Mexico: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Southward from its 1,500 mile long border with the United States lies the Estados Unidos
Mexicanos. A country with slightly more than 750,000 square miles in area, Mexico has a
vast array of mineral resources, limited agricultural land, and a rapidly growing
population. These factors are the basis for many of the country's present problems as
well as opportunities for future development. The nation is struggling to modernize its
economy. With more than 80 million people in the mid-1980s, Mexico's overall population
density exceeds 110 per square mile. More than half of its inhabitants live in the
country's central core, while the arid north and the tropical south are sparsely
settled.
The stereotype of Mexico is that it is a country with a population consisting mainly of
subsistence farmers has little validity. Petroleum and tourism dominate the economy, and
industrialization is increasing in many parts of the nation. Internal migration from the
countryside has caused urban centers to grow dramatically: more than two thirds of all
Mexicans now live in cities. Mexico City, with a metropolitan area population of
approximately 16 million people, is the largest city in the world. While still low by
United States standards, the nation's gross national product per capita rose
significantly during the 1970s. Despite impressive social and economic gains, since 1981
Mexico has been wracked by severe inflation and an enormous foreign debt brought on in
large part by precipitous declines in the value of petroleum products.
Geologically, Mexico is located in one of the Earth's most dynamic areas. It is a part
of the "Ring of Fire," a region around the Pacific Ocean highlighted by active volcanism
and frequent seismic activity. Within the context of plate tectonics, a theory developed
to explain the creation of major landform features around the world, Mexico is situated
on the western, or leading, edge of the huge North American Plate. Its interaction with
the Pacific, Cocos, and Caribbean plates has given rise over geologic time to the
Earth-building processes that created most of Mexico. Towering peaks, like Citlaltepetl
at some 18,000 feet, are extremely young in geologic terms and are examples of the
volcanic forces that built much of central Mexico. The spectacular eruption of the
volcano Chinchon in 1981 was more powerful than that of Mount St. Helens in the United
States a year earlier and led to widespread devastation.
Much of the complexity found in southern Mexico's physiography is related to the
interaction of three tectonic plates. Such interaction creates regions that are often
highly unstable, producing numerous and severe Earth movements. A 1985 quake, with an
epicenter off the coast of Acapulco, caused billions of dollars in damage nationwide,
destroyed hundreds of buildings in Mexico City, and killed several thousand people. It is
on this often unstable and dynamically active physical environment that the Mexican
people must build their nation.
The plateau can be subdivided into two major sections. The Mesa del Norte begins near
the international border and ends around San Luis Potosi. In this arid lower part of the
plateau, interior drainage predominates with few permanent streams. On its west side the
mesa is flanked by the largely volcanic Sierra Madre Occidental, with an average height
of 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 meters). It has been highly dissected by
westward-flowing streams that eroded a series of deep barrancas, or canyons. The most
spectacular of these is the Barranca del Cobre, Mexico's equivalent of the Grand Canyon.
The Sierra Madre Oriental, a range of folded mountains formed of shale and limestone, is
on the east side of the mesa. With average elevations similar to those of the Sierra
Madre Occidental, these dissected highlands have peaks that reach 13,000 feet.
The Mesa Central stretches from San Luis Potosi to the volcanic axis south of Mexico
City. Formed largely by volcanic action, the general plateau surface of this mesa is
higher, moister, and generally flatter than the Mesa del Norte. The Mