language, sometimes included in either the "Central" or the "Northwestern" group, sometimes treated as a branch of its own.Romani is a macrolanguage in the ISO 639 classification, taken to consist of...
.
Religion
Mexico has no official religion, and the Constitution of 1917 and the anti-clerical laws imposed limitations on the church and sometimes codified state intrusion into church matters. The government does not provide any financial contributions to the church, and the church does not participate in public education.
The last census reported, by self-ascription, that 95% of the population is
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
.
Roman CatholicsThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
are 89% of the total population, 47% percent of whom attend church services weekly. In absolute terms, Mexico has the world's second largest number of Catholics after
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
.
About 6% of the population (more than 4.4 million people) is
ProtestantProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
, of whom
PentecostalsPentecostalism is a renewal movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit which is evidenced by speaking in tongues. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, a Greek term describing the Jewish Feast of...
and
CharismaticsThe term Charismatic Movement describes the adoption of certain beliefs typical of those held by Pentecostal Christians by those within the historic denominations...
(called Neo-Pentecostals in the census), are the largest group (1.37 million people). There are also a sizeable number of
Seventh-day AdventistsThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. It is the eighth largest international body of...
(0.6 million people). The 2000 national census counted more than one million
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenarian Christian denomination. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism; they report convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual Memorial attendance of over 17 million...
.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims over one million registered members as of 2009. About 25% of registered members attend a weekly sacrament service although this can fluctuate up and down.
Islam in MexicoOfficial data estimates in the 2008 census show that there are 25,000 Muslims in Mexico,* representing % 0.02 percent of the total population. In recent years, conversions to Islam may have increased this number by between 1,500 and 3,000 people....
is practiced by a small Muslim population in the city of Torreon, Coahuila, and there are an estimated 300 Muslims in the San Cristobal de las Casas area in Chiapas.
The presence of Jews in Mexico dates back to 1521, when Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs, accompanied by several
ConversoConversos and its feminine form conversa referred to Jews or Muslims or the descendants of Jews or Muslims who converted to Catholicism in Spain and Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries...
s. According to the last national census by the INEGI, there are now more than 45,000 Mexican Jews. Almost three million people in the 2000 National Census reported having no religion.
Mexico’s
BuddhistBuddhism in Mexico possesses a minuscule demographic presence in the mostly-Roman Catholic country. Approximately, only 108,701 Buddhists are counted in Mexico.-Tibetan Buddhism:...
population currently makes up a tiny minority, some 108,000 according to latest accounts. Some of its members are of Asian descent, others people of various other walks of life that have turned toward
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
in the recent past.
In 1992, Mexico lifted almost all restrictions on the Catholic Church and other religions, including granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights, and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country. Until recently, priests did not have the right to vote, and even now they cannot be elected to public office.
Culture
Mexican culture reflects the complexity of the
country's historyMexico is a country in North America and the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. It also has the largest number of Native American language speakers on the continent . For thousands of years, what is now known as Mexico was a land of hunter-gatherers...
through the blending of pre-
HispanicHispanic is a term that historically denoted a relationship to the ancient Hispania . During the modern era, it took on a more limited meaning, relating to the contemporary nation of Spain....
civilizations and the
culture of SpainThe Culture of Spain is a European culture based on the pre-Roman cultures, mainly the celts and the Iberians, known as the Celtiberian cultures; but mainly in the period of Roman influences. In the areas of language and religion, the Ancient Romans left a lasting legacy...
, imparted during Spain's 300-year colonization of Mexico. Exogenous cultural elements mainly from the United States have been incorporated into Mexican culture. As was the case in most
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n countries, when Mexico became an independent nation, it had to slowly create a national identity, being an ethnically diverse country in which, for the most part, the only connecting element amongst the newly independent inhabitants was Catholicism.
The Porfirian era (el
PorfiriatoJosé de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and one of the most controversial figures of the country...
), in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, was marked by economic progress and peace. After four decades of civil unrest and war, Mexico saw the development of philosophy and the arts, promoted by President Díaz himself. Since that time, as accentuated during the Mexican RevolutionThe Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.Over time the Revolution...
, cultural identity has had its foundation in the mestizaje
, of which the indigenous (i.e. Amerindian) element is the core. In light of the various ethnicities that formed the Mexican people, José VasconcelosJosé Vasconcelos Calderón was a Mexican writer, philosopher and politician. He married Serafina Miranda of Tlaxiaco in the state of Oaxaca in 1906...
in his publication La Raza Cósmica
(The Cosmic Race) (1925) defined Mexico to be the melting pot of all races (thus extending the definition of the mestizo
) not only biologically but culturally as well. This exalting of mestizaje was a revolutionary idea that sharply contrasted with the idea of a superior pure race prevalent in Europe at the time.
Cinema
Mexican films from the Golden Age in the 1940s and 1950s are the greatest examples of Latin American cinema, with a huge industry comparable to the
HollywoodHollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema...
of those years. Mexican films were exported and exhibited in all of Latin America and Europe.
Maria CandelariaMaria Candelaria is a 1943 Mexican film directed by Emilio Fernández and starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz. It was the first Mexican film to be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival where it won the Grand Prix. Gabriel Figueroa won a Silver Ariel award for Best...
(1944) by Emilio Fernández"El Indio" Fernández was a Mexican actor, screenwriter and director of the Cinema of Mexico.-Early life:He was born in Mineral del Hondo, Coahuila...
, was one of the first films awarded a Palme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film...
at the Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
in 1946, the first time the event was held after World War II. Famous actors and actresses from this period include María FélixMaría Félix was a Mexican actress, one of the icons of the golden era of the Cinema of Mexico. She was commonly known, particularly in her later years, by the honorific La Doña.-Biography:...
, Pedro InfanteJosé Pedro Infante Cruz , better known as Pedro Infante, is perhaps the most famous actor and singer of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and was the idol of the Mexican people, together with Jorge Negrete and Javier Solís, who were styled the Tres Gallos Mexicanos . He was born in Mazatlán,...
, Dolores del RíoDolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood, becoming an important actress in Mexican films later in her life....
, Jorge NegreteJorge Alberto Negrete Moreno is considered one of the most popular Mexican singers and actors of all time....
and the comedian CantinflasFortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes was a Mexican comedian and actor.He earned wide popularity with his stage and film persona Cantinflas, usually portrayed as an impoverished campesino slumdweller of pelado origin...
.
More recently, films such as Como agua para chocolateLike Water for Chocolate is a popular novel published in 1989 by first-time Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel....
(1992), CronosCronos is a 1993 Mexican horror film written and directed by director Guillermo del Toro, starring veteran Argentine actor Federico Luppi and American actor Ron Perlman, the first of several films on which del Toro, Luppi and Perlman have collaborated....
(1993), Amores perrosAmores perros is a 2000 Mexican film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It is an anthology film containing three distinct stories which are connected by a car accident in Mexico City. Each of the three tales is also a reflection on the cruelty of humans toward animals and each other, showing...
(2000), Y tu mamá tambiénY tu mamá también is a 2001 Mexican drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and written by Carlos Cuarón. The film is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a road trip with a woman in her late twenties...
(2001), El Crimen del Padre Amaro
(2002), Pan's LabyrinthPan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish language fantasy film, written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. It was produced and distributed by the Mexican film company Esperanto Films....
(2006) and Babel
(2006) have been successful in creating universal stories about contemporary subjects, and were internationally recognised, as in the prestigious Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
. Mexican directors Alejandro González IñárrituAlejandro González Iñárritu is an award-winning Mexican film director. He was the first Mexican director to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.-Early life and career:...
(Amores perrosAmores perros is a 2000 Mexican film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It is an anthology film containing three distinct stories which are connected by a car accident in Mexico City. Each of the three tales is also a reflection on the cruelty of humans toward animals and each other, showing...
, Babel
), Alfonso CuarónAlfonso Cuarón Orozco is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his works include Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A Little Princess and Children of Men.-Early life:Cuarón was born in México City...
(Children of MenChildren of Men is a British dystopian science fiction film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The Strike Entertainment production was loosely adapted from P. D. James's 1992 novel of the same name by Cuarón and Timothy J. Sexton with help from David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby...
, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third installment in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999. The novel won the 1999 Whitbread Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the 2000 Locus Award, and was short-listed for other awards, including...
), Guillermo del ToroGuillermo del Toro Gómez is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican director, producer, screenwriter and designer whose work has gained both critical acclaim and a devoted fanbase. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator...
, Carlos CarreraCarlos Carrera is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. He directed El crimen del Padre Amaro , which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film....
(The Crime of Father Amaro), and screenwriter
Guillermo ArriagaGuillermo Arriaga Jordán is a Mexican author, screenwriter, director and producer. He received the 2005 Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay Award for The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.-Biography:...
are some of the most known present-day film makers.
Music
Mexican society enjoys a vast array of music genres, showing the diversity of Mexican culture. Traditional music includes
MariachiMariachi, in relation to the music of Mexico, may also be defined in relation to the conditions associated with its historical development. A mariachi ensemble is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the colonial era. Throughout the history of...
,
BandaBanda is a brass-based form of traditional Mexican music. Bandas play a wide variety of songs, including rancheras, corridos, cumbias, baladas, and boleros...
,
NorteñoNorteño is a genre of Mexican music. The accordion and the bajo sexto are norteño's most characteristic instruments. This genre of music is extremely popular among some in both Mexico and the United States, especially among the Mexican community...
,
RancheraThe ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico. Although closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco in the post-revolutionary period, rancheras are also played today by norteño or banda groups...
and
CorridoThe corrido is a popular narrative song and poetry form, a ballad, of Mexico. It derives largely from the 18th century Spanish romance, and in its most known form consists of 1) a salutation from the singer and prologue to the story; 2) the story itself; 3) a moral and farewell from the...
s; on an every-day basis most Mexicans listen to contemporary music such as
popPop is a music genre particularly intended for teenagers and young adults. This type of music produced in Mexico is called Mexican pop.Mexico is the country that exports the most entertainment in Spanish language...
,
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
, etc. in both English and Spanish. Mexico has the largest media industry in
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, producing Mexican artists who are famous in Central and South America and parts of Europe, especially Spain. Some well-known Mexican singers are
ThalíaAriadna Thalía Sodi Miranda, known simply as Thalía, is a Mexican pop singer and former actress. Her name is linked to popular soap operas which made her famous. Thalia began her musical career at the age of 9. Her soap operas have been watched by over one billion people...
,
Luis MiguelLuis Miguel Gallego Basteri, known as Luis Miguel, is a Puerto Rican-born, Mexican-raised singer. He is best known for his gifted vocals, and for being one of the most popular singers from Latin America, having performed successfully pop music, bolero, mariachi and romantic ballads...
,
Alejandro FernándezAlejandro Fernández is a popular Latin Grammy-winning Mexican singer nicknamed as "El Potrillo" by the media and his fans....
and
Paulina RubioPaulina Rubio Dosamantes is a nominated Grammy and Latin Grammy and 6 time winner of Billboard Latin Music Awards Mexican singer and actress. Known as "The Golden Girl" and "Queen of Latin Pop"...
. Popular groups are
Café TacubaCafé Tacuba is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award-winning band from Naucalpan, Mexico. They were founded in 1989, and since then have had the same musical lineup:* Rubén Isaac "Ribaac" Albarrán Ortega:...
,
MolotovMolotov is a three-time Latin Grammy Award-winning Mexican rock and hip hop band formed in Mexico City on September 23, 1995. Their lyrics feature a mixture of Spanish and English, rapped and sung by all members of the group. Musically, Molotov blends heavy basslines with heavy guitar riffs...
and
ManáManá is a popular hispanic pop/rock band from Ecuador whose career has spanned almost seven decades. They have earned fourteen Grammy Awards, fifthteen Latin Grammy Awards, 1 MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, three Premios Juventud awards, nine Billboard Latin Music Awards and 12 Premios Lo...
, among others.
According to the Sistema Nacional de Fomento Musical, there are between 120 and 140 youth orchestras affiliated to this federal agency from all federal states. Some states, through their state agencies in charge of culture and the arts—Ministry or Secretariat or Institute or Council of Culture, in some cases Secretariat of Education or the State University—sponsor the activities of a professional
Symphony Orchestra or Philharmonic OrchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
so all citizens can have access to this artistic expression from the field of
classical musicClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
. There is no public information about the exact number of professional orchestras in the country (probably 40 ensembles of very diverse caliber). Mexico City is the most intense hub of this activity hosting 12 professional orchestras sponsored by different agencies such as the National Intitute of Fine Arts, the Secretariat of Culture of the Federal District, The National University, the National Polytechnic Institute, a Delegación Política (Coyoacán) and very few are a kind of private ventures.
