- This article is about the country in North America. Mexican(s) redirects here. For other uses, see Mexico (disambiguation) or Mexican (disambiguation).
| Estados Unidos Mexicanos
United Mexican States
|
|
|
Anthem
Himno Nacional Mexicano
|
|
|
Capital
(and largest city) |
Mexico City
19 03 N, 99 22 W |
| Official languages |
Spanish (de facto)1 |
| Demonym |
Mexican |
| Government |
Presidential Federal republic |
| - |
President |
Felipe Calder n
( PAN) |
| Independence |
from Spain |
| - |
Declared |
September 16, 1810 |
| - |
Recognized |
September 27, 1821 |
| Area |
| - |
Total |
1,972,550 km (15th)
761,606 sq mi |
| - |
Water (%) |
2.5 |
| Population |
| - |
2007 estimate |
108,700,891 (11th) |
| - |
2005 census |
103,263,388 |
| - |
Density |
55/km (142nd)
142/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) |
2006 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$1.149 trillion (12th) |
| - |
Per capita |
$11,249 (63rd) |
| GDP (nominal) |
2005 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$840.012 billion (short scale) (13th) |
| - |
Per capita |
$8,066 (55th) |
| Gini? (2006) |
47.3 (high) |
| HDI (2004) |
 0.821 (high) (53rd) |
| Currency |
Peso (MXN) |
| Time zone |
(UTC-8 to -6) |
| Internet TLD |
.mx |
| Calling code |
[[+52]] |
| 1 See languages note (below): [1] |
The United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help info)), or commonly Mexico (IPA: / m ks ko /) (Spanish: M xico (help info) IPA: [ mehiko]), 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, the capital Mexico City, which is 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 the 14th largest in the world. With a population of 109 million,[5] it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
As a regional power[6][7] and 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.[8] Since joining the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, its economy has diversified and grown to become the world's 12th largest by gross domestic product (GDP), on par with Canada and Spain and near France and the UK. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional: PRI) which had held it since 1929, culminating a process of political alternation that actively had begun at the local level during the 1980s.
Toponymy
-
After winning independence from Spain, it was decided that the new country would be named after its capital city, whose original name of foundation was M xico-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the Mexica tribe, generally known as the Aztecs. The origin of the name of the tribe is rather obscure and subject to diverse interpretations. Some[9] argue that it derives from the Nahuatl Mexitl or Mexitli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli, in which ase Mexico means "Place where Mexitli lives". Another hypothesis suggests that the word Mexiko derives from the metztli ("moon"), xictli ("navel", "center" or "son"), and the suffix -co (place), thus it means "Place at the center of the moon" or "Place at the center of the Lake Moon," in reference to Lake Texcoco. 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).[10] Still another hypothesis suggests that it is derived from Mectli, the goddess of maguey.[10]
The name of the city was transliterated to Spanish as M xico 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 /x/ during the sixteenth century.[11] This led to the use of the variant M jico in many publications in Spanish, most notably in Spain, whereas in Mexico and some other Spanish speaking countries M xico was the preferred spelling. In recent years the Real Academia Espa ola, the institution that regulates the Spanish language, determined that both variants are acceptable in Spanish but that the normative recommended spelling is M xico.[12] The majority of publications in all Spanish-speaking countries now adhere to the new normative, even though the alternative variant is still occasionally used.[13] In English, the x in Mexico represents neither the original nor the current sound, but the consonant cluster /ks/.
History
-
Pre-Columbian civilizations
For almost three thousand years, Aridoamerica (north of Mexico)[14] and Mesoamerica (central and southern Mexico)[15] were the site of several advanced Amerindian civilizations. The Olmecs, the Mayas and the Aztecs are some examples.
In 1519, the native civilizations of what now is known as Mexico were invaded by Spain;[16] this was one of the most important conquest campaigns in America. Two years later in 1521, the Aztec capital and metropolis 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 and Independence
On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Priest Miguel Hidalgo in the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato state.[17] 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. Agust n 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 liberales (those who supported the federal form of government stipulated in the 1824 constitution) and conservadores (who proposed a hierarchical form of government in which all local authorities were appointed and subject to a central authority).[18] General Antonio L pez 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.
Evolution of the Mexican territory.
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 Ju rez, managed to restore the republic in 1867.
XX and XXI century
Porfirio D az, 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.[19] An obvious and preposterous electoral fraud that led to his fifth reelection sparked the Mexican Revolution of 1910, initially led by Francisco I. Madero. D az resigned in 1911 and Madero was elected president but overthrown and murdered in a coup d' tat in 1913 led by a conservative general named Victoriano Huerta after a secret council held with the U.S. 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, lvaro Obreg n, who in turn was succeeded by Plutarco El as Calles. Obreg n 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.[20] The assumption of mineral rights by the government, and the subsequent nationalization of the oil industry into PEMEX during the presidency of L zaro C rdenas del R o (1938) was a popular move, but sparked a diplomatic crisis with those countries whose citizens had lost businesses expropriated by the C rdenas 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.[21] An example of this is 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.[22] In the 1970s there was extreme dissatisfaction with the administration of Luis Echeverr a 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.[23][24] 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.
