墨西哥

墨西哥 Mexico 首都:墨西哥城国家代码: mx

墨西哥

　　墨西哥合众国（The United States of Mexico, Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos）
　　
　　国旗：呈长方形，长与宽之比为７∶４。从左至右由绿、白、红三个平行相等的竖长方形组成，白色部分中间绘有墨西哥国徽。绿色象征独立和希望，白色象征和平与宗教信仰，红色象征国家的统一。
　　
　　国徽：为一只展翅的雄鹰嘴里叼着一条蛇，一只爪抓着蛇身，别一只爪踩在从湖中的岩石上生长出的仙人掌上。这组图案描绘了墨西哥人的祖先阿兹特克人建国的历史。相传在很久以前，太阳神为了拯救四处流浪的墨西哥人祖先阿兹特克人，托梦给他们，只要见到鹰叼着蛇站在仙人掌上，就在那地方定居下来。居住在墨西哥北部地区的阿滋特克人在太阳神的启示下，找到图案中所描绘的地方定居下来，建立了墨西哥城。仙人掌是墨西哥的国花，象征着墨西哥民族及其顽强的斗争精神。图案中下方为橡树和月桂树枝叶，象征力量、忠诚与和平。
　　
　　墨西哥是仙人掌的故乡，在仙人掌的2000多个品种中，墨西哥有一半以上，因此享有"仙人掌王国"的美誉。
　　
　　语言：西班牙语
　　
　　货币：墨西哥比索（Mexican Peso)
　　
　　时差：比格林尼治时间晚6小时；比北京时间晚了14小时。
　　
　　国鸟：雄鹰。墨西哥人将“雄鹰”视为祖国的象征，墨西哥的国徽图案为一只嘴里叼着蛇的雄鹰伫立在仙人掌上，它的国旗中间有一雄鹰，它的硬币上也是雄鹰的标志。
　　
　　国花：仙人掌、大丽菊——（菊科）
　　
　　国石：黑曜石
　　
　　独立日：９月１６日（１８１０年）
　　
　　国家政要：总统费利佩·德赫苏斯·卡尔德龙·伊诺霍萨（Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa），２００６年１２月１日就职，任期６年。
　　
　　自然地理：面积１,９６４,３７５平方公里，是拉美第３大国，为中美洲最大的国家。位于北美洲南部，拉丁美洲西北端，是南美洲、北美洲陆路交通的必经之地，素称“陆上桥梁”。北邻美国，南接危地马拉和伯利兹，东濒墨西哥湾和加勒比海，西临太平洋和加利福尼亚湾。海岸线长１１１２２公里。其中太平洋海岸７８２８公里，墨西哥湾、加勒比海岸３２９４公里。有３００万平方公里经济专属区和３５.８万平方公里大陆架。著名的特万特佩克地峡将北美洲和中美洲连成一片。
　　
　　全国面积５／６左右为高原和山地。墨西哥高原居中，两侧为东西马德雷山，以南是新火山山脉和南马德雷山脉，东南为地势平坦的尤卡坦半岛，沿海多狭长平原。全国最高峰奥里萨巴火山，海拔５７００米。主要河流有布拉沃河、巴尔萨斯河和亚基河。湖泊多分布在中部高原的山间盆地中，最大的是查帕拉湖，面积１１０９平方公里。墨西哥气候复杂多样。沿海和东南部平原属热带气候，年平均气温为２５—２７．７℃；墨西哥高原终年气候温和，山间盆地为２４℃，地势较高地区１７℃左右；西北内陆为大陆性气候。大部分地区全年分旱、雨两季，雨季集中了全年７５％的降水量。年平均降水量西北部不足２５０毫米，内地为７５０—１０００毫米，墨西哥湾沿岸中部与太平洋沿岸南部为１０００—２０００毫米。因墨境内多为高原地形，冬无严寒，夏无酷暑，四季万木常青，故享有“高原明珠”的美称。
　　
　　人口：１．０６９亿（２００６年底），在拉美仅次于巴西，居第二位，位居世界第十一位。其中印欧混血种人占９０％，印第安人占１０％，还有白种人等。官方语言为西班牙语，有８％的人讲印第安语。居民中９２．６％信奉天主教，３．３％信奉基督教新教。
　　
　　首都：墨西哥城(Mexico City，Ciudad de Mexico) ,面积１５２５平方公里，人口２０００万（含卫星城），海拔２２４０米。５月平均气温１２－２６℃，１月平均气温６－１９℃。
　　
　　行政区划：分为３１个州和１个联邦区（墨西哥城），州下设市（镇）（２３９４个）、村。各州名称如下：阿瓜斯卡连特斯、北下加利福尼亚、南下加利福尼亚、坎佩切、科阿韦拉、科利马、恰帕斯、奇瓦瓦、杜兰戈、瓜那华托、格雷罗、伊达尔戈、哈利斯科、墨西哥、米却肯、莫雷洛斯、纳亚里特、新莱昂、瓦哈卡、普埃布拉、克雷塔罗、金塔纳罗奥、圣路易斯波托西、锹扪恰⑺髋道⑺咚箍啤⑺了埂⑻乩箍ɡ⑽だ寺乘埂⒂瓤ㄌ埂⑷ㄌ乜ㄋ埂? “世界银都”——墨西哥塔斯科墨西哥第二大城市瓜达拉哈拉
　　
　　墨西哥城改革大道上的独立纪念碑。
　　
　　历史