Orquestas in Mexico are mainly subsidized by a governmental body or agency, unlike their American counterparts, therefore, these organizations do not have departments such as marketing or development. States such as Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Morelos, Nayarit, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Tabasco, and Tlaxcala do not have a professional Symphony orchestra. The only permanent opera company belongs to the National Institute of Fine Arts, offering six productions yearly, however, some cities such as Guadalajara, Monterrey or Morelia make important efforts to present this kind of expression to local audiences.
Fine arts
Post-revolutionary art in Mexico had its expression in the works of renowned artists such as
Frida KahloFrida Kahlo was a Mexican painter. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico and European influences including Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically articulate her own pain and sexuality...
,
Diego RiveraDiego Rivera was born Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez in Guanajuato, Gto. He was a world-famous Mexican painter, an active Communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo, 1929–1939 and 1940–1954...
,
José Clemente OrozcoJosé Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
,
Rufino TamayoRufino Tamayo was a Zapotecan Indian painter born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico, of Mestizo parents.-Early life:...
,
Federico Cantú GarzaFederico Heráclio Cantú Garza was a Mexican painter, engraver and sculptor...
,
David Alfaro SiqueirosJosé David Alfaro Siqueiros was a social realist painter, known for his large murals in fresco that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with works by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, and also a Stalinist who participated in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate...
and
Juan O'GormanJuan O'Gorman was a Mexican painter and architect.-Biography:O'Gorman was born in Coyoacán, then a village to the south of Mexico City and now a borough of the Federal District, to an Irish father, Cecil Crawford O'Gorman and a Mexican mother...
. Diego Rivera, the most well-known figure of
Mexican MuralismMexican muralism is a Mexican art movement that took place primarily in the 1930s. The movement stands out historically because of its political undertones, the majority of which of a Marxist nature, or related to a social and political situation of post-revolutionary Mexico.- About the movement...
, painted the
Man at the CrossroadsMan at the Crossroads was a mural by Diego Rivera.The Rockefellers wanted to have a mural put on the ground-floor wall of Rockefeller Center. Nelson Rockefeller wanted Henri Matisse or Pablo Picasso to do it because he favored their modern style, but neither was available...
at the
Rockefeller CenterRockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. It was declared a National Historic...
in New York City, a huge mural that was destroyed the next year due to the inclusion of a portrait of Russian communist leader
LeninVladimir Ilyich Lenin , born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov , was the Bolshevik Leader of the 1917 October Revolution, and the first Head of State of the Soviet Union; in the course of his political career, he used the pseudonyms Lenin, V. I. Lenin, Nikolai Lenin, and N. Lenin...
. Some of Rivera's murals are displayed at the Mexican
National PalaceThe National Palace is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constitución...
and the
Palace of Fine ArtsPalacio de Bellas Artes is the premier opera house of Mexico City. The building well known for both its extravagant Beaux Arts exterior in imported Italian Carrara white marble and its murals by Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco.The Palacio has two...
.
Academic music composers of Mexico include
Manuel María PonceManuel María Ponce Cuéllar was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a usually forgotten tradition of popular song and Mexican folklore...
,
José Pablo MoncayoJosé Pablo Moncayo García was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationalism in art music, after Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez." He produced some of the...
,
Julián CarrilloJulián Carrillo Trujillo was a Mexican composer, conductor, violinist and music theorist, who discovered the Thirteenth Sound.-Biography:...
,
Mario LavistaMario Lavista is a Mexican composer and writer.He began piano studies as a child and enrolled at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in 1963 under the guidance of Carlos Chavez, Hector Quintanar and Rodolfo Halffter...
,
Carlos ChávezCarlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, teacher, journalist, and the founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
,
Silvestre RevueltasSilvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican composer of classical music, violinist and conductor.-Life:He was born in Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, and studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas and the Chicago College of Music...
,
Arturo MárquezArturo Márquez is a renowned Mexican composer of orchestra music who is well known for using musical forms and styles of his native Mexico and incorporating them into his compositions....
, and
Juventino RosasJosé Juventino Policarpo Rosas Cadenas was a Mexican composer, violinist, and band leader.Rosas was born into a poor Otomi family, in Santa Cruz de Galeana, Guanajuato, now renamed Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas...
, many of whom incorporated traditional elements into their music.
Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
winner
Octavio PazOctavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Later life:...
,
Carlos FuentesCarlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
,
Juan RulfoJuan Rulfo was a Mexican author and photographer. One of Latin America's most esteemed authors, Rulfo's reputation rests on two slim books, the novel Pedro Páramo , and El Llano en llamas , a collection of short stories that includes his...
,
Elena PoniatowskaElena Poniatowska is a Mexican journalist and author.-Life:...
, and
José Emilio PachecoJosé Emilio Pacheco is a Mexican essayist, novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the major Mexican poets of the second half of the 20th century....
, are some of the most recognized authors of Mexican literature.
Broadcast media
Two of the major television networks based in Mexico are
TelevisaTelevisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
and
TV AztecaTV Azteca is the second largest Mexican television network after Televisa. It was established in 1983 as the state-owned Instituto Mexicano de la Televisión , a holding of the national TV networks channel 13 and 7 and was privatized under its current name in 1993...
. Televisa is also the largest producer of Spanish-language content in the world and also the world's largest Spanish-language media network.
Grupo MultimediosGrupo Multimedios is the largest media conglomerate in Northeastern Mexico. In Monterrey they also operate 15 radio stations, a cable TV system, a newspaper, outdoor billboard advertising and cinemas. Multimedios also produces cable TV programs drawing from the talent in its radio station group...
is another media conglomerate with Spanish-language broadcasting in Mexico, Spain, and the United States.
Soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
s (
telenovelaA telenovela is a limited-run television serial melodrama popular in the Americas, comprising a great part of its production budget. The word combines tele, short for television, and novela, a word that Latin literary studies associate with medium-span romances. Telenovelas are essentially soap...
s) are translated to many languages and seen all over the world with renowned names like
Verónica CastroVerónica Castro is a Mexican actress, singer and television host. She is the mother of singer Cristian Castro and filmmaker Michelle Sáinz Castro and the sister of telenovela producer José Alberto Castro....
,
Lucía MéndezLucía Leticia Méndez Pérez is a Mexican telenovela and film actress, top model and singer.- Early success :...
,
LuceroFor the punk/country band named Lucero, see Lucero Lucero , is an actress and singer. She started her career at the age of 10 as Lucerito . She is married to singer Manuel Mijares with whom she has two children...
, and
ThalíaAriadna Thalía Sodi Miranda, known simply as Thalía, is a Mexican pop singer and former actress. Her name is linked to popular soap operas which made her famous. Thalia began her musical career at the age of 9. Her soap operas have been watched by over one billion people...
. Even
Gael García BernalGael García Bernal is a Mexican actor and director.-Early life:García Bernal was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, the son of Patricia Bernal, an actress and former model, and José Angel García, an actor and director. His stepfather is Sergio Yazbek, who his mother married when García Bernal was young...
and
Diego LunaDiego Luna is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films...
from
Y tu mamá tambiénY tu mamá también is a 2001 Mexican drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and written by Carlos Cuarón. The film is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a road trip with a woman in her late twenties...
and current
ZegnaErmenegildo Zegna or Zegna is an Italian fashion house that claims to be the world leader in fine men's clothing. Founded in 1910, it is now managed by the fourth generation of the Zegna family and remains in family ownership. As well as producing suits for their own labels, they manufacture suits...
model have appeared in some of them.
Some of their TV shows are modeled after counterparts from the U.S. like
Family Feud100 mexicanos dijeron was a Mexican version of the Goodson-Todman game show from the 1970s, Family Feud, produced in Mexico City by the television network Televisa. Its host is Marco Antonio Regil. The program is also seen in the United States on the Telefutura television network...
(100 Mexicanos Dijeron
or "A hundred Mexicans said" in Spanish) and ¿Qué dice la gente?, Big BrotherBig Brother is a reality television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win...
, American IdolAmerican Idol is a reality competition to find new solo musical talent, created by Simon Fuller. It debuted on June 11, 2002 on the Fox network, and has since become one of the most popular shows on American television...
, Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a weekly late-night sketch comedy and variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975, under a slightly different title. The show features a regular cast of comedy actors, joined by a guest host and musical act...
and others. Nationwide news shows like Las Noticias por AdelaLas Noticias por Adela is a nightly 1 hour news show on the Televisa network from Mexico. It is shown from 9PM to 10:30PM Mexico City time and also airs on Galavisión in the United States. Major political figures, entertainers and musicians appear on the show to be interviewed by the show's...
on Televisa resemble a hybrid between DonahueThe Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, was a tabloid talk show. The show had a 26-year run on national television, preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, before ending in 1996.-History:...
and Nightline
. Local news shows are modeled after counterparts from the U.S. like the Eyewitness NewsEyewitness News is a name used by local television newscasts, widely used in different markets across the United States. It is also the name of a very popular music package offered by Gari Communications.-Origins:...
and Action NewsAction News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV , by then news director , in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...
formats. Border cities receive television and radio stations from the U.S., while satellite and cable subscription is common for the middle-classes in most cities, and they often watch movies and TV shows from the U.S.
Cuisine
Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices. Most of today's Mexican food is based on pre-Columbian traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists.
The
conquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
es
eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the native pre-Columbian food, including maizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
, tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
, vanillaVanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod. Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both the spice and...
, avocadoThe avocado , also known as palta or aguacate , butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
, papayaThe papaya is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures...
, pineapplePineapple is the common name for an edible tropical plant and also its fruit. It is native to the southern part of Brazil, and Paraguay. Pineapple is eaten fresh or canned and is available as a juice or in juice combinations. It is used in desserts, salads, as a complement to meat dishes and in...
, chili pepperChili pepper is the vegetable of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Botanically speaking, the fruit of capsicums are berries...
, beanBean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, squash, limesLime is a term referring to a number of different fruits, both species and hybrids and generally citruses, which have their origin in the Himalayan region of India and which are typically round, green to yellow in colour, 3–6 cm in diameter, and generally containing sour and acidic pulp. They are...
(limón in
Mexican SpanishMexican Spanish is the dialect of the Spanish language, as spoken in Mexico.Spanish was brought to present day Mexico around 500 years ago. As a result of Mexico City's central role in the colonial administration of New Spain, the population of the city included relatively large numbers of...
),
sweet potatoThe sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of this family, only I. batatas is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable...
,
peanutThe peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume family native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing 30 to 50 cm tall...
and
turkeyA turkey is either of two living species of large birds in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America...
.
Mexican food varies by region, because of local climate and geography and ethnic differences among the indigenous inhabitants and because these different populations were influenced by the Spaniards in varying degrees. The north of Mexico is known for its
beefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle . Beef is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of Australia, Europe and America, and is also important in Africa, East Asia, and Southeast Asia...
,
goatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
and
ostrichThe ostrich, Struthio camelus, is a large flightless bird native to Africa. It is the only living species of its family, Struthionidae and its genus, Struthio. Ostriches share the order Struthioniformes with the kiwis, and other ratites...
production and
meatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, or lungs...
dishes, in particular the well-known Arrachera cut.
Central Mexico's cuisine is largely made up of influences from the rest of the country, but also has its authentics, such as
barbacoaBarbacoa originates in Mexico and generally refers to meats or a whole sheep slow-cooked over an open fire, or more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground covered with maguey leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day and in some cases may refer to meat steamed until...
,
pozolePozole is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew from Mexico. Pozole was mentioned in Fray Bernardino de Sahagún's "General History of the Things of New Spain" circa 1500 C.E....
,
menudoThe soup menudo is a traditional Mexican dish; a frequently spicy soup made with tripe. It is often thought of as a cure for a hangover since it tends to instigate sweating, causing the body to release toxins. Is traditionally served on special occasions or with family...
, tamales, and
carnitasCarnitas which, literally translated, means “little meats”, is a type of braised or roasted pork in Mexican cuisine....
.
Southeastern Mexico, on the other hand, is known for its spicy
vegetableA vegetable is an edible plant or part of a plant. However, the word is not scientific, and its meaning is largely based on culinary and cultural tradition. Therefore the application of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. For example, some people consider mushrooms to be vegetables,...
and
chickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird...
-based dishes. The cuisine of Southeastern Mexico also has quite a bit of
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
influence, given its geographical location. Seafood is commonly prepared in the states that border the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
or the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United...
, the latter having a famous reputation for its fish dishes, a la veracruzana.
In modern times, other cuisines of the world have become very popular in Mexico, thus adopting a Mexican fusion. For example, sushi in Mexico is often made with a variety of sauces based on
mangoMangoes belong to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is indigenous to the Indian Subcontinent...
or
tamarindThe Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .- Origin :...
, and very often served with
serrano-People:* Serrano , a Native American tribe of Southern California*Serrano , people with the surname Serrano-Places:*Serrano , a frazione of Carpignano Salentino, Italy*Serrano Community in El Dorado Hills, California...
-chili-blended soy sauce, or complimented with vinegar, habanero and
chipotleA chipotle , or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried jalapeño chili used primarily in Mexican, Mexican-American, Tex-Mex, and Mexican-inspired cuisine....
peppers
The most internationally recognized dishes include
chocolateChocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC...
,
tacoA taco is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a corn or wheat tortilla folded or rolled around a filling. A taco can be made with a variety of fillings, including beef, mutton, shellfish, vegetables and cheese, allowing for great versatility and variety...
s,
quesadillaA quesadilla is a Mexican snack food made of cheese on a folded corn or wheat tortilla and cooked until the cheese melts...
s,
enchiladaAn enchilada is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. Enchiladas can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables, seafood or combinations.-Etymology:...
s,
burritoA burrito , or taco de harina, is a type of food found in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. It consists of a flour tortilla wrapped or folded around a filling. The flour tortilla is usually lightly grilled or steamed, to soften it and make it more pliable...
s,
tamaleA tamale is a traditional Mexican dish of Mesoamerican origin, namely from the Aztec empire, which was soon widespread by Spanish conquistadores throughout their other colonies of what is now Latin America, consisting of steam-cooked corn dough with or without a filling...
s and
moleMole is the generic name for several sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. Outside of Mexico, it often refers to a specific sauce which is known in Spanish by the more specific name mole poblano...
among others. Regional dishes include
mole poblanoMole is the generic name for several sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. Outside of Mexico, it often refers to a specific sauce which is known in Spanish by the more specific name mole poblano...
,
chiles en nogadaChiles en nogada is a dish from Mexican cuisine. The name comes from the Spanish word for the walnut tree, nogal. It consists of poblano chiles filled with "picadillo" topped with a walnut-based cream sauce and pomegranate seeds, giving it the three colors of the Mexican flag: green for the chili,...
and
chalupaA chalupa is a tostada platter in Mexican cuisine. It is a specialty of south-central Mexico, such as the states of Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca. It is made by pressing a thin layer of masa dough around the outside of a small mold and deep frying to produce a crisp shallow corn cup...
s from
PueblaPuebla is a Mexican state located in the south-central part of the country, to the east of Mexico City. The state borders Veracruz to the east, Hidalgo, Mexico State, Tlaxcala, and Morelos to the west, and Guerrero and Oaxaca to the south. The state's largest cities are Puebla and Tehuacan, it has...
; cabrito and
machacaMachaca, which comes from the verb form machacado , is a dish that was prepared originally from dried, spiced meat that had been rehydrated and pounded to make it tender. The reconstituted meat would then be used to prepare any number of dishes...
from
MonterreyMonterrey Monterrey Monterrey (also known as "Sultana del Norte" (Sultan of the North), is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León
It has the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2005, the city...
,
cochinita pibilCochinita pibil is a traditional Mexican slow-roasted pork dish from Yucatán Península. Preparation of traditional cochinita or puerco pibil involves marinating the meat in strongly acidic citrus juice, coloring it with annatto seed, and roasting the meat while it is wrapped in banana...
from
YucatánYucatán is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. The Yucatan peninsula includes three states: Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; all three modern states were formerly part of the larger historic state of Yucatán in the 19th century. The state capital of...
,
TlayudaTlayudas, sometimes erroneously spelled Clayuda , is a part of Mexican cuisine, consisting of a big, crunchy tortilla covered with a spread of refried beans, asiento , lettuce, meat , Oaxaca cheese or other cheese, and salsa...
s from
OaxacaThe 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...
, as well as
barbacoaBarbacoa originates in Mexico and generally refers to meats or a whole sheep slow-cooked over an open fire, or more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground covered with maguey leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day and in some cases may refer to meat steamed until...
,
chilaquilesChilaquiles are a traditional Mexican dish. Typically, corn tortillas cut in quarters and fried are the basis of the dish. Green or red salsa or mole, is poured over the crispy tortilla triangles, called "totopos." The mixture is simmered until the tortilla starts softening. Eggs and pulled...
,
milanesaThe milanesa is a common meat dish mostly in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay as well as in other American countries to a lesser extent, such as Mexico, where breaded meat fillet preparations are known as a milanesa .The milanesa was brought to...
s, and many others.
Sports
Mexico City hosted the
XIX Olympic GamesThe 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
in 1968, making it the first Latin American city to do so (Rio de Janeiro will be the second in 2016). The country has also hosted the
FIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
twice, in
1970The 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from 31 May to 21 June. Mexico was chosen as hosts by FIFA in October 1964. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of...
and
1986The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June. It was won by Argentina , who beat West Germany 3–2 in the final at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca.-Host selection:...
.
Mexico’s most popular sport is association football (soccer). It is commonly believed that Football was introduced in Mexico by
CornishCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
miners at the end of the 19th century. By 1902 a five-team league had emerged with a strong English influence. Football became a professional sport in 1943. Since the “Era Professional” started, Mexico’s top clubs have been Guadalajara with 11 championships,
AméricaClub América is a Mexican football club based in Mexico City, competing in the Primera División. América is owned by Emilio Azcárraga, who owns Televisa, making it the richest club in Mexico, and the richest outside Europe...
with 10 and Toluca with 9. In Mexican Football many players have been raised to the level of legend, but two of them have received international recognition above others.
Antonio CarbajalAntonio Felix "Tota" Carbajal Rodríguez is a Mexican former football goalkeeper. He was also called "El Cinco Copas", in reference to his record of five World Cups played....
was the first player to appear in five World Cups, and
Hugo SánchezHugo Sánchez Márquez , popularly nicknamed Pentapichichi, or Hugol, is a Mexican football coach and former striker. He played for four European clubs, including Real Madrid...
was named best
CONCACAFCONCACAF is the continent-wide governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean...
player of the 20th century by IFFHS. Mexican’s biggest stadiums are
Estadio AztecaEstadio Azteca is a stadium in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the official home stadium of the Mexico national football team and the Mexican team Club América....
,
Estadio Olímpico UniversitarioEstadio Olímpico Universitario is a stadium located in Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City. It was built in 1952 and at that time was the largest stadium in Mexico. This stadium has a capacity of 62,700 . During the 50s and the 60s this stadium was used mostly for college American football matches...
and Jalisco Stadium. Notable achievements by Mexican national soccer teams include winning the 1999 Confederations Cup, the 2005 U-17 World Cup, and being runners-up in the 1977 U-20 World Cup, 1993 Copa America, and 2001 Copa America. The Mexican team was also a runner-up in the 2007 Beach Soccer World Cup. Mexican football clubs have achieved good results in international competitions like the Copa Libertadores and the FIFA Club World Championship.
The national sport of Mexico is
CharreadaThe charreada is the original rodeo developed in Mexico based on the working practies of charros or working hands. The modern events were developed after the Mexican Revolution when charro traditions were slowly disappearing. A charreada consists of nine events for men and one for women...
.
BullfightingBullfighting also known as tauromachy , is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, some cities in southern France and in several Latin American countries, in which one or more bulls are ritually killed in a bullring as a public spectacle...
is also a popular sport in the country, and almost all large cities have bullrings.
Plaza MéxicoThe Plaza México, situated in Mexico City, is the world's largest bullring. This 48,000-seat facility is usually dedicated to bullfighting, but many boxing fights have been held there as well, including Julio Cesar Chavez's third bout with Frankie Randall...
in Mexico CityMexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008...
, is the largest bullring in the world, which seats 55,000 people. Professional wrestling (or Lucha libreLucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries referring to a form of professional wrestling involving varied techniques and moves....
in Spanish) is a major crowd draw with national promotions such as
AAAAsistencia Asesoría y Administración is a lucha libre professional-wrestling promotion based in Mexico...
, LLL,
CMLLConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
and others.
BaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
, is also popular, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula and the Northern States. The season runs from March to July with playoffs held in August. The Mexican professional league is named the
Liga Mexicana de BeisbolThe Mexican League is a summer minor league baseball league with teams based across Mexico. Along with the International League and the Pacific Coast League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball...
. Current champions (2007) are Sultanes de Monterrey who defeated in a tight series Leones de Yucatán. However, the best level of baseball is played in Liga Mexicana del Pacífico, played in Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California. Given that it is played during the MLB off-season, some of its players are signed to play with the league 8 teams. Current champions (2007) are
Yaquis de ObregonThe Yaquis de Obregón is a Mexican baseball team of the Liga Mexicana del Pacífico .The team was founded on October 8, 1970, and its home stadium is the Estadio Tomás Oroz Gaytán. They have been champions of the league on four occasions. The first time was at the 1965–1966 season with Manuel...
. The league champion participates in the Caribbean Series, a tournament between the Champions of Winter Leagues of Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic; the
2009 Caribbean SeriesThe LI edition of the Caribbean Series was played in . It was held from February 2 through February 7 with the champions teams from Dominican Republic , Mexico , Puerto Rico and Venezuela . The format consisted of 12 games, each team facing the other teams twice...
edition will be held in
MexicaliMexicali is the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California Norte. Mexicali is also the seat of the Municipality of Mexicali. Founded on March 14, 1903, Mexicali is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to Calexico and is the northernmost city in Latin America, located at .The link is...
. While usually not as strong as the United States, the Caribbean countries and Japan, Mexico has nonetheless achieved several international baseball titles. Mexico has had several players signed by Major League teams, the most famous of them being Dodgers pitcher
Fernando ValenzuelaFernando Valenzuela Anguamea is a former left-handed pitcher who pitched for six different teams during his Major League Baseball career, most notably the Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom he pitched for eleven seasons, from 1980 to 1990...
.
Mexican clubs (such as
Monterrey La RazaThe Monterrey La Raza is an indoor soccer team currently a member of the National Indoor Soccer League.-History:The current version of the Monterrey La Raza indoor soccer team began play in fall 2007 at Arena Monterrey as a member of the Major Indoor Soccer League...
) participate in North American
indoor soccerIndoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...
leagues. Mexico is also a leading country in Basque Pelota.
TennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
has also traditionally been popular in Mexico, having produced some great players like
Rafael OsunaRafael Herrera Osuna , is the most successful tennis player in the history of Mexico. He was born in Mexico City, Mexico, and is best remembered for his singles victory at the U.S. Open Championships in 1963 and for leading Mexico to its only Davis Cup Final round appearance...
, though international successes have been very few in recent years.
Mexico is an international power in
professional boxingProfessional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract...
(at the amateur level, several Olympic boxing medals have also been won by Mexico).
Vicente SaldivarA 5'3" southpaw, Vicente Saldivar was a dynamo in the ring. He could box or bang and often softened opponents with a brutal body attack. Among his greatest assets was his stamina...
,
Ruben OlivaresRubén Olivares is a former boxer of Mexican nationality. A native of Mexico City, Olivares was a world champion multiple times, and considered by many as the greatest bantamweight champion of all time. He was very popular among Mexicans, many of whom considered him to be Mexico's greatest fighter...
,
Salvador SanchezSalvador Sánchez Narváez was a Mexican boxer born in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México.- Career :...
,
Julio Cesar ChavezJulio César Chávez González is a former Mexican professional boxer. He is a six-time world champion in three weight divisions. His career spanned over twenty-five years. In his prime he was considered the best pound-for-pound in the world, and also the greatest Mexican boxer in history...
and Ricardo Lopez are but a few Mexican fighters who have been ranked among the best of all time.
The most important professional
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
league is the
Liga Nacional de Baloncesto ProfesionalThe Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional is the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 11 teams, expanding to 24 as of 2008...
and covers the whole Mexican territory, where the
Soles de MexicaliThe Soles de Mexicali is a Mexican professional basketball team based in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico playing in the Northern Division of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional . The team was founded in 2005, and has established as one of Mexico's youngest and most successful basketball...
are the current champions. In 2007 three Mexican teams will be competing in the American Basketball Association. In the northwestern states is the CIBACOPA Competition, with professional basketball players from Mexico and the U.S. Universities and some teams from the NBA.
Mexico is a major international power in
TaekwondoTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way," "method," or "art." Thus, "taekwondo" may be loosely translated as "the way of the foot and fist" or "the...
. Mexican athletes have achieved renown in disciplines like marathon running, racewalking and
divingDiving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
.
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
is played at the major universities like
ITESMThe Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education commonly shortened as Monterrey Institute of Technology or Monterrey Tech is one of the largest private, nonsectarian and coeducational multi-campus universities...
,
UANLThe Autonomous University of Nuevo León is a public university with seven campuses across the Northern state of Nuevo León, Mexico. Founded as University of Nuevo León on 25 September 1933, it is the oldest and largest university in the state in terms of student population and it is currently...
,
UDLAThe Universidad de las Américas , is one of the most important private universities in Mexico. Its academic programs, both in the undergraduate and graduate schools have national and international prestige...
,
IPNThe National Polytechnic Institute is one of the largest and finest public universities in Mexico...
and
UNAMUNAM or UNaM may refer to:*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
. The college league in Mexico is called
ONEFAThe National Student Organization of American Football, is a Mexican college football league....
. Several Mexican players have been signed by the NFL over the years.
RugbyRugby football may refer to a number of sports through history descended from a common form of football developed in different areas of the United Kingdom. Today it refers to either rugby league or rugby union.- History :...
is played at the amateur level throughout the country with the majority of clubs in Mexico City and others in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Celaya, Guanajuato and Oaxaca.
Auto racing is very popular in Mexico. Throughout the years, Mexico has hosted races for some of the most important international championships such as Formula One, NASCAR,
Champ CarChamp Car was the name for a class and specification of cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
,
A1 Grand PrixA1 Grand Prix is a 'single make' open-wheel auto racing series. It is unique in its field in that competitors represent their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most formula racing series. As such, it is often promoted as the "World Cup of Motorsport"...
, among others. Mexico also has its own NASCAR-sanctioned stock car series, the
NASCAR MexicoNASCAR Mexico is a joint-venture between NASCAR and OCESA, a Mexican entertainment company, aiming to develop, manage and operate local motorsports events and oversee television distribution, sponsorship and licensing....
, which runs 14 events in different cities, drawing large crowds. Other forms of racing include
Formula RenaultFormula Renault is a class of formula racing founded in 1971. It is popular in Europe and other countries. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it is a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to Formula Three, World Series by Renault, GP2 or...
,
Formula VeeFormula Vee is a popular single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low-costs in comparison to Formula Ford or Formula BMW.The class is based on a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, utilizing a collection of the stock parts to form a competitive race car around a purpose-built tube frame and...
, touring cars, Pick-up trucks, endurance racing, rallying, and off-road.
Ice hockey is played in larger cities like Monterrey, Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Culiacan and Mexico City.
Notable Mexican athletes include
golfGolf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area...
er
Lorena OchoaLorena Ochoa is a Mexican golfer who plays on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and is currently the number one ranked female golfer in the world. As the first Mexican golfer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world, she is considered the best Mexican golfer of all time.-Childhood and amateur...
, who is currently ranked first in the
LPGAThe LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization, whose headquarters are in Daytona Beach, Florida, is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from...
world rankings,
Ana GuevaraAna Gabriela Guevara Espinoza is a now-retired Mexican track and field athlete, specialized in the 400 meters....
, former world champion of the 400 metres and Olympic subchampion in Athens 2004, and
Fernando PlatasFernando Platas is a Mexican diver. He began diving since he was a young boy. In 1990 he won in Germany two tests of 2 and 10 metres, and in that same year he won three gold medals in the Central American Games which took place in Mexico City.In 1992, he represented Mexico in the 1992 Summer...
, a numerous Olympic medal winning diver.
Sport fishing is popular in Baja California and the big Pacific coast resorts, while freshwater bass fishing is growing in popularity too. The gentler arts of diving and snorkeling are big around the Caribbean, with famous dive sites at Cozumel and on the reefs further south. The Pacific coast is becoming something of a center for surfing, with few facilities as yet; all these sports attract tourists to Mexico.
Healthcare and education
- Main articles: Health care in Mexico
Health care in Mexico is provided by either public or private institutions. Private health care operates entirely on the free-market system, i.e., it is available to those who can afford it, and is provided by private institutions. Public health care, on the other hand, is provided to all Mexican...
and Education in MexicoEducation in Mexico is regulated by the Secretariat of Public Education . Educational standards are set by this Ministry at all levels except in autonomous universities chartered by the government...
. See also 2009 swine flu outbreak.
Since the early 1990s, Mexico entered a transitional stage in the health of its population and some indicators such as mortality patterns are identical to those found in highly developed countries like Germany or Japan. Although all Mexicans are entitled to receive medical care by the state, 50.3 million Mexicans had no medical insurance as of 2002. Efforts to increase the number of people are being made, and the current administration intends to achieve
universal health careUniversal health care is health care coverage for all eligible residents of a political region and often covers medical, dental and mental health care. Typically, costs are borne in the majority by government-funded programs....
by 2011.
Mexico's medical infrastructure is highly rated for the most part and is usually excellent in major cities, but rural areas and indigenous communities still have lack equioment for advanced medical procedures , forcing them to travel to the closest urban area to get specialized medical care.
State-funded institutions such as
Mexican Social Security InstituteThe Mexican Social Security Institute is a governmental organization that attends to public health, pensions and social security in Mexico operating under the Secretariat of Health.-History:...
(IMSS) and the
Institute for Social Security and Services for State WorkersThe State Employees' Social Security and Social Services Institute is a governmental organization in Mexico that administers part of that nation's health care and social security systems, help in cases of old age, disability, risks in labor and death...
(ISSSTE) play a major role in health and social security. Private health services are also very important and account for 13% of all medical units in the country.
Medical training is done mostly at public universities with some specializations done abroad. Some public universities in Mexico, such as the
University of GuadalajaraUniversity of Guadalajara is a public University in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It is the second oldest University in Mexico, the fourth oldest in North America and the fourteenth oldest in Latin America...
, have signed agreements with the U.S. to receive and train American students in Medicine. Health care costs in private institutions and prescription drugs in Mexico are on average lower than that of its North American economic partners.
In 2004, the literacy rate was at 97% for youth under the age of 14 and 91% for people over 15, placing Mexico at the 24th place in the world rank accordingly to
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
. Primary and secondary education (9 years) is free and mandatory. Even though different bilingual education programs have existed since the 1960s for the indigenous communities, after a constitutional reform in the late 1990s, these programs have had a new thrust, and free text books are produced in more than a dozen indigenous languages.