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,[25] 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 Cuauht moc C rdenas from winning the national presidential elections who lost to Carlos Salinas, which led to massive protests in the capital.[26] 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 two-week-lived armed rebellion against the federal government, and has continued as a non-violent opposition movement against neoliberalism and globalization. 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 Bill Clinton and major macroeconomic reforms started by president Zedillo, the economy rapidly recovered and growth peaked at almost 7% by the end of 1999.[27] 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 Calder n, from PAN was declared winner, with a razor-thin margin over Andr s Manuel L pez Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). L pez Obrador, however, contested the election and pledged to create an "alternative government".[28]
Government and politics
-
Palacio de San L zaro, Chamber of Deputies, Congress of the Union
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.[29]
- 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.[30]
- 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.[31]
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.[32] 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 lists[33] for which the country is divided into 5 electoral constituencies or circumscriptions.[34] The Senate is conformed by a total of 128 senators: 64 senators, two per state and the Federal District elected by plurality in pairs; 32 senators assigned to the first minority or first-runner up (one per state and the Federal District), and 32 elected by proportional representation with closed party lists for which the country conforms a single electoral constituency.[33]
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. They also have their own civil and judicial codes.
In the 2006 2009 Congress of the Union, 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.[35] The other three parties have historically been the dominant parties in Mexican politics:
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 Calder n of the PAN faced Andr s Manuel L pez Obrador of the PRD in a very close election (0.58% difference). On September 6, 2006, Felipe Calder n was declared President-elect by the electoral tribunal. His cabinet was sworn in at midnight on December 1, 2006 and Calder n 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.
Foreign relations
-
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.[36] This policy was said to be based on the principles of Non-Intervention, Pacific Solution to Controversies, and Self-Determination of all nations.
During his Presidency, Vicente Fox appointed Jorge Casta eda to be his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Casta eda immediately broke with the Estrada Doctrine, promoting what was called by critics the Casta eda Doctrine.[37] 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.[38]
In line 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
-
Mexican troops in Mexico City.
Mexico has the second largest defence budget ($6.07 billion USD)[39] and armed forces[40] in Latin America. Mexico's military strength includes 503,777 total personnel, of which around 192,770 are active in the frontline.[41] The Mexican Military has three branches; the Mexican Army, the Mexican Air Force, and the Mexican Navy.
The Army
There are three main components of the Army: a national headquarters, territorial commands, and independent units. The Minister of Defense commands the Army by means of a very centralized system and a large number of general officers. The Army uses a modified continental staff system in its headquarters. The Army is the largest branch of Mexico's armed services. At present there are 12 "Military Regions," which are further broken down into 44 subordinate "Military Zones."
The Air Force
The Air Force national headquarters is embedded in the Army headquarters in Mexico City. It also follows the continental staff system, with the usual A1, A2, A3, and A4 sections. The tactical forces form what is loosely called an Air Division, but it is dispersed in four regions Northeast, Northwest, Central, and Southern. The Air Force maintains a total of 18 air bases, and has the additional capability of opening temporary forward operating bases in austere conditions for some of the rotary wing and light fixed-wing assets.
The Navy
The Ministry of the Navy, the Navy s national headquarters, is located in Veracruz City. The Junta (or Council) of Admirals plays a unique consultative and advisory role within the headquarters, an indication of the institutional importance placed on seniority and year groups that go back to the admirals days as cadets in the naval college. They are a very tightly knit group, and great importance is placed on consultation among the factions within these year groups.
The Navy s operational forces are organized as two independent groups: the Gulf (East) Force and the Pacific (West) Force. Each group has its own headquarters, a destroyer group, an auxiliary vessel group, a Marine Infantry Group, and a Special Forces group. The Navy also has an air arm with troop transport, reconnaissance, and surveillance aircraft.
The Navy maintains significant infrastructure, including naval dockyards that have the capability of building ships, such as the Holzinger class gunboats. These dockyards have a significant employment and economic impact in the country.
Administrative divisions
-
- See also: Mexican state name etymologies
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.[42] 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.[43] 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.[44] 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:
Geography and climate
-
A picture of Mexico seen from space.
Situated in the Americas at about 23 N and 102 W,[45] Mexico comprises much of southern North America.[46][47] Mexico is also described as within the region of Middle America.[48][49] Physiographically, the lands east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec including the Yucat n Peninsula (which together comprise around 12% of the country's area) lie within the region of Central America; alternatively, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt geologically delimits the region on the north.[50] Geopolitically, however, Mexico is commonly considered a North American country.
Mexico's total area is 1,972,550 km , including approximately 6,000 km 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 R o Bravo del Norte (known as the Rio Grande in the United States) defines the border from Ciudad Ju rez east to the Gulf of Mexico. A series of natural and artificial markers delineate the United States-Mexican border west from Ciudad Ju rez to the Pacific Ocean. On its south, Mexico shares an 871 km border with Guatemala and a 251 km border with Belize.
Topography
Topographic map of 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 Michoac n 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), Popocat petl (5,462 m) and Iztacc huatl (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
Map of climates in Mexico
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 Yucat n Peninsula), 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 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
A
Lepisosteus, one of the endemic species 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.[51] 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.[52] Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in ecosystems and fourth in overall species.[53] Approximately 2,500 species are protected by Mexican legislations.[53] The Mexican government created the National System of Information about Biodiversity, in order to study and promote the sustainable use of ecosystems.
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).[51]
Economy
-