　　墨西哥是美洲大陆印第安人古老文明中心之一，闻名于世的玛雅文化、托尔特克文化和阿兹特克文化均为墨西哥古印第安人创造。公元前兴建于墨西哥城北的太阳金字塔和月亮金字塔是这一灿烂古老文化的代表。太阳和月亮金字塔所在的特奥蒂瓦坎古城被联合国教科文组织宣布为人类共同遗产。墨西哥古印第安人培育出了玉米，故墨西哥有“玉米的故乡”之称。墨西哥在不同历史时期还赢得了“仙人掌的国度”、“白银王国”、“浮在油海上的国家”等美誉。１５１９年西班牙殖民者入侵墨西哥，１５２１年墨沦为西班牙殖民地。１５２２年在墨西哥城建立新西班牙总督区。１８１０年９月１６日，米格尔·伊达尔戈－科斯蒂利亚神父在多洛雷斯城发动起义，开始了独立战争（１８１１年１月战败，伊达尔戈被害，为纪念这次起义，后定９月１６日为墨西哥独立日）。１８２１年８月２４日宣布独立。翌年５月伊图尔比德建立“墨西哥帝国”。１８２３年１２月２日宣布成立墨西哥共和国。１８２４年１０月正式成立联邦共和国。１８４６年美国发动侵墨战争。１８４８年２月墨、美签订和约，墨被迫将北部２３０万平方公里的土地割让给美国。１８５８年华雷斯任总统。１８６７年法国、英国、西班牙等入侵者被赶出墨西哥。１８７６年迪亚斯攫取政权。１９１０年资产阶级民主革命爆发，同年１１月２０日发动武装起义，１９１１年推翻迪亚斯政权。１９１４、１９１６年美国曾派军入侵墨，两国一度断交。１９１７年颁布资产阶级民主宪法，宣布国名为墨西哥合众国。革命制度党从1929年起连续执政71年。2000年7月，国家行动党赢得大选，同年12月上台执政。
　　
　　政治
　　１８２４年颁布独立后第一部宪法。１９１７年２月５日颁布了强化国家与政府权力的《墨西哥合众国宪法》。该宪法于同年５月１日起生效并执行至今。此期间曾进行过近２００次修改。根据宪法规定，国家为总统制的联邦共和体制，立法、行政和司法三权分立；总统由直接普选产生，任期６年，终身不得再任。总统是国家元首和政府首脑，执掌国家最高行政权。由参众两院组成的联邦议会是国家立法机构，主要职权有：批准条约及总统关于法院、财政、外交、军队高级官员任命；修改宪法；批准总统出访；必要时任命临时总统等。参议院１２８名议员，由３１个州和联邦区各４名组成，任期６年。众议院５００名议员，其中３００席通过多数票选举产生，２００席按政党比例代表制产生，任期３年。内阁是政府行政机构，由总统直接领导。墨各州制定本州宪法，但州政府权力受国家根本法约束。１９９１年１２月，议会通过对宪法修改，宣布停止自宪法生效以来实行的土地改革，实行村社土地私有化；承认教会享有公民团体法人地位。
　　
　　经济
　　墨西哥是拉美经济大国，国内生产总值居拉美第一位。全国约１９７万平方公里的土地中，六分之五是高原和山地。矿业资源丰富，地下天然气、金、银、铜、铅、锌等１５种矿产品的蕴藏量位居世界前列，主要有石油、天然气、金、银、铜、铅、锌、砷、铋、汞、镉、锑、磷灰石、天青石、石墨、硫磺、萤石、重晶石、氟石等。其中白银的产量多年来居世界之首，素有“白银王国”之称。铋、镉、汞产量占世界第二位，重晶石、锑产量居世界第三位，碘、水银居第四位。己探明的石油储量为２０５亿桶位（据２００４年３月７日新华社信息）。天然气储量为７００亿立方米，是拉美第一大石油生产国和出口国，居世界第１３位，在墨国民经济中占有重要的地位。森林覆盖面积为４５００万公顷，约占领土总面积的１／４。水力资源约１０００万千瓦。海产主要有对虾、金枪鱼、沙丁鱼、鲍鱼等，其中对虾和鲍鱼是传统的出口产品。墨的工矿业门类比较齐全，但发展不平衡。制造业占重要地位，原先不景气的建筑、纺织、服装业开始恢复，运输设备、水泥、化工产品、电力各业持续增长。石油产量继续保持世界第四位，墨西哥是世界主要蜂蜜生产国，年产量达６０００万公斤，居世界第四位。生产的蜂蜜９０％用于出口，每年此项外汇收入约达７０００万美元。
　　
　　全国有可耕地３５６０万公顷，已耕地２３００万公顷。主要农作物有玉米、小麦、高粱、大豆，水稻、棉花、咖啡、可可等。墨西哥古印第安人培育出了玉米，所以该国享有“玉米的故乡”的美誉。有“绿色金子”别称的剑麻也是墨西哥领世界风骚的农产品，其产量居世界前列。全国牧场占地７９００万公顷，主要饲养牛、猪、羊、马、鸡等，部分畜产品出口。墨主要出口商品为原油、汽车、汽车配件、咖啡豆、蔬菜、钢材及化工、机械产品。进口商品为汽车材料、电器、化工产品、食品、饮料、纸浆、纺织、石化产品。悠久的历史文化、独特的高原风情和人文景观以及漫长的海岸线为墨西哥发展旅游提供了得天独厚的有利条件，居拉美第一的旅游业已成为墨西哥主要创汇来源之一。２００１年的旅游收入达８４亿美元。墨西哥城、阿卡普尔科、蒂华纳、坎昆等均为著名旅游胜地。
　　
　　新闻出版
　　全国约有３００家报纸和１００多种全国性刊物。平均每百人订报１４.４份。主要报刊有１９２９年创刊的《国民报》，现为官方报纸，发行量３.８万余份、１９１７年创刊的《至上报》、《至上晚报》、《墨西哥太阳报》、《金融报》、《呼声报》、《新闻报》、《宇宙报》、《消息报》、《日报》，在青年和大学生中较有影响、《墨西哥先驱报》、１９５３年创刊的《永久》周刊、《进程》周刊、《冲击》周刊。墨西哥通讯社为官方通讯社，属于内政部。全国批准建立广播电台１３６５家（１９９７年）,电视台５５６家（包括有线电视台），特莱维萨和阿兹特克为墨两大电视集团，拥有全国９５％以上的电视观众。墨每年出版１.２万种书刊，总发行量达２.５亿册。
　　
　　文化艺术
　　墨西哥是美洲文明古国，曾蕴育了玛雅、阿滋特克、托尔特克、奥尔梅加和特奥蒂华坎等古印第安文化。玛利雅奇音乐和萨巴特奥舞蹈融合了西班牙和印第安音乐舞蹈的特色，成为墨西哥独特的民族艺术形式。墨已有２１处古迹被联合国宣布为"人类文化和自然遗产"。
　　
　　外交
　　奉行独立自主的外交政策，主张维护国家主权与独立，尊重民族自决权及对外关系多元化，不干涉内政，和平解决争端等原则。
　　
　　与中国关系：中国与墨西哥的友好交往源远流长。据《梁书》记载，早在公元５世纪，中国的佛教徒就曾到达墨西哥等拉美国家。１９７２年２月１４日，墨西哥同中国建交。１９９７年，江泽民主席对墨西哥进行国事访问。２００１年福克斯总统两度访问中国。２００３年１２月，温家宝总理对墨西哥进行正式访问。２００５年５月全国政协主席贾庆林对墨西哥进行友好访问。２００５年９月，国家主席胡锦涛对墨西哥进行国事访问。
　　
　　墨西哥菜以辣为主，内地居民常以龟、蛇、斑鸠、松鼠、石鸡入菜、家常蔬菜要数炒仙人掌、仙人球最富特色。墨西哥人还以嗜酒闻名于世。宾客上门，习惯先以酒招待。
　　
　　历史沿革
　　1821年脱离西班牙独立。 1824.10.4 成立合众国政府，由19州组成
　　
　　1840 科利马州设立，分离自哈利斯科州；
　　
　　恰帕斯州设立，分离自瓦哈卡州；
　　
　　杜兰戈州设立，分离自奇瓦瓦州；
　　
　　格雷罗州设立，分离自米却肯；
　　
　　克雷塔罗州设立，分离自墨西哥州；
　　
　　圣路易斯波托亚州设立，分离自新莱昂州；
　　
　　索诺拉州设立，分离自锡那罗亚；
　　
　　塔瓦斯科州设立，分离自韦拉克鲁斯州；
　　
　　塔毛利帕斯州设立，分离自新莱昂州；
　　
　　特拉斯卡拉州设立，分离自普埃布拉州；
　　
　　1853 阿瓜斯卡连特斯州设立，分离自哈利斯科州和萨卡特卡斯州。
　　
　　1860? 联邦区设立，分离自墨西哥州；
　　
　　坎佩切州设立，分离自尤卡坦州；
　　
　　科阿韦拉州设立，分离自新莱昂州；
　　
　　伊达尔戈州设立，分离自墨西哥州；
　　
　　莫雷洛斯州设立，分离自墨西哥州和普埃布拉州；
　　
　　1885 纳亚里特州设立，分离自哈利斯科州；
　　1905 金塔纳罗奥州设立，分离自尤卡坦州；
　　
　　南下加利福尼亚州设立，分离自下加利福尼亚州；
　　
　　美食
　　龙舌兰酒
　　
　　龙舌兰对于墨西哥而言，具有十分重要的意义。龙舌兰叶可以造纸，而龙舌兰的花朵十分尖锐，据说可以当作武器。而如今，龙舌兰最重要的作用是制造龙舌兰酒（Tequila）。用龙舌兰叶酿制成的龙舌兰酒是墨西哥一大特产。龙舌兰酒的度数比较高，喝起来会有一些辣辣的而带香甜的感觉绕于舌尖，缠绵于喉，爱喝酒的朋友不妨一试。
　　西哥音乐让你起舞
　　
　　谈到吃西餐，人们可能更多光顾的是法国、意大利、德国和俄式餐厅，却对墨西哥菜缺乏了解。殊不知，在当今世界权威美食家的眼中，墨西哥菜肴是和法国、印度、中国和意大利菜齐名的世界五大菜系之一。
　　
　　走进墨西哥餐厅，就被里面的服务员吸引住了，一个个漂亮的女孩，戴着墨西哥所特有的宽沿卷边牛仔帽，穿着浅格子的衬衫，而且还十分帅气地在衬衫下摆打了一个结，合身的裤子不松也不紧，自有一分悠闲和自在。餐厅里播放着十分地道的墨西哥音乐，随着这欢快的节奏，让人也不由自主地欢乐起来，当然如果你愿意的话，可以跟着节奏来一段墨西哥牛仔舞。
　　尝一回天下第二辣
　　
　　在自助餐区的墨西哥菜肴不算是最多的，但却十分的精致，看得出来是经过厨师精心挑选，才介绍给广州顾客的。有许多的菜式是我从未看见过的，但看上去却是色彩丰富，格外诱人的。
　　
　　据餐厅经理介绍，其实墨西哥菜肴的特色就是口味浓厚、色彩绚丽。拿ceviche来说，它是一种鲜为人知的墨西哥美味。当地人把刚捕捞的各种海鲜浸泡在胡荽汁和酸橙汁中，用纯天然的方法腌制而成。还有一种口味独特的pipianes，它的调味汁取自花生、南瓜子和辣椒。也许你想像不到，一种叫莫力的调味香辣酱，完全继承了十七世纪的一个复杂的异域菜谱，它需要混和100多种原料才能制成它那特有的口味和诱人的深棕色，因而制作美味的莫力酱成了厨师们一显身手而又颇费气力的工作。
　　
　　而另一方面，墨西哥是辣椒的发源地，全球约一半辣椒都生长于墨西哥境内，红的、黄的、青的、绿的应芯∮小Ｄ鞲绮唤鍪翘煜碌谝焕惫宜睦苯肥鞘澜缟系诙钡睦苯罚僦值睦苯罚孪释垢傻拿聘饔胁煌谥品椒ㄒ喽嗖皇な缬糜陔缛狻八姨馈⑸湛尽⑸陈伞⑻枪⒁范加校婵晌绞俏匏焕薄?
　　
　　Taco和玉米饼
　　
　　数百年来，玉米一直是墨西哥食品中的主角。而以玉米为原料制成的Taco饼也是墨西哥最基本、也最有特色的食品。这是一张用玉米煎制的薄饼，煎好后形成一种荷包状，硬硬的，脆脆的，吃的时候，顾客可根据自己的喜好加入碳烤的鸡肉条或是牛肉酱，然后再加入蕃茄、生菜丝、玉米饼起司等等配料，看上去颜色格外丰富，就好似一件艺术品一般。包好以后，放入嘴中一咬，外面脆生生的，而里面却有香、辣、酸、甜各味俱全，刚柔相济、多味混杂，真叫人“爱不释口”。
　　
　　此外，还有一种玉米饼，形状要小些，吃的时候，沾着各式各样的墨西哥酱吃。当然，这些酱汁九成以上是辣椒和番茄调制而成的，有的在里面还加入了芒果，自有一种天然的香味。
　　香辣牛扒
　　
　　通常在餐馆里吃的牛扒，多数人是不加任何调料的，有时顶多加一点盐。不过墨西哥的牛扒却不一样，你可以看见它是先用辣椒、盐等调料腌制好的，煎好后，即使不浇汁也非常够味。值得一提的是，人们通常认为新西兰的牛肉是上品，其实墨西哥的牛肉与新西兰的牛肉也不相上下，滑嫩清香。
　　豆类食品
　　
　　和玉米一样，豆类食品也是墨西哥饮食中很重要的原料。墨西哥人很喜欢吃豆子，也发明了许多豆类食品的做法，比如辣豆烧牛肉、凉拌青豆等等。
　　
　　
　　食虫国墨西哥
　　
　　　　在世界上许多地方，人们一直保持着食昆虫的传统。在墨西哥，这个习俗已有几个世纪的历史了，因为墨西哥昆虫的数量和种类世界闻名。　
　　　
　　　　昆虫的繁殖能力极强，在地球上的任何环境中都能生存，从长年冰封的地区到干旱的荒漠。在墨西哥，昆虫成了食物的一部分，因为墨西哥昆虫的数量和种类世界闻名，而且昆虫的营养价值极高。
　　
　　　　墨西哥人食用的昆虫有多少种呢？据可食用昆虫问题专家拉莫斯估计，达到450多种。可食用的虫类主要有“查普林”蝗虫、蜻蜓、蝴蝶、毛虫、蚊蝇、蚂蚁、蜂等。值得一提的是，根据种类的不同，有些昆虫可食用其卵、幼虫和成虫，也就是说，在其整个发育期内都可食用。其中，最有名和人们食用最多的昆虫包括“查普林”蝗虫、“湖米尔”大水蚊、龙舌兰虫等。　　
　　
　　　　在墨西哥城的一些高级饭店中，人们可以品尝到墨西哥最具代表性的昆虫“查普林”蝗虫。这种蝗虫的价格昂贵，每公斤高达9美元，比牛肉的价格都高。在墨西哥瓦哈卡市的市场上，经常可看到大小不一的蝗虫：大的身长2厘米左右，小的不足1厘米。据食用者说，其味道是越小的越好，小蝗虫价格最高，就证实了这一点。在瓦哈卡市，“查普林”比萨饼越来越受人们欢迎。　　
　　
　　　　“湖米尔”蚊是半翅目的一种昆虫，在墨西哥一些地区可食用的蚊虫达10余种，但在味道和营养价值方面，最佳的是生活在塔斯科市周围山脉中的“湖米尔”蚊。这种蚊虫身长1.5厘米，吃树叶的汁液，隐藏在树干、植物和树的根部或地上的干树叶下。“湖米尔”蚊在当地十分受重视，特别是在塔斯科市郊的湖米尔山。那里每年11月的第一个星期一是“湖米尔”节，在山中的教堂里举行弥撒后，捕捉活动就开始了。
　　
　　　　“埃斯卡莫尔”是多种蚂蚁的蚁卵，特别是干旱土地上的蚂蚁。每年4月是当地人从地下蚁穴中挖取蚁卵的最佳时节。收集这种大小与米粒相似的蚁卵的人有很高的技巧，他们跟随在外出寻找食物的蚂蚁后面，发现蚁穴的位置后，就开挖，直到找到蚂蚁用枝条、泥巴和树叶编织成的用于产卵的洞穴。有时在一个蚁穴中可挖出1公斤蚁卵。　　
　　
　　　　在龙舌兰叶子的中心，隐藏着墨西哥中部人们数世纪来一直食用的一种美味食品。这就是濒临绝种的龙舌兰白虫，其价格极贵。在龙舌兰的根部，还有一种可食用的昆虫，这就是龙舌兰红虫。在墨西哥中部半干旱地区，每年的首场雨过后，可以看到这些虫子从龙舌兰上爬下来在地上饮水。这时，人们就开始捕捉了，并可获得不菲的收入。
　　
　　节假日
　　1月1日新年日 Ano Nuevo 西历新年
　　2月5日立宪日 Dia de la Constitucion Mexicana 1917年墨西哥立宪会议通过宪法
　　3月21日胡阿雷斯诞辰 Natalicio de Benito Juarez 墨西哥爱国者胡阿雷斯（Benito Juarez）诞辰,同时也是立春之意
　　4月6日感恩节 Viernes Santo Good Friday, 从当年3月1日起算第40日之当周周五为感恩节
　　5月1日劳动节 Dia del Trabajo 劳动节
　　5月5日五月五 Cinco de Mayo 1862年击溃法国的纪念日
　　9月16日独立日 Dieciseis de Septiembre 1810年从西班牙独立出来
　　11月20日革命日 Dia de la Revolucion 纪念1816年在西班牙的统治下获得独立
　　12月25日耶诞节 Navidad 耶苏诞生日

　　The United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), or commonly Mexico (IPA: /ˈmɛksɪkoʊ/) (Spanish: México (help·info) Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmexiko]), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered 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. The United Mexican States is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a federal district, the capital Mexico City, whose metropolitan area is one of the world's most populous.
　　
　　Covering almost 2 million square kilometers, Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the Americas by total area and the 14th largest in the world. With an estimated population of 109 million, it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
　　
　　As a regional power 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.
　　
　　Mexico is the 12th largest economy in the world by GDP by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners. Despite being considered an emerging world power, the country's social and security problems keep it from being effective.
　　
　　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 the political alternation at the federal level, which had begun at the local level during the 1980s.
　　
　　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 México-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the Mexica tribe, the main group of people that came to be known as the Aztec civilization. The origin of the name Mexica is obscure and subject to diverse interpretations. Some argue that it derives from the Nahuatl Mēxitl or Mēxitli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mēxihco means "Place where Mēxitli lives". Another hypothesis is 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 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). 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 fricative /ʃ/. This sound, as well as the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, represented by a j, evolved into a voiceless velar fricative /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 some other Spanish–speaking countries México was the preferred spelling. In recent years the Real Academia Española, which regulates the Spanish language, determined that both variants are acceptable in Spanish but that the normative recommended spelling 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 /ks/.
　　
　　
　　History
　　
　　Pre-Columbian civilizations
　　
　　Archaeological sites of Chichén-Itzá, one of the New Seven Wonders.Human presence in Mesoamerica was once thought to date back 40,000 years based upon what were believed to be ancient human footprints discovered in the Valley of Mexico, but after further investigation using radioactive dating, it appears this is untrue. It is currently unclear whether 21,000 year old campfire remains found in the Valley of Mexico are the earliest human remains found in the region. For thousands of years, Mesoamerica was a land of hunter-gatherers. Around 9,000 years ago, ancient indigenous peoples domesticated corn and initiated an agricultural revolution, leading to the formation of many complex civilizations.
　　
　　These civilizations revolved around cities with writing, monumental architecture, astronomical studies, mathematics, and militaries. For almost three thousand years, Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica were the site of several advanced Amerindian civilizations.
　　
　　In 1519, the native civilizations of Mesoamerica were invaded by Spain; among them the Aztecs, Mayans, Olmecs, etc. This was one of the most important conquest campaigns in America. Two years later, in 1521, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was conquered by the Spaniards along with the Tlaxcaltecs, the main enemies of the Aztecs, marking the end of the Aztec Empire and giving rise to the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1535. It became the first and largest provider of resources for the Spanish Empire and the most populous of all Spanish colonies.
　　
　　Colonial era and independence
　　
　　Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the founder of the Mexican independence movement.
　　Benito Juárez, regarded as the greatest 19th Century Mexican president.Almost 300 years after the New Spain was created, on September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, in the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato. This was the catalyst for a long war that ended in 1821 which eventually led to the independence and creation of the 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 after the creation of the country 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). 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. Having suspended the Constitution of 1824, civil war spread across the country, and three new governments declared independence; the Republic of Texas, the Republic of the Rio Grande (recognized by the United Kingdom) and the Republic of Yucatán. Only Texas was able to defeat Santa Anna, and later 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 due to civil war with Texas, and later war with 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 Juárez, managed to restore the republic in 1867.
　　
　　20th and 21st centuries
　　
　　Venustiano Carranza, former president and supporter of the 1917 constitution.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 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, Álvaro Obregón, who in turn was succeeded by Plutarco Elías Calles. 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) which became the most influential party during the next 70 years.
　　
　　Between 1940 and 1980, Mexico experienced substantial economic growth that some 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 of this is the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, which according to government officials claimed the life of around 30 protesters, while according to many reputable international accounts around 250 protesters were killed.
　　
　　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. 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 Vicente Fox and U.S. President George Bush at the signature of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.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 closed party-lists. Even though at the municipal level the first non-PRI mayor was elected in 1947, 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 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. After a comprehensive electoral reform to increase party representation during Zedillo's administration, as well as discontent with PRI after the economic crisis, led 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). Neither party had absolute majority in the Congress.
　　
　　On March 23, 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was signed by Vicente Fox. During the 2006 elections, the position of PRI in the Congress 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), even though the party still has the plurality of state governorships. In the concurrent presidential elections, Felipe Calderón, from PAN was declared winner, with a razor-thin margin over Andrés Manuel López Obrador PRD. López Obrador, however, contested the election and pledged to create an "alternative government".
　　
　　Government and politics
　　
　　The National Palace, former seat of the Executive Power.
　　Felipe Calderón, current President of Mexico.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.
　　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 for executing and enforcing the law, and has the authority of vetoing bills.
　　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.
　　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 by plurality and 200 deputies by proportional representation with closed party lists 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 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.
　　
　　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. 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 right-wing as well as 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 by the coalition of socialists and liberal parties, the National Democratic Front which had presented the candidacy of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas in the 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 Fox, 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 Obrador of the PRD in a very close election (0.58% difference), in a system without a second-ballot. 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.
　　
　　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 Estrada Doctrine 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 their sovereignty. 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 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.
　　
　　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 in the Independence Day Parade
　　Northrop F-5 from the Mexican Air Force
　　Mexican Navy Durango class vesselMexico has the second largest defence budget ($6.07 billion USD) and armed forces in the region. Mexico's military includes 503,777 total personnel, of which around 192,770 are active in the frontline. The Mexican Military has three branches; the Mexican Army, the Mexican Air Force, and the Mexican Navy.
　　
　　Mexican 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".
　　
　　Mexican 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.
　　
　　Mexican 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.
　　
　　Law enforcement and crime
　　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 Police 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'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 Agency of Investigation (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, however, 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 activities are a major concern in Mexico. 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 Affairs as having obtained "unprecedented results..." with "many important successes". In October 2007, the president Calderón and US president George W. Bush announced the Mérida Initiative a historic plan of law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
　　
　　
　　The federation: States of Mexico and the Federal District
　　
　　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 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. 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. 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. 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.
　　
　　The names of the thirty-one states and the Federal district and their official postal abbreviations in parentheses are:
　　
　　Aguascalientes (Ags)
　　Baja California (BC)
　　Baja California Sur (BCS)
　　Chihuahua (Chih)
　　Colima (Col)
　　Campeche (Camp)
　　Coahuila (Coah)
　　Chiapas (Chis)
　　 Distrito Federal (DF)
　　Durango (Dgo)
　　Guerrero (Gro)
　　Guanajuato (Gto)
　　Hidalgo (Hgo)
　　Jalisco (Jal)
　　Michoacán (Mich)
　　Morelos (Mor)
　　 Mexico State (Edomex)
　　Nayarit (Nay)
　　Nuevo León (NL)
　　Oaxaca (Oax)
　　Puebla (Pue)
　　Quintana Roo (Q Roo)
　　Querétaro (Qro.)
　　Sinaloa (Sin)
　　 San Luis Potosí (SLP)
　　Sonora (Son)
　　Tabasco (Tab)
　　Tlaxcala (Tlax)
　　Tamaulipas (Tamps)
　　Veracruz (Ver)
　　Yucatán (Yuc)
　　Zacatecas (Zac)
　　
　　Geography and climate
　　
　　A picture of Mexico as seen from space.
　　Wind turbines on the coast of Chiapas.Main article: Geography of Mexico
　　Mexico is located in the southern portion of North America, or in the region known as Middle America, at about 23° N and 102° W. Almost all of Mexico lies in the North American Plate, with parts of the Baja California Peninsula in the northwest on the Pacific and Cocos Plates. Geophysically, some geographers include the south-eastern part of the territory (around 12% of the total) in Central America. Geopolitically, however, Mexico is considered part of North America.
　　
　　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 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
　　
　　Snowfall in Sierra Madre del Sur.
　　Topographic map of Mexico.Mexico 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
　　
　　A desert in Sonora.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.This gives Mexico one of the worlds most diverse weather systems in the world.
　　
　　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 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 18 megadiverse countries 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 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. 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. 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).
　　
　　The discovery of the Americas brought to the rest of the world many widely used ingredients. Some of Mexico's native ingredients include: chocolate, tomato, maize and corn, vanilla, avocado, guava, chayote, epazote, camote, jícama, nopal, tejocote, huitlacoche, sapote, mamey sapote, and many varieties of beans. Most of these names are in indigenous languages like Nahuatl.
　　
　　Economy
　　
　　Santa Fe, business district.Mexico has a free market mixed economy, and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country. It is the 12th largest economy in the world as measured in Gross Domestic Product in purchasing power parity. According to the latest information available from the World Bank, Mexico had the highest Gross National Income per capita in Latin America, both in nominal terms and in purchasing power parity(PPP), at $7,830 and $11,990 respectively in 2006. 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 Goldman Sachs BRIMC review of emerging economies, by 2050 the largest economies in the world will be as follows: China, United States, India, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico.
　　
　　According to the director for Mexico at 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. 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 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 Syria.
　　
　　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%. 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. The Fox administration also provided monetary stability: the budget deficit was further reduced and foreign debt was decreased to less than 20% of GDP. Along with Chile, Mexico has 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.
　　
　　Approximately 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 significant. Almost 90% of Mexican exports go to the United States and Canada and close to 65% 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. As such, Mexico has become a major player in international trade and an export power. Measured in the dollar value of exports, Mexico was the 15th largest exporter in the world—tenth if the European Union is treated as a single entity. Mexican exports roughly equal the total exports of all Mercosur members together, Venezuela inclusive.
　　
　　Ongoing economic concerns include the commercial and financial dependence on the US, low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution (the 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.
　　
　　Tourism
　　
　　Coastal Skyline of Acapulco, GuerreroAccording to the World Tourism Organization, Mexico has one of the largest tourism industries in the world. In 2005 it was the seventh most popular tourist destination worldwide, receiving over 20 million tourists per year; it is the only country in Latin America to be within the top 25. Tourism is also the third largest sector in the country's industrial GDP. The most notable tourist draws are the ancient Meso-American ruins, and popular beach resorts. The coastal climate and unique culture – a fusion of European (particularly Spanish) and Meso-American 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's middle/lower class typically take their vacations within Mexico, in contrast to the middle/higher class who travel worldwide, especially to Europe and the United States, and in lesser numbers to Asia and South America. Mexico is the twenty-third highest tourism spender in the world, and the highest in Latin America.
　　
　　Infrastructure
　　
　　A Pemex oil Refinery.Energy production in Mexico is managed by State-owned companies: the Federal Commission of Electricity (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) and Pemex (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 Morelos, México, Hidalgo and the Federal District, whose distribution of electricity is in charge of the State-owned Luz y Fuerza del Centro. Most of the electricity is generated in thermoelectrical plants, even though CFE operates several hydroelectrical plants, as well as wind power, geothermal and nuclear generators.
