(Redirected from Mexicans)
:''For other uses, see
Mexico (disambiguation). "Mexican" and "Mexicans" redirect here. For other uses, see
Mexican (disambiguation).''
The 'United Mexican States' (), or simply 'Mexico' (
IPA: /
mɛks.ɪ.koʊ/) (), is a country located in
North America. It is bounded on the north by the
United States; on the south and west by the
North Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by
Guatemala,
Belize, and the
Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the
Gulf of Mexico.
[2][3] The United Mexican States comprise a constitutional republican
federation of thirty-one states and a federal district,
Mexico City, one of the most populous cities on Earth.
Covering almost 2 million
square kilometers,
[4] Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the
Americas by total area and
14th largest in the world. With a population of almost 109 million,
[5] it is the
11th most populous country and the most populous
Spanish-speaking country in the world.
As the only
Latin American member of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 1994, Mexico is firmly established as an
upper middle-income country.
Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency to the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (''Partido Revolucionario Institucional'': PRI), that held it since 1929, culminating a process of political alternation that had begun at the local level since the 1980s.
Toponymy
Main articles: Toponymy of Mexico
After the independence of the vice-royalty of
New Spain it was decided that the country was to be named after its
capital city, whose original name of foundation was
Mexico-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the name of the
Nahua Aztec tribe, the
Mexica. The origin of the name of the tribe is rather obscure. The
Jesuit and historian
Francisco Javier Clavijero argues in his writings that it derives from the
Nahuatl word ''
Mexitl'' or ''
Mexitli'', a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Mexica,
[6] Huitzilopochtli, in which case "Mexico" means "Place where Mexitl lives" or in other precise words: "Place where Mexitli temple is built" in reference to the
Templo Mayor ("Great Temple"), this version is also held by
Fray Juan de Torquemada; but Torquemada adds that ''Mexitli'' comes from the words ''metl'' ("
agave"), ''xictli'' ("navel") and the early settlers took for themselves this name and they were called ''Mexicatl'', this word finally derived in "Mexico", then, according to this version, it would mean: "People of Mexitli" or more literally: "Place in the navel of agave"; this last version is also supported by Fray
Motolinia. Other historians like Fray
Bernardino de Sahagun,
Jose de Acosta, Fray
Diego Duran,
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas say in their works that "Mexico" comes from ''Mecitl'' or ''Mexi'', which was the name of a leader and priest who guided the early pilgrims, these people were called Mexica, and therefore, this word means "People of Mexi". This leader Mexi, sometimes is also called Mexitl, but it should not be confused with the god Mexitli. Some experts like
Alfonso Caso suggested that it derives from the words ''metztli'' ("moon"), ''xictli'' ("navel", "center", "middle" or "son"), and the suffix ''-co'' ("place"), thus it means "Place at the middle of the moon" or "Place at the center of the Lake Moon", in reference to
Lake Texcoco at the middle of which Mexico City was built.
[7] This version is based on an
Aztec legend which says that when the Mexicas arrived first time to Lake Texcoco, they saw the moon reflected on it.
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 fricative . This sound, as well as the
voiced postalveolar fricative , represented by a ''j'', evolved into a
voiceless velar fricative during the
sixteenth century,
[8] which led to the use of the variant ''Méjico'' in many publications, most notably in
Spain, whereas in Mexico, ''México'' was the preferred spelling. In recent years the ''
Real Academia Española'', the institution that regulates the
Spanish language, determined that the normative recommended
spelling in Spanish is ''México'',
[9] and the majority of publications in all Spanish-speaking countries now adhere to the new normative, even though the disused variant is still occasionally found.
[10] In English, the ''x'' in Mexico represents neither the original nor the current sound, but the consonant cluster .
History
Pre-Columbian Civilizations
Main articles: History of Mexico
For almost three thousand years,
Mesoamerica was the site of several advanced
Amerindian civilizations such as the
Olmec, the
Maya and the
Aztecs. In 1519, the native civilizations of what now is known as Mexico were invaded by
Spain; this was one of the most important conquest campaigns in
America. Two years later in 1521, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was conquered by an alliance between Spanish and
Tlaxcaltecs, the main enemies of the
Aztecs, setting up a three-century colonial rule in Mexico. The viceroyalty of
New Spain became the first and largest provider of resources for the
Spanish Empire, and the most populated of all Spanish colonies.
After the independence of the vice-royalty of
New Spain, it was decided that the country was to be named after its capital,
Mexico City. The city's original name was
Mexico-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the name of the
Nahua Aztec tribe, the
Mexica.
Colonial Era & Independence
On
September 16,
1810, independence from Spain was declared by
Miguel Hidalgo in the small town of Dolores,
Guanajuato state. This was the catalyst for a long
war that eventually led to recognized independence in 1821 and the creation of an ephemeral
First Mexican Empire.
Agustín de Iturbide was the first and only emperor. Two years later, he was deposed by the republican forces. In 1824, a republican constitution was drafted creating the United Mexican States with
Guadalupe Victoria as its first President. The first four decades of independent Mexico were marked by a constant strife between federalists (those who supported the federal form of government stipulated in the 1824 constitution) and
centralists (who proposed a hierarchical form of government in which all local authorities were appointed and subject to a central authority). General
Antonio López de Santa Anna was a strong influence in Mexican politics, a centralist and a two-time dictator. In 1836, he approved the ''
Siete Leyes'', a radical amendment to the constitution that institutionalized the centralized form of government, after which
Texas declared independence from Mexico, obtained in 1836. The annexation of Texas by the
United States created a
border dispute that would cause the
Mexican-American War. Santa Anna played a big role in trying to muster Mexican forces but this war resulted in the resolute defeat of Mexico and as a result of the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico lost one third of its surface area to the United States.
