Mexico


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The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: MŽxico: the alternate spelling
MŽjico is commonly used in Spain but is strongly deprecated in the rest of
the Spanish-speaking world) is a country located in North America, bordered
to the north by the United States to the southeast by Guatemala and Belize,
to the west by the Pacific Ocean and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico and
the Caribbean Sea.

                                         Official language Spanish
                                         Capital           Mexico City
History                                  Largest City      Mexico City
                                         President         Vicente Fox
                                         Area              Ranked 13th
Mexico was the site of several advanced  Ê- Total          1,972,550
Indian civilisations, such as the Maya   Ê- % water        km²
and the Aztecs. The arrival of the                         2.5%
Spanish in the early 16th century and    Population        Ranked 11th
their defeat of the Aztecs in 1521       Ê- Total (2000)   103,400,165
marked the beginning of the colonial     Ê- Density        54/km²
period of Mexico as a part of New Spain.                   From Spain
                                         Independence      September 16,
In 1810, independence from Spain was     Ê- Declared       1810
declared, causing a long war eventually  Ê- Recognised     September 27,
leading to independence in 1821. After                     1821
independence, Mexican territory slowly
decreased in size, losing and selling    Currency          Mexican Peso
ground to the United States (see         Time zone         UTC -6 to -8
Mexican-American War). In the 1860s the
country suffered a military occupation   National anthem   Mexicanos, al
by France, fought off by Mexican patriot                   grito de guerra
Benito Juarez.                           Internet TLD      .MX
                                         Calling Code      52
The long, undemocratic regime of
Porfirio Diaz lead to the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Revolutionary forces
defeated the federal army, but were left with internal struggles, leaving
the country in conflict for two more decades. At the end of the revolution
the P.R.I. (Institutional Revolutionary Party) controlled the country until
the end of the 20th century.

Politics

The 1917 constitution provides for the federal republic with powers
separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
Historically, the executive is the dominant branch, with power vested in the
president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the parliament, the
National Congress or Congreso de la Uni--n.

The parliament has played an increasingly important role since 1997 when
opposition parties first made major gains. The president also legislates by
executive decree in certain economic and financial fields, using powers
delegated from the Congress. The president is elected by universal adult
suffrage for a 6-year term and may not hold office a second time. There is
no vice president; in the event of the removal or death of the president, a
provisional president is elected by the Congress.

The bicameral National Congress is composed of a Senate (C‡mara de
Senadores) and a Chamber of Deputies (C‡mara de Diputados). Consecutive
re-election is prohibited. Senators are elected to 6-year terms, and
deputies serve 3-year terms. The Senate's 128 seats are filled by a mixture
of direct-election and proportional representation. In the lower Chamber of
Deputies, 300 of the total 500 deputies are directly elected to represent
single-member districts, and the remaining 200 are selected by a modified
form of proportional representation from five electoral regions. The 200
proportional representation seats were created to help smaller parties gain
access to the Chamber.

States

Mexico is divided into 31 states (estados) and the Mexican Federal District
(Distrito Federal), which contains the capital, Mexico City:

                                              * Morelos
    * Aguascalientes        * Durango         * Nayarit        * Sinaloa
    * Baja California       * Federal         * Nuevo Leon     * Sonora
    * Baja California Sur     District        * Oaxaca         * Tabasco
    * Campeche              * Guanajuato      * Puebla         * Tamaulipas
    * Chiapas               * Guerrero        * QuerŽtaro      * Tlaxcala
    * Chihuahua             * Hidalgo         * Quintana       * Veracruz
    * Coahuila              * Jalisco           Roo            * Yucat‡n
    * Colima                * MŽxico          * San Luis       * Zacatecas
                            * Michoac‡n
                                                Potos'

Geography

Mexico borders two major bodies of water, the Pacific Ocean (with the Sea of
Cortez in between the mainland and the Baja California peninsula) to the
west and on the east the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea that lead to
the Atlantic Ocean. Here are found coastal plains, whereas central Mexico
consists of high plateaus and rugged mountains, including volcanoes, the
highest of which is the Pico de Orizaba at 5,700 m.

The terrain and climate vary from deserts in the north to tropical rain
forest in the south. Mexico's major rivers include the Rio Grande (known to
Mexicans as the Rio Bravo), the Grijalva, the Balsas and the Yaqui.

Economy

Mexico has a free-market economy with a mixture of modern and outmoded
industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. The
number of state-owned enterprises in Mexico has fallen from more than 1,000
in 1982 to fewer than 200 in 1999. The administration of President Ernesto
Zedillo Ponce de Leon continued a policy of privatizing and expanding
competition in sea ports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity,
natural gas distribution, and airports which was initiated by his
predecessors Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

A strong export sector helped to cushion the economy's decline in 1995 and
led the recovery in 1996-1999. Private consumption became the leading driver
of growth, accompanied by increased employment and higher wages. Mexico
still needs to overcome many structural problems as it strives to modernize
its economy and raise living standards. Income distribution is very unequal,
with the top 20% of income earners accounting for 55% of income.

Following 6.9% growth in 2000, real GDP fell 0.3% in 2001, with the US
slowdown the principal cause. Positive developments in 2001 included a drop
in inflation to 6.5%, a sharp fall in interest rates, and a strong peso that
appreciated 5% against the US dollar. Trade with the US and Canada has
tripled since NAFTA was implemented in 1994. Mexico is pursuing additional
trade agreements with most countries in Latin America and has signed a free
trade deal with the European Union, putting more than 90% of trade under
free trade agreements and lessening its dependence on the US.

Demographics

Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world and the
second most-populous country in Latin America after Portuguese-speaking
Brazil. Some 60% of the population is of a mixed ethnicity known as mestizo,
with 30% being Amerindian and some 9% of European descent. The country is
predominantly Roman Catholic (89%), with some 6% adhering to various
Protestant faiths and the remaining 5% either to other smaller religions or
is unaffiliated.

Culture

                                  Holidays
     Date      English Name       Local Name              Remarks

 May 5       Ê                Cinco de Mayo     Victory against French
                                                forces in 1862
                                                Independence from Spain,
 September 16Independence Day Dieciseis de      1810
                              Septiembre