　　
　　Pemex is in charge of the exploration, extraction, transportation and marketing of crude oil and natural gas, as well as the refining and distribution of petroleum products and petrochemicals. Pemex is the largest company in Latin America, and the ninth-largest oil company in the world. In terms of total output, in 2007 it was the sixth-larger producer in the world—in 2003 it was the third-largest— producing 3.1 million of barrels a day, way above the production of Kuwait or Venezuela.
　　
　　Transportation
　　
　　An Aeromexico plane landing at Mexico City International AirportThe paved-roadway network in Mexico is the most extensive in Latin America at 116,802 km in 2005; 10,474 km were multi-lane freeways or expressways, 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 Mexico (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 Airport 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: Aeromexico and Mexicana.
　　
　　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 metro, elevated and ground train, as well as a Suburban Train connecting the adjacent municipalities of Greater Mexico City—as well as at Guadalajara and Monterrey, the first served by a commuter rail and the second by an underground and elevated metro.
　　
　　Communications
　　
　　A Telmex retail store in Puerto Vallarta, JaliscoThe 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 Axtel and Maxcom. Due to Mexican orography, 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 twenty-percent. Mobile telephony has the advantage of reaching all areas at a lower cost, and the total number of mobile lines is almost three times that of landlines, with an estimation of 57 million lines. The telecommunication industry is regulated by the government through Cofetel (Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones).
　　
　　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 Televisa—the largest Spanish media company in the Spanish-speaking world— and TV Azteca.
　　
　　Demographics
　　
　　According to the latest official census, which reported a population of 103 million, Mexico is the most populous Spanish-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 Mexico (Greater Mexico City, Greater Guadalajara, Greater Monterrey, Greater Puebla and Greater Toluca) 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 of Mexico
　　
　　The Angel of Independence in Mexico City. 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 and Hidalgo), Puebla-Tlaxcala (Puebla and Tlaxcala, but excludes the city of Tlaxcala), Comarca Lagunera (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.
　　
　　Metropolitan areas by population Rank City proper State
　　1 Mexico City Federal District 19,231,829 11 Querétaro Querétaro 918,100
　　2 Guadalajara Jalisco 4,095,853 12 Mérida Yucatán 897,740
　　3 Monterrey Nuevo Leon 3,664,331 13 Mexicali Baja California 855,962
　　4 Puebla Puebla 2,109,049 14 Aguascalientes Aguascalientes 805,666
　　5 Toluca Mexico State 1,610,786 15 Tampico Tamaulipas 803,196
　　6 Tijuana Baja California 1,483,992 16 Culiacán Sinaloa 793,730
　　7 León Guanajuato 1,425,210 17 Cuernavaca Morelos 787,556
　　8 Ciudad Juárez Chihuahua 1,313,338 18 Acapulco Guerrero 786,830
　　9 Torreón Coahuila 1,110,890 19 Chihuahua Chihuahua 784,882
　　10 San Luis Potosi San Luis Potosí 957,753 20 Morelia Michoacán 735,624
　　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 Central and South Americans, most notably from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Belize. 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
　　
　　School children, from Monterrey, Nuevo León.Mexico is ethnically diverse, and the constitution defines the country to be a pluricultural nation.
　　
　　Mestizos (those of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry) form the largest group, comprising up to 60-75% 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 languages are also considered "national languages" and are protected by law.
　　Whites make up 9%-17% of the population, mostly descendants of the first Spanish settlers; although there are a minority of French, Italian, Portuguese, Basque, German, Irish, Polish, Romanian, Russian and British descents from recent 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 Euro-Americans from the United States and Argentina. Most are found in major cities.
　　Mexico also received a large number of Lebanese, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Filipino immigrants.
　　
　　Afro-Mexicans, mostly of mixed ancestry, live in the coastal areas of Veracruz, Tabasco and Guerrero.
　　
　　Language
　　
　　There is no de jure constitutional official language at the federal level in Mexico. Spanish, 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 –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 Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo, who immigrated from the United States, and recognizes the languages of the Guatemalan 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. 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; Lacandon 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 Venetian, Plautdietsch, German, French and Romani.
　　
　　Religion
　　
　　Metropolitan Cathedral of Guadalajara, Jalisco.Unlike some other Latin American countries, 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 Christian. Roman Catholics 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 Brazil.
　　
　　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). There are also a sizeable number of Seventh-day Adventists (0.6 million people). The 2000 national census counted more than one million Jehovah's Witnesses. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims one million registered members as of 2006, about 250,000 of whom are active, though this is disputed.
　　
　　The presence of Jews in Mexico dates back to 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.
　　
　　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
　　
　　A type of traditional Mexican dance and costumes.Mexican culture reflects the complexity of the country's history through the blending of pre-Hispanic civilizations and the culture of Spain, 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 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 (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
　　
　　Pan's Labyrinth, "film poster".Main article: 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 one of the first films awarded a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, the first time the event was held after World War II. Famous actors and actresses from this period include María Félix, Pedro Infante, Dolores del Río, Jorge Negrete and the 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.
　　
　　Music
　　
　　Jalisco Symphony Orchestra.Mexican society enjoys a vast array of music genres, showing the diversity of Mexican culture. Traditional music includes Mariachi, Banda, Norteño, Ranchera and Corridos; on an every-day basis most Mexicans listen to contemporary music such as Pop, Rock, etc. in both English and Spanish. Mexico has the largest media industry in Latin America, producing Mexican artists who are famous in Central and South America and parts of Europe, especially Spain. Some well-known Mexican singers are Thalía and Luis Miguel. Popular groups are Café Tacvba, Molotov, RBD and Mana, among others.
　　
　　Most states, through their Ministry of Culture or of Education, sponsor an Orquesta Sinfónica or Orquesta Filarmónica (Symphony Orchestra or Philharmonica Orchestra) so people can enjoy classical music. The Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco is the oldest in the country.
　　
　　Fine arts
　　
　　Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City.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, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Juan O'Gorman. Diego Rivera, the most well-known figure of Mexican muralism, painted the Man at the Crossroads at the Rockefeller Center in New York City, a huge mural that was destroyed the next year due to the inclusion of a portrait of Russian communist leader Lenin. Some of Rivera's murals are 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. Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Rulfo, Elena Poniatowska, and José Emilio Pacheco, are some of the most recognized authors of Mexican literature.
　　
　　Broadcast media
　　
　　RBD at the Otro Rollo show with Adal RamonesTwo 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 counterparts from the U.S. 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 counterparts from the U.S. like the Eyewitness News and Action News formats. Border cities receive television and radio stations from the U.S., while satellite and cable subscription is common for the upper-classes in major cities, often watch movies and TV shows from the U.S.
　　
　　Cuisine
　　
　　Enchiladas, a traditional Mexican dishMain article: Mexican 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-hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the native pre-Columbian food, including maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chile pepper, beans, squash, limes (limón in Mexican Spanish), sweet potato, peanut and turkey.
　　
　　The most internationally recognized dishes include chocolate, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, tamales and mole among others. 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 others.
　　
　　Sports
　　
　　The Estadio Azteca (Aztec Stadium) is the official home stadium of the Mexico national football team.
　　Baseball stadium in Monterrey, home to Monterrey Sultans.See also: 1968 Summer Olympics, 1970 FIFA World Cup, 1986 FIFA World Cup, and Sports in Mexico
　　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.
　　
　　Mexico’s most popular sport is football (soccer). It is commonly believed that Football was introduced in Mexico by Cornish miners at the end of the 19th century. By 1902 a 5 team league emerged still 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, América with 10 and Toluca and Cruz Azul with 8 . In Mexican Football many players have been raised to the level of legend, but two of them have received international recognition above others. Antonio Carbajal was the first player to appear in 5 World Cups, and Hugo Sanchez was named best CONCACAF player of the 20th Century by IFFHS. Mexican’s biggest stadiums are Estadio Azteca, Estadio Olimpico Universitario and Estadio Jalisco.
　　
　　The national sport of Mexico is Charreria. Bullfighting is also a popular sport in the country, and almost all large cities have bullrings. Plaza México in Mexico City, is the largest bullring in the world, which seats 55,000 people. Professional wrestling (or Lucha libre in Spanish) is a major crowd draw with national promotions such as AAA, LLL, CMLL and others.
　　
　　Baseball, 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 Beisbol. 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 Naranjeros de Hermosillo. 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.
　　
　　Lorena Ochoa, world's number one woman golfer according to the LPGA.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 U.S. Universities and some teams from the 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), IPN (Instituto Politécnico Nacional) and UNAM. The college league in Mexico is called ONEFA. There is also a strong following of the NFL in Mexico with the Cowboys, Steelers, 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.
　　
　　Ice Hockey is played in larger cities like Monterrey, Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Culiacan and of course Mexico City, with teams like: Galerias Pumas, Gran Sur Wolves, Lomas Verdes Falcons, Metepec Tigres, Monterrey Toros, San Jeronimo Bears, Villahermosa Garrobos and as independent teams: Bosques, Cuatitlan Izcally, Jalapa, Jalisco, Leon, Merida, Puebla, Jurasicos. The IIHF or Federación Deportiva de Mexico de Hockey Sobre Hielo A.C. is the Official Mexico National Ice Hockey Federation and regulates all tournaments in Mexico.
　　
　　Other notable Mexican athletes include golfer Lorena Ochoa, who is currently ranked first in the LPGA world rankings, Ana Guevara, former world champion of the 400 metres and Olympic subchampion in Athens 2004, and Fernando Platas, 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.
　　
　　Health Care and Education
　　
　　Hospital Angeles in Villahermosa, Tabasco.In the 1990s, Mexico entered a transitional stage in the overall health of the population; in the 1990s Mexico exhibited mortality patterns similar to those found in developed societies.
　　
　　Health and hospital care is free and available to all Mexicans through the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the Security and Social Services Institute Workers for Government Workers (ISSSTE). Overall, health services are adequate; though exceptional cases are mostly centralized in large cities and offered by private hospitals. Residents of small towns have to travel to large urban centers to get specialized attention. Disparities between large cities, urban and rural are quite noticeable; health coverage in rural and indigenous communities is poor. Medical training is done mostly at public universities with specializations abroad. Some public universities in Mexico, most notably the University of Guadalajara, have signed agreements with the US 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; drugs manufactured in Mexico are 50% less costly on average than those manufactured in the US.
　　
　　Biotechnology center, ITESM Campus MonterreyIn 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 UNESCO. 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.
　　
　　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 192th place in the Top 200 World University Ranking published by The Times Higher Education Supplement in 2007, making it the highest ranked Spanish-speaking university in the world and the third highest ranked in Latin America. 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.
　　
　　One of the most prestigious private universities 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 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), ranked as the best economics school in Latin America, Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) and the Ibero-American University (Universidad Iberoamericana).
　　
　　Science and technology
　　
　　A photograph of the Large Millimeter Telescope in Puebla.
　　Dr. Rodolfo Neri Vela, the first Mexican scientist in space.Notable Mexican technologists include Luis E. Miramontes, the co-inventor of the contraceptive pill, Guillermo González Camarena, who invented the "Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment", an early color television transmission system, and Mario J. Molina, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Rodolfo Neri Vela, an UNAM graduate, was the first Mexican to enter space (as part of the STS-61-B mission in 1985.)
　　
　　In recent years, the biggest scientific project being developed in Mexico was the construction of the Large Millimeter Telescope (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.
　　
　　Nonetheless, the government currently spends only 0.31% of GDP in science and technology, 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 inhabitants per year. 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.
　　
　　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). It is awaiting Senate approval by the end of 2008.

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