Mexican federation in
1847
Dissatisfaction with Santa Anna's return to power, and his unconstitutional rule, led to the
liberal Revolution of Ayutla, which initiated an era of liberal reforms, known as ''
La Reforma'', after which a new constitution was drafted that reestablished federalism as the form of government and first introduced freedom of religion. In the 1860s the country again underwent a military occupation, this time by
France, which established the
Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria on the Mexican throne as
Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico with support from the Catholic clergy and the conservative Mexicans. This
Second Mexican Empire was victorious for only a few years, when the previous president of the Republic, the
Zapotec Indian
Benito Juárez, managed to restore the republic in 1867.
United Mexican States in the Modern Era
Porfirio Díaz, a republican general during the French intervention, ruled Mexico from 1876–1880 and then from 1880–1911 in five consecutive reelections. The period of his rule is known as the ''
Porfiriato'', which was characterized by remarkable economic achievements, investments in art and sciences, but also of huge economic inequality and political repression. An obvious and preposterous electoral fraud that led to his fifth reelection sparked the
Mexican Revolution of 1910, initially led by
Francisco I. Madero. Díaz resigned in 1911 and Madero was elected president but overthrown and murdered in a coup d'état in 1913 led by a conservative general named
Victoriano Huerta after a secret council held with the American ambassador
Henry Lane Wilson. This re-ignited the civil war, with participants such as
Pancho Villa and
Emiliano Zapata who formed their own forces. A third force, the constitutional army led by
Venustiano Carranza, 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 Constitution. Carranza was killed in 1920 and succeeded by another revolutionary hero,
Álvaro Obregón, who in turn was succeeded by
Plutarco Elías Calles. Obregón was reelected in 1928 but assassinated before he could assume power. Shortly after, Calles founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), later renamed the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which became the most influential party during the next 70 years.
During the next four decades, Mexico experienced substantial economic growth that historians call "El Milagro Mexicano", the Mexican Miracle. The assumption of mineral rights by the government, and the subsequent nationalization of the oil industry into
PEMEX during the presidency of
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (1938) was a popular move, but sparked a diplomatic crisis with those countries whose citizens had lost businesses expropriated by the Cárdenas government.
Although the economy continued to flourish, social inequality remained a factor of discontent. Moreover, the PRI rule became increasingly authoritarian and at times oppressive, an example being the
Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, which by according to government officials claimed the life of around 30 protesters, even though many reputable international accounts reported that around 250 protesters were killed by security forces in a clash at the neighborhood. In the 1970s there was extreme dissatisfaction with the administration of
Luis Echeverría which took missteps in both the national and international arenas. Nonetheless, it was in this decade that the first substantial changes to electoral law were made, which initiated a movement of democratization of a system that had become electorally authoritarian.
[11] While the prices of oil were at historically high records and interest rates were low, Mexico made impressive investments in the state-owned oil company, with the intention of revitalizing the economy, but overborrowing and mismanagement of oil revenues led to inflation and exacerbated the crisis of 1982. That year, oil prices plunged, interest rates soared, and the government defaulted on its debt. In an attempt to stabilize the current account balance, and given the reluctance of international lenders to return to Mexico given the previous default, president de la Madrid resorted to currency devaluations which in turn sparked inflation.
Former President
Fox and U.S. President Bush in the signature of the
SPP
The first small cracks in the political monopolistic position of PRI were seen in the late 1970s with the creation of 100 deputy seats in the Chamber of Deputies assigned through proportional representation with open party-lists. Even though at the municipal level the first non-PRI mayor was elected in 1947,
[12] it was not until 1989 that the first non-PRI governor of a state was elected. However, many sources claimed that in 1988 the party resorted to
electoral fraud in order to prevent leftist opposition candidate
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas from winning the national presidential elections who lost to
Carlos Salinas, which led to massive protests in the capital. Salinas embarked on a program of
neoliberal 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 in 1994. However, that very same day, the
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) started a short-lived armed rebellion against the federal government, and has continued as a non-violent opposition movement against neoliberalism and globalization. This and a series of political assassinations and corruption scandals scared portfolio investors and reduced foreign capital investment. Being an election year, in a process that was then called the most transparent in Mexican history, authorities were reluctant to devalue the peso, a move which caused a rapid depletion of the National Reserves. In December 1994, a month after Salinas was succeeded by
Ernesto Zedillo, the
Mexican economy collapsed.
With a rapid rescue packaged authorized by United States president
Clinton and major macroeconomic reforms started by president Zedillo, the economy rapidly recovered and growth peaked at almost 7% in 1999. Democratic reforms under Zedillo's administration caused the PRI to lose its absolute majority in the
Congress in 1997. In 2000, after 71 years the PRI lost a presidential election to
Vicente Fox of the opposition
National Action Party (PAN). On
March 23 2005, the
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was signed by Vicente Fox. During the 2006 elections, the PRI was further weakened and became the third political force in number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies after PAN and the
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). In the concurrent presidential elections,
Felipe Calderón, from PAN was declared winner, with a razor-thin margin over
Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). López Obrador, however,
contested the election and pledged to create an "alternative government".
Geography
Main articles: Geography of Mexico
A picture of Mexico seen from space.
Mexico is situated in the northern
[13][14]/mid-latitudes of the
Americas.
[15] Its territory comprises much of southern North America,
[16][17] or also within
Middle America.
[18][19] Physiographically, the lands east of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec including the
Yucatán Peninsula (which together comprise around 12% of the country's area) lie within the region of
Central America; geologically, the
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt delimits the region on the north.
[20] Geopolitically, however, Mexico is commonly not considered a Central American country.
Mexico's total area is 1,972,550 km², including approximately 6,000 km² of islands in the
Pacific Ocean (including the remote
Guadalupe Island and the
Islas Revillagigedo),
Gulf of Mexico,
Caribbean Sea, and
Gulf of California. On its north,
Mexico shares a 3,141 km border with the United States. The meandering Río Bravo del Norte (known as the
Rio Grande in the United States) defines the border from
Ciudad Juárez 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
Map of climates in Mexico
The Mexican territory is crossed from north to south by two mountain ranges known as
Sierra Madre Oriental and
Sierra Madre Occidental, which are the extension of the
Rocky Mountains from northern North America. From east to west at the center, the country is crossed by the
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt also known as the ''Sierra Nevada''. A fourth mountain range, the
Sierra Madre del Sur, runs from
Michoacán to
Oaxaca. 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 Orizaba (5,700 m),
Popocatépetl (5,462 m) and
Iztaccíhuatl (5,286 m) and the
Nevado de Toluca (4,577 m). Three major urban agglomerations are located in the valleys between these four elevations:
Toluca,
Greater Mexico City and
Puebla.
Climate
Anual Snowfall in
Chihuahua (top) and an isolated beach in
Cabo (bottom).
The
Tropic of Cancer 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.
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 Peninsula), have a yearly median temperature between 24 °C 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 °C 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 °C to 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
An
axolotl or ''ambystoma mexicanum'', one of the endemic species of the lakes of the Valley of Mexico
Mexico is one of the 17
megadiverse countries of the world. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity.
[21] Mexico ranks first in biodiversity in
reptiles with 707 known species, second in mammals with 438 species, fourth in
amphibians with 290 species, and fourth in flora, with 26,000 different species.
[22] Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in
ecosystems and fourth in overall species.
Approximately 2,500 species are protected by Mexican legislations.
[23] The Mexican government created the National System of Information about Biodiversity, in order to study and promote the sustainable use of ecosystems.
In Mexico, 17 million hectares 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).
Government and politics
Main articles: Politics of Mexico
Palacio de San Lázaro, Chamber of Deputies, Congress of the Union
Political configuration
The United Mexican States are a federation whose government is
representative,
democratic and
republican based on a
congressional 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-post plurality,
proportional representation 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: the bicameral
Congress of the Union, composed of a
Senate and a
Chamber of Deputies, which makes federal law, declares war, imposes taxes, approves the national budget and international treaties, and ratifies diplomatic appointments.
[24]
★
Executive: the
President of the United Mexican States, who is the
head of state and
government, as well as the
commander in chief of the Mexican military forces. The President also appoints, with Senate approval, the
Cabinet and other officers. The President is responsible of executing and enforcing the law, and has the authority of vetoing bills.
[25]
★
Judiciary: The
Supreme Court of Justice, 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.
[26]
All elected executive officials are elected by
plurality (first-past-the-post). Seats to the legislature are elected by plurality and
proportional representation at the federal and state level. The Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union is conformed by 300 deputies elected through plurality and 200 deputies by proportional representation with open-party lists for which the country is divided into 5 electoral constituencies or circumscriptions. The Senate is conformed by 64 senators, two per state and the Federal District, jointly elected by plurality, 32 senators assigned to the first minority (one per state and the Federal District) and 32 elected by proportional representation with open-party lists of which the country conforms a single electoral constituency.
According to the constitution, all constituent states 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, also called a Supreme Court of Justice.
In the 2006–2009 Congress eight parties are therein represented; five of them, however, have not received neither in this nor in previous congresses more than 4% of the national votes
[27] The other three parties have historically been the dominant parties in Mexican politics:
★
National Action Party (''Partido Acción Nacional'', PAN): a center-right conservative party founded in 1939
★
Institutional Revolutionary Party (''Partido Revolucionario Institucional'', PRI): a center party that ascribes to
social democracy, founded in 1929 to unite all the factions of the
Mexican Revolution. Prominent both right-wing and left-wing Mexican politicians have been members of the party.
★
Party of the Democratic Revolution (''Partido de la Revolución Democrática'', PRD): a center-left party founded in 1989 formed by the coalition of socialists and liberal parties, the
National Democratic Front under the candidacy of
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.
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 Fox, candidate of the PAN, became the first non-PRI president to be elected in more than 70 years.
In 2006,
Felipe Calderón of the PAN faced
Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the PRD in a
very close election (0.58% difference). On
September 6,
2006,
Felipe Calderón was declared
President-elect 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 Pinos. He was officially sworn as President on the morning of
December 1,
2006 in
Congress.
Political divisions of Mexico
Main articles: Political divisions of Mexico
The United Mexican States are a federated union 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 congress, as well as a judiciary, and its citizens elect by direct voting, a
governor (''gobernador'') for a six-year term, as well as representatives (''diputados locales'') to their respective state congresses, for three-year terms.
[28] The 31 states and the Federal District are collectively called "federal entities", and all are equally represented in the Congress of the Union.
Mexican states are also divided into
municipalities (''municipios''), the smallest official political entity in the country, governed by a
mayor or "municipal president" (''presidente municipal''), elected by its residents by plurality.
[29] Municipalities can be further subdivided into non-autonomous
boroughs or in semi-autonomous auxiliary presidencies.
Constitutionally,
Mexico City, as the capital of the federation and seat of the powers of the Union, is the Federal District, a special political division in Mexico 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.
[30] Nonetheless, since 1987 it has progressively gained a greater degree of autonomy, and residents now elect a
head of government (''Jefe de Gobierno'') and representatives of a Legislative Assembly 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.
State names and abbreviations for the 31 Mexican states and the Federal District:
Foreign policy
President
Calderón with Canadian Primer Minister
Harper at the 2007 North American Leader's Summit
Traditionally, the Mexican government has sought to maintain its interests abroad and project its influence largely through moral persuasion rather than through political or economical pressure.
Since the Mexican Revolution, and until the administration of President
Ernesto Zedillo, Mexico had been known for its foreign policy or "doctrine" known as the ''Doctrina Estrada'' (Estrada Doctrine, named after its creator Genaro Estrada). The Doctrina Estrada was a foreign policy guideline of an enclosed view of
sovereignty. It claimed that foreign governments should not judge, positively or negatively, the governments or changes in government of other nations, in that such action would imply a breach to its sovereignty.
[31] This policy was said to be based on the principles of Non-Intervention, Pacific Solution to Controversies, and Self-Determination of all nations. However, it has been argued that the policy has been "mis-used", as it was an implied international contract between the PRI-governments and foreign nations that Mexico would not judge what happened abroad, if other countries would not judge what happened in Mexico.
During his Presidency,
Vicente Fox appointed
Jorge Castañeda to be his
Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Castañeda immediately broke with the Estrada Doctrine, promoting what was called by critics the ''Castañeda Doctrine''. The new foreign policy called for an openness and an acceptance of criticism from the international community, and the increase of Mexican involvement in Foreign Affairs.
[32]
In lieu with this new openness in Mexico's foreign policy, some political parties have proposed an amendment of the Constitution in order to allow the
Mexican Army,
Air Force or
Navy to collaborate with the
United Nations in peace-keeping missions, or to provide military help to countries that officially ask for it.
Military
The Mexican Military has three branches; The
Mexican Army, The
Mexican Air Force, and The Mexican Air Navy
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Mexico
Mexico Stock Market building
Mexico has a free market economy, and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country,
[33] and it is the 12th largest economy in the world as measured in
Gross Domestic Product in
purchasing power parity.
[34] After the
1994 economic debacle, Mexico has made an impressive recovery, building a modern and diversified economy.
Recent administrations have also improved infrastructure and opened competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity generation, natural gas distribution and airports. Oil is Mexico's largest source of foreign income.
According to the director for Mexico of the
World Bank, the population in extreme poverty has decreased from 24.2% to 17.6% in the general population and from 42% to 27.9% in rural areas from 2000-
2004.
[35] Nonetheless, income inequality remains a problem, and huge gaps remain not only between rich and poor but also between the north and the south, the urban and the rural areas. Sharp contrasts in income and Human Development are also a grave problem in Mexico. The 2004
United Nations Human Development Index report for Mexico states that,
Benito Juárez, a district of
the Distrito Federal, and
San Pedro Garza García, in the State of
Nuevo León, would have a similar level of economic, educational and life expectancy development to
Germany or
New Zealand. In contrast, Metlatonoc, in the state of
Guerrero, would have an HDI similar to that of
Malawi.
[36][37]
Many of the positive effects in poverty reduction and the increase in purchasing power of the middle class are attributed to the macroeconomic stability pursued by the last two administrations. GDP annual average growth for the period of 1995–2002 was 5.1%.
[38] The economic downturn in the United States also caused a similar pattern in Mexico, of 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. The Fox administration also provided monetary stability: budget deficit was further reduced and foreign debt was decreased to less than 20% of GDP.
Mexico shares, with
Chile the highest rating of long-term sovereign credit in Latin America. Poverty in Mexico is further reduced by remittances from Mexican citizens working in the United States of America, which reaches US$20 billion dollars per year and is the second largest source of foreign income after oil exports
[39].
Almost 90% of Mexican trade has been put under
free trade agreements with over 40 countries, of which the
North American Free Trade Agreement remains the most influential. Almost 90% of Mexican exports go to the United States and Canada, and close to 55% of its imports come from these two countries. Other major trade agreements have been signed with the
European Union,
Japan,
Israel and many countries in Central and South America.
Tourism in Mexico is a large industry, the third in importance. The most notable tourist draws are the ancient Meso-American ruins, and popular beach resorts. The coastal climate and unique culture – a fusion of the European (particularly Spanish) and the Meso-American – 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 surges during spring break at many of the beach resort sites which are popular with vacationing college students from the United States.
Ongoing economic concerns include the commercial and financial dependence on the US,
[40] low real wages,
underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable
income distribution (top 20% of income earners account for 55% of income), and few advancement opportunities for the largely
Amerindian population in the impoverished 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.
Demography
Main articles: Demography of Mexico
With a population of 103 million (
2005 Census), Mexico is the most populous
Spanish-speaking country in the world.
Largest metropolitan areas
Main articles: Metropolitan areas of Mexico
The following is a list of the major metropolitan areas of Mexico (as reported in the 2005 census).
| Rank | City | State | Pop. | Rank | City | State | Pop. |  Mexico City at night |
|---|
| 1 | 'Mexico City' | DF | 19,231,829 | 11 | 'Queretaro' | QT | 918,100 |
| 2 | 'Guadalajara' | JA | 4,095,853 | 12 | 'Merida' | YU | 897,740 |
| 3 | 'Monterrey' | NL | 3,664,331 | 13 | 'Mexicali' | BC | 855,962 |
| 4 | 'Puebla' | PB | 2,109,049 | 14 | 'Aguascalientes' | AC | 805,666 | Mexico City |
| 5 | 'Toluca' | ME | 1,610,786 | 15 | 'Tampico' | TM | 803,196 |  Guadalajara, JA |
| 6 | 'Tijuana' | BC | 1,483,992 | 16 | 'Culiacan' | SI | 793,730 |
| 7 | 'Leon' | GT | 1,425,210 | 17 | 'Cuernavaca' | MO | 787,556 |
| 8 | 'Juarez' | CH | 1,313,338 | 18 | 'Acapulco' | GR | 786,830 |
| 9 | 'Torreon' | CO | 1,110,890 | 19 | 'Chihuahua' | CH | 784,882 |
| 10 | 'San Luis' | SL | 957,753 | 20 | 'Morelia' | MI | 735,624 | Guadalajara |
|
Demographic dynamics
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 Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca) are home of 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.
Immigration
Mexico is home of the largest number of U.S. citizens abroad (estimated at one million as of 1999),
[41] which represents 1% of the Mexican population and 25% of all U.S. citizens abroad. Other significant communities of foreigners are those of
Central and
South Americans, most notably from
Argentina,
Brazil,
Chile,
Peru,
Cuba,
Venezuela,
Guatemala and
Colombia. 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).
[42][43] 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. However, Mexico has come under scrutiny for the alleged inhumane manner they treat incoming illegal immigrants from El Salvador , eliciting accusations of hypocrisy and human rights abuses
[44].
Discrepancies between the figures of official legal aliens and all foreign-born residents are quite large. The official figure for foreign-born 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
Mexico is ethnically diverse, and the constitution defines the country to be a "pluricultural nation".
Mestizos (those of European and Amerindian ancestry) form the largest group, making up to 60%–75% of the total population. The percentage of Amerindians, called
indigenous peoples (''indígenas'') in Mexico, is estimated to be between 12% (pure Amerindian)
[Diversidad etnolingüística] or 30% (predominantly Amerindian).
Indigenous peoples are considered the foundation of the Mexican pluricultural nation and therefore enjoy self-determination in certain areas.
Indigenous languages are also considered "national languages" and are protected by law.
Ethnic Europeans make up 9%
and 15%
[45] of the population, mostly descendants of the first
Spanish settlers, although many have
German,
French,
Italian,
Portuguese,
Irish,
Polish,
Romanian,
Russian and
British ancestry; many are found in major cities
[46][47] after the waves of immigration that brought many Europeans at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, along with some Canadians and
Euro-Americans from the United States.
Mexico also received a number of
Lebanese,
Turkish,
[48] Chinese,
Japanese,
Koreans[49] and
Filipinos.
[50]
Afro-Mexicans, mostly of mixed ancestry, live in the coastal areas of
Veracruz,
Tabasco and
Guerrero.
Languages
Main articles: Languages of Mexico
There is no ''de jure'' constitutional
official language at the federal level in Mexico.
Spanish, however, is used as a ''de facto'' official language and is spoken by 97% of the population. The General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, however, 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 languages.
[51] Along with Spanish, the law has granted them –more than 60 languages– 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 the Ingidenous Peoples recognizes the language of the
Kickapoo, which immigrated from the
United States,
[52] and of those of the
Guatemalan Amerindian refugees.
[53]
Mexico has the largest Spanish-speaking population having almost two times more speakers than the second Spanish-speaking country accumulating almost a third of all Spanish speakers around the world. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Approximately 6% of the population speaks an indigenous language and 3% do not speak Spanish.
Nahuatl is spoken by 1.5 million and
Yucatec Maya by 800,000. Some of the national languages are in danger of extinction;
Lacandon is spoken by fewer than a hundred people.
English is widely used in business, at the border cities, as well as by the one million American 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
Venetian,
Plautdietsch,
German,
French and
Romani.
Religion
Geographically, northern and central Mexico are mostly Catholic (where Protestants are usually less than 3% of the total population) whereas the south-east, while still predominantly Catholic, has a much larger proportion of the population (15%) who are either Protestant or non-religious.
Catholicism
Main articles: Roman Catholicism in Mexico
Unlike some other Latin American countries, Mexico has no official religion, and the Constitution of 1917 and the anti-clerical laws marked a great limitation on the Church and sometimes codified state intrusion into Church matters. The government does not provide any financial contribution to the Church, and the latter does not participate in public education. In 1992 Mexico lifted almost all restrictions on the Catholic Church, including granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights, and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country.
[54] Until recently, priests did not have the right to vote, and even now, they cannot be elected for public office. Nonetheless, the Mexican population is predominantly
Roman Catholic with 89%
[55] being Catholics and 47% percent of the Mexican population attending church services weekly.
[56] In absolute terms, after
Brazil, Mexico has the world's largest population of Catholics.
Other faiths and no religion
About 6% of the population (more than 4.4 million people) is
Protestant,
of whom
Pentecostals and
Charismatics (called Neo-Pentecostals in the census), are the largest group (1.37 million people).
The 2000 National census registered more than a million
Jehovah's Witnesses.
The
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims a million registered members as of 2006, about 250,000 of whom are active,
[57][58][59] though this is disputed.
[60]
The presence of
Jews in the country dates back to as early as 1521, when Hernando Cortés conquered the Aztecs, accompanied by several
Conversos. 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.
Culture
Main articles: Culture of Mexico
Mexican culture is the result of a historical process of violent and peaceful exchange of ideas, the assimilation of exogenous cultural elements and the reinterpretations of the endogenous cultural elements. As was the case in most
Latin American 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 Porfiriato''), 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, though accentuated during the
Mexican Revolution, cultural identity had its foundation in the ''mestizaje'', of which the indigenous (i.e. Amerindian) element was the core. In light of the various ethnicities that formed the Mexican people,
José Vasconcelos in his publication ''La Raza Cósmica'' (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.
The Fine Arts
Post-revolutionary art in Mexico had its expression in the works of renowned artists such as
Frida Kahlo,
Diego Rivera,
José Clemente Orozco,
Rufino Tamayo and
David Alfaro Siqueiros, amongst others. Diego Rivera is the most well-known figure of Mexican
muralism, who painted the ''
Man at the Crossroads'' in
Rockefeller Center. Some of his murals are also displayed at the Mexican
National Palace and the
Palace of Fine Arts. Academic music composers of Mexico include
Manuel M. Ponce,
Mario Lavista,
Silvestre Revueltas,
Arturo Marquez, and
Juventino Rosas, many of whom incorporated traditional elements into their music. Finally,
Carlos Fuentes,
Juan Rulfo,
Elena Poniatowska,
José Emilio Pacheco, and the Nobel Prize winner
Octavio Paz, are some of the greatest exponents of the Mexican literature.
Film
Main articles: Cinema of Mexico
Mexican films from the
Golden Era in the 1940s and 1950s are the greatest examples of Latin American cinema, with a huge industry comparable to the
Hollywood of those years. Mexican films were exported and exhibited in all of Latin America and Europe. ''Maria Candelaria'' (1944) by
Emilio Fernández, was the one first films to be awarded
Palme d'Or at the
Cannes Film Festival in 1946, the first time the event was held after World War II. Famous actors and actress from this period include
María Félix,
Pedro Infante,
Dolores del Río,
Jorge Negrete and comedian
Cantinflas.
More recently, films such as ''
Como agua para chocolate'' (1992), ''
Cronos'' (1993), ''
Amores Perros'' (2000), ''
Y tu mamá también'' (2001), ''
El Crimen del Padre Amaro'' (2002), ''
Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and ''
Babel'' (2006) have been successful in creating universal stories about
contemporary subjects, and were internationally recognised, as in the prestigious
Cannes Film Festival. Mexican directors
Alejandro González Iñárritu (''
Amores Perros'', ''
Babel''),
Alfonso Cuarón (''
Children of Men'', ''
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''),
Guillermo del Toro,
Carlos Carrera (''
The Crime of Father Amaro''), and screenwriter
Guillermo Arriaga are some of the most known present-day film makers.
Cuisine
Main articles: Mexican cuisine
Mostly known internationally for its
tacos,
quesadillas and
enchiladas, Mexican cuisine is extremely diverse. Regional dishes include
mole poblano,
chiles en nogada and
chalupas from
Puebla;
cabrito and
machaca from
Monterrey,
cochinita pibil from
Yucatán,
Tlayudas from
Oaxaca, as well as
barbacoa,
chilaquiles,
milanesas, and many other dishes.
Broadcast media
Two of the major television networks based in Mexico are
Televisa and
TV Azteca. Televisa is also the largest producer of Spanish-language content in the world and also the world's largest Spanish-language media network.
Grupo Multimedios is another media conglomerate with Spanish-language broadcasting in Mexico,
Spain, and the
United States.
Soap operas (
telenovelas) are translated to many languages and seen all over the world with renowned names like
Verónica Castro,
Lucía Méndez,
Lucero, and
Thalía. Even
Gael García Bernal and
Diego Luna from
Y tu mamá también and current
Zegna model have appeared in some of them. Some of their TV shows are modeled after American counterparts like ''
Family Feud'' (''100 Mexicanos Dijeron'' or "A hundred Mexicans said" in Spanish) and
Que Dice la Gente, ''
Big Brother'', ''
American Idol'', ''
Saturday Night Live'' and others. Nationwide news shows like ''
Las Noticias por Adela'' on Televisa resemble a hybrid between ''
Donahue'' and ''
Nightline''. Local news shows are modeled after American counterparts like the ''
Eyewitness News'' and ''
Action News'' formats. Border cities receive American television and radio stations, while
satellite and
cable subscription is common for the upper-classes in major cities, often watch American movies and TV shows.
Popular music
The vast array of popular music genre in Mexico shows the great diversity of its culture. Endogenous music includes
mariachi,
banda,
duranguense,
norteño (grupero),
ranchera and
corridos. Contemporary music includes
Mexican rock (or ''Rock nacional'', represented, among many other, by
Maná,
El Tri,
Molotov and
Jaguares),
heavy metal,
rap,
pop (like the group
RBD),
punk,
reggaeton, and
alternative music.
Many Mexican singers are famous in all of Latin America and Spain. Mexico is often referred to as the "capital of Spanish-speaking entertainment", due to the fact that any Latin or Spanish singer wanting to become an international success in the region, they must seek to enter first to the Mexican music industry.
