Mexico

1
Mexico

• By Patsy Longoria Aldo Cantu

2
Flag and Geography

• Mexico is bordered by the United States to the
  north, Belize and Guatemala to the southeast
  Mexico is about one-fifth the size of the United
  States.

3
History
At least three great civilizationsthe Mayas, the
Olmecs, and later the Toltecspreceded the
wealthy Aztec empire, conquered in 151921 by the
Spanish under Hernando Cortés.

4
Population Largest City
Population (2002 est.) 103,400,165 (average
annual rate of natural increase 1.7) birth
rate 22.4/1000 infant mortality rate
24.5/1000 density per sq mi 136 Capital and
largest city (2000 est.) Mexico City, 19,750,000
(metro. area)

5
Language,Ethnicity,and Religion

Spanish, Indian languages
mestizo (Indian-Spanish) 60, Amerindian or
predominantly Amerindian 30, Caucasian or
predominantly Caucasian 9, other 1
nominally Roman Catholic 97, Protestant 3
6
History
From 1821 to 1877, there were two emperors,
several dictators, and enough presidents and
provisional executives to make a new government
on the average of every nine months. Mexico lost
Texas (1836), and after defeat in the war with
the U.S. (184648) it lost the area that is now
California, Nevada, and Utah, most of Arizona and
New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado
under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1855,
the Indian patriot Benito Juárez began a series
of reforms, including the disestablishment of the
Catholic Church, which owned vast property.

7
Government

Federal republic.
Vicente Fox Quesada (2000)
Estados Unidos Mexicanos
8
Economy
Economic summary GDP/PPP (2000 est.) 915
billion per capita 9,100. Real growth rate
7.1. Inflation 9. Unemployment urban2.2
(2000) plus considerable underemployment. Arable
land 12. Agriculture corn, wheat, soybeans,
rice, beans, cotton, coffee, fruit, tomatoes
beef, poultry, dairy products wood products.

9
History
The years after the fall of the dictator Porfirio
Diaz (187780 and 18841911) were marked by
bloody political-military strife and trouble with
the U.S., culminating in the punitive U.S.
expedition into northern Mexico (191617) in
unsuccessful pursuit of the revolutionary Pancho
Villa. Since a brief civil war in 1920, Mexico
has enjoyed a period of gradual agricultural,
political, and social reforms.

10
Map Transportation

Transportation Railways total 18,000 km (2001
est.). Highways total 323,977 km paved 96,221
km (including 6,335 km of expressways) unpaved
227,756 km (1997).