In the 1970s, Mexico established a system of "distance-learning" through satellite communications to reach otherwise inaccessible small rural and indigenous communities. Schools that use this system are known as
telesecundariaTelesecundaria is a system of distance education programs for secondary and high school students created by the government of Mexico and available in rural areas of the country as well as Central America, South America, Canada and the United States via satellite .-Background:Telesecundaria was born...
s
in Mexico. The Mexican distance learningDistance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy and andragogy, technology, and instructional systems design that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site". According to the U.S...
secondary education is also transmitted to some Central AmericaManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
n countries and to Colombia, and it is used in some southern regions of the United States as a method of bilingual education. There are approximately 30,000 telesecundarias
and approximately a million telesecundaria
students in the country.
The largest and most prestigious public university in Mexico, today numbering over 269,000 students, is the National Autonomous University of MexicoThe National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public university based primarily in Mexico City and generally considered to be the largest one-campus university in the Americas in terms of student population...
(Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) founded in 1910. Three
Nobel laureates and most of Mexico's modern-day presidents are among its former students. UNAM conducts an astounding 50% of Mexico's scientific research and has presence all across the country with satellite campuses and research centers. The National Autonomous University of Mexico ranks 15th place in the Top 200 World University Ranking published by The Times Higher Education Supplement in 2008, making it the highest ranked Spanish-speaking university in the world and the highest ranked in Latin America. The second largest university is the
National Polytechnic InstituteThe National Polytechnic Institute is one of the largest and finest public universities in Mexico...
(IPN). These institutions are public, and there are at least a couple of public universities per state.
One of the most prestigious private universities is
Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher EducationThe Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education commonly shortened as Monterrey Institute of Technology or Monterrey Tech is one of the largest private, nonsectarian and coeducational multi-campus universities...
(ITESM). It was ranked by the Wall Street Journal
as the 7th top International Business School worldwide and 74th among the world's top arts and humanities universities ranking of The Times Higher Education Supplement, published in 2005. ITESM has thirty-two secondary campuses, apart from its Monterrey Campus. Other important private universities include
Mexico's Autonomous Technological InstituteThe Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México , commonly known as ITAM, is a private research university located in Mexico City, Mexico...
(ITAM), ranked as the best economics school in Latin America,
Fundación Universidad de las Américas, PueblaThe Universidad de las Américas , is one of the most important private universities in Mexico. Its academic programs, both in the undergraduate and graduate schools have national and international prestige...
(UDLAP) and the Ibero-American University (
Universidad IberoamericanaThe Ibero-American University is a Mexican private institution of higher education sponsored by the Society of Jesus and founded by Sam Sklover...
).
In April 2009 Mexico saw the outbreak of a new strain of H1N1
influenzaInfluenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals. The name influenza is Italian and means "influence"...
, which has infected up to 800 people and infected over 140,000 worldwide as of July 20.
Science and technology
Notable Mexican technologists include
Luis E. MiramontesLuis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas , was a Mexican chemist known as the co-inventor of the progestin used in one of the first two oral contraceptives....
, the inventor of the contraceptive pill, Manuel Mondragon, inventor of the first automatic rifle,
Guillermo González CamarenaGuillermo González Camarena , was a Mexican engineer who was an inventor of a color-wheel type of color television, and who also introduced color television to Mexico....
, who invented the "Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment" and the "Tricolor System", both early color television transmission systems, and
Mario J. MolinaJosé Mario Molina-Pasquel Henríquez is a Mexican-born American chemist and one of the most prominent precursors to the discovering of the Antarctic ozone hole. He was a co-recipient José Mario Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (born March 19, 1943 in Mexico City) is a Mexican-born American chemist and one...
, who won the
Nobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
.
Rodolfo Neri VelaRodolfo Neri Vela is a Mexican scientist and astronaut who flew aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission in 1985.. He is the first Mexican to have traveled to space.-Personal :Neri was born in Zumpango del Río, Guerrero, Mexico...
, an
UNAMThe National Autonomous University of Mexico is a public university based primarily in Mexico City and generally considered to be the largest one-campus university in the Americas in terms of student population...
graduate, was the first Mexican to enter space (as part of the
STS-61-BSTS-61-B was the 23rd Space Shuttle mission, and the second using the Atlantis orbiter.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter liftoff: 118,664 kg**Orbiter landing: 93,316 kg**Payload: 21,791 kg...
mission in 1985.)
In recent years, the biggest scientific project being developed in Mexico was the construction of the
Large Millimeter TelescopeThe Large Millimeter Telescope was inaugurated on 22 November 2006. It is the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture telescope in its frequency range, built for observing radio waves in the wave lengths from approximately 0.85 to 4 mm. It has an active surface with a diameter of 50...
(Gran Telescopio Milimétrico, GMT), the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture telescope in its frequency range. It was designed to observe regions of space obscured by stellar dust.
In 1962, the National Commission of Outer Space (Comisión Nacional del Espacio Exterior, CONNE) was established, but was dismantled in 1977. In 2007, a project was presented to re-open a new
Mexican Space Agency (AEXA)The Mexican Space Agency is a proposed space agency contained in an initiative that was approved unanimously in the Senate of Mexico on 4 November 2008, after receiving a significant vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies on April 26, 2006...
and it was approved at the end of 2008 with the headquarters set to be located in the state of Hidalgo.
In 2008, Hydra Technologies received the Leonardo Da Vinci award, given by the International Aeronautics Congress of Mexico (CIAM for its Spanish abbreviation) in its fourth instauration, for the development of the S4 Ehácatl, as well as the E1 Gavilán.
Government institutions such as
SEMARSemar is a character in Javanese mythology who frequently appears in wayang shadow plays. He is one of the punokawan , but is in fact divine and very wise. He is the dhanyang of Java, and is regarded by some as the most sacred figure of the kotak...
and SEDENA have also developed advanced microprocessors, software, missles, electronic devices and electronic military subsystems many of which have been sold to other Latin American nations. Other consumer electronics companies such as
MabeMabe is a global company which designs, produces, and distributes appliances to more than 70 countries around the world. The company was incorporated in 1946 in Mexico City....
have been fuctioning since the nineteen fifties and have expanded out of Latin America into markets around the world such as Asia and Europe and even into the United States where a large percentage of american branded appliances are actually of Mexican design and origin but sold under local brand names. In fact as of 2008 one out of every four consumer appliances sold in the United States was of Mexican origin. It should be noted that much of Mexicos electronics industry is completly indigenous and has been built with little or no foreign input or assistance and many Mexican electronics companies pride themselves on this fact.
See also
- Index of Mexico-related articles
External links