Sports
The Estadio Azteca is the home stadium of the Mexico national team.
Mexico has an official team for almost every sport, but
Soccer is often considered to be the favorite. Mexico does not have a large number of players in Europe, besides playing for a "higher ranked club". Throughout history Mexico has had a lot of famous soccer players, nowadays among the most famous are:
Oswaldo Sanchez,
Hugo Sanchez (who is on the
FIFA 100 list by
Pele,
Omar Bravo,
Nery Castillo etc. Mexico City hosted the
XIX Olympic Games in 1968, making it the only Latin American city to do so. The country has also hosted the
FIFA World Cup twice, in
1970 and
1986.
It is common believed that soccer was introduced to Mexico by
Cornish miners in the 19th century, but this contested because
Aztecs, dating back form about 900 A.D. and further, were known to play a sport very similar to football. During this game, two teams would play with large hoops atop of pyramid walls, using the head of a sacrifice (human) as the ball, and whichever team placed the head within the opposing hoop won the right to be sacrificed to the gods. Though the Aztecs apparently regarded this was a very high and noble honor, some argue that it was the losing team to get decapitated. It is also believed that football was heard of in Europe from the Mexicans , who after a bloody battle against the
Spaniards, would chop off their opponents' head and use them as footballs. This form of entertainment spread to Europe to the
Spaniards,
Portuguese,
Dutch , and
English, except that Europeans developed other balls (the use of heads was considered to barbaric, and filthy). Mexico is also the Latin American country with the most football stadiums, the largest of which are the
Estadio Azteca, the
Estadio Universitario, and the
Estadio Jalisco, in order.
The national sport of Mexico is
Charreria.
Bullfighting is also a popular sport in the country. Almost all large cities have bullrings. ''
Plaza México'' in
Mexico City, is the largest bullring in the world, which seats 55,000 people.
Baseball, is also popular, especially in the Gulf of Mexico 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 Beisbol. But the most important baseball league in Mexico is the
Liga Mexicana del Pacífico. The States of Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California have this league, with the highest professional level. The players of this league play in the MLB in The USA, Japan and Korea. This league participates in the "Mini World Series" with teams from Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic in the "Caribbean Series"
The most important professional
basketball league is the
Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional and covers the whole Mexican territory, where the
Soles de Mexicali 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 American Universities and some teams from the American NBA.
American football is played at the major universities like
ITESM (
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey),
UANL (
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León),
UDLA (University of the Americas), and
UNAM. The college league in Mexico is called
ONEFA. There is also a strong following of the NFL in Mexico with the Steelers, Cowboys, Dolphins and Raiders being the most popular teams.
Rugby 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.
Professional wrestling (or
Lucha libre in Spanish) is a major crowd draw with national promotions such as
AAA, LLL,
CMLL and others.
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.
Education
Main articles: Education in Mexico
ITESM, Tecnológico de Monterrey
Mexico has made improvements in
education in the last two decades. In 2004, the literacy rate was at 92.2%, and the youth
literacy rate (ages 15–24) was 96%. 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 ''
telesecundarias'' in Mexico. The Mexican
distance learning secondary education is also transmitted to some
Central American 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.
[61]
The largest and most prestigious public university in Mexico, today numbering over 269,000 students, is the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (''Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México'', UNAM) founded in 1551. Three
Nobel laureates and most of Mexico's modern-day presidents are among its former students. UNAM conducts 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 74th place in the Top 200 World University Ranking published by The Times Higher Education Supplement in 2006,
[62] making it the highest ranked Spanish-speaking university in the world as well as the first Latin American university. The second largest university is the
National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). These institutions are public, and there are at least a couple of public universities per state.
The most prestigious private university is
Monterrey's Technological and Higher Education Institute (ITESM). It was ranked by the ''Wall Street Journal'' as the 7th top International Business School worldwide
[63] 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 Institute (ITAM),
Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), the Ibero-American University (
Universidad Iberoamericana).
Science and technology
Notable Mexican technologists include
Luis E. Miramontes, the co-inventor of the
contraceptive pill, and
Guillermo González Camarena, who invented the "Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment", the first color television transmission system. Dr.
Rodolfo Neri Vela, an
UNAM graduate, was the first Mexican in space (as part of the
STS-61-B mission in 1985), and
Mario J. Molina, who won the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
In recent years, the biggest scientific project being developed in Mexico was the construction of the
Gran Telescopio Milimétrico (GMT) or Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT), the world's largest and most sensitive single-aperture telescope. It was designed to observe regions of the space obscured by stellar dust.
Nonetheless, the government currently spends only 0.31% of GDP in science and technology,
[64] a low percentage in comparison with other countries. Mexico has the lowest number of researchers of the OECD countries, with only 4.8 researchers per 10,000 inhabitants.
Mexico trains only three PhDs per million habitants.
Moreover, there is a regional disparity in the allocation of scientific resources; 75% of all doctorate degrees are awarded from institutions in Mexico City area.
Bibliography
★
Mexico: Biography of Power: A history of Modern Mexico 1810–1996, , Enrique, Krauze, Perennial, 1998, ISBN 0-06-092917-0 Standard work by a renowned Mexican author.
★
The Oxford History of Mexico, , Michael C., Meyer, Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-19-511228-8 Twenty essays on Mexican history, including cultural history.
★
A History of Mexico, Parkes, Henry Bamford, , , Houghton Mifflin, 1972, ISBN 0-395-08410-5
See also
Infrastructure, communications and transportation
★
Water supply and sanitation in Mexico
★
Automóvil Panamericano
★
Cars in Mexico
★
El Universal
★
Biznews North Mexico
★
Excélsior
★
Reforma
★
SIAM auto show
★
Transport in Mexico
Geography, history and politics
★
Foreign affairs of Mexico
★
Mexican Protected Natural Areas
★
Military of Mexico
★
Mountain peaks of México
★
Stamps and postal history
★
U.S.-Mexico border
★
Zapatista uprising in Chiapas
Lists
★
List of cities in Mexico
★
List of international trade topics
★
List of Mexicans
★
List of Mexican artists
★
List of universities in Mexico
References
1. There is no official language stipulated in the constitution. However, the General Law of Linguistic Rights for the Indigenous Peoples recognizes all Amerindian minority languages therein spoken, along with Spanish, as "national languages" and "equally valid" in territories where spoken.
2. ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.; p. 733
3. "Mexico". ''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', 6th ed. 2001–6. New York: Columbia University Press.
4. The CIA World Fact Book "Area: total: 1,972,550 km²"
5. The CIA World Fact Book - Mexican Population
6. AGUILAR-MORENO M (2006) ''Handbook to Life in the Aztec World'' Facts of Life, Inc: New York, USA, p. 19
7. Nombre del Estado de México Gobierno del Estado de México
8. Evolution of the pronunciation of ''x'' Real Academia Española
9. Real Academia Española Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas
10. "Mexico" ''Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary''
11. Using the phrase, ''Electoral Authoritarianism'' by Schedler A (2004) ''From Electoral Authoritarianism to Democratic Consolidation" in ''Mexico's Democracy at Work'', Crandall R, Paz G, Roett R (editors), Lyenne Reinner Publisher, Colorado USA
12. Efemérides del PAN
13. "Northern and Mid Latitude Soil Database", Version 1. National Soil Database, Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Published by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A.
14. "Three of Life: Chloronia", section "Natural history" ''[In northern latitudes (e.g., Mexico), adult emergence might be limited...]''
15. Francaviglia, Richard V. "Geography and climate", ''U.S. Mexican War, 1846-1848.'' 14 March 2006: PBS / KERA
16. Mexico ''The American Heritage Reference Collection'', et al.
17. Mexico ''The Columbia Encyclopedia''
18. "Mexico" ''CIA World Factbook''. 2007. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency
19. North America ''The Columbia Encyclopedia
20. Nord-Amèrica, in ''Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana
21. Biodiversidad SEMARNAT
22. Biodiversidad en México
23. Sistema Nacional de Información sobre la Biodiversidad en México
24. The composition, responsibilities and requirements of the legislative power are outlined in articles 50 to 79 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
25. The composition, responsibilities and requirements of the executive power are outlined in articles 80 to 93 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
26. The composition, responsibilities and requirements of the judicial power are outlined in articles 94 to 107of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
27. Grupos Parlamentarios
28. The form of government of the constituent states is briefly outlined in the 116th article of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, and further expanded in the constitutions of each state.
29. The form of government of the municipalities is briefly outlined in the 115th article of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, and further expanded in the constitutions of each state they are part of.
30. The form of government of the Federal District is outlined in the 112nd article of the Political Constitution of the Untied Mexican States.
31. "La doctrina Estrada dice que México no debe juzgar, ni para bien ni para mal, los gobiernos ni los cambios en el gobierno de otras naciones porque implicaría una intromisión en su soberanía."
32. "La nueva diplomacia mexicana se definió ''con base en el cambio político inaugurado el 2 de julio del 2000'' y en las transformaciones del mundo. Por tanto, México será activo en defensa de la democracia que le costó muchos años consolidar por la vía de la alternancia."
33. List of upper middle-income countries by the World Bank
34. Countries Ranked by GDP, World Bank report, April 2007
35. Baja pobreza en México de 24.2 a 17.6%: Banco Mundial, from El Universal
36. 2004 UNPD Mexico Report on HDI.
37. "Sobresale Nuevo León por su alto nivel de vida" El Norte, Requires Subscription (In Spanish). "Al realizar por primera vez un estudio a nivel municipal, el organismo de la ONU ubicó a San Pedro Garza García como el segundo municipio con mejor Índice de Desarrollo Humano, después de la delegación Benito Juárez; y a San Nicolás de los Garza como el sexto, de los 2 mil 426 municipios de todo el País."
38. CRANDALL, R (2004) "Mexico's Domestic Economy: Policy Options and Choices" in ''Mexico's Democracy at Work'', Crandall, Paz and Roett (editors): Lynne Reinner Publishers, USA
39. [1]
40. Financial Times Mexico The US casts a long shadow "Economists say that Mexico’s long-term growth potential is severely hampered by two things: the lack of structural reform; and the country’s growing dependence on the US"
41. American Citizens Abroad
42. Migrantes, votos, remesas: La apuesta política de los ausentes
43. Argentinos en el exterior
44. [2]
45. Britannica
46. Asociaciones de Inmigrantes Extranjeros en la Ciudad de México. Una Mirada a Fines del Siglo XX
47. Los Extranjeros en México, La inmigración y el gobierno ¿Tolerancia o intolerancia religiosa?
48. Los árabes de México. Asimilación y herencia cultural
49. Conmemoran 100 años de inmigración coreana
50. Floro L. Mercene, ''Filipinos in Mexican History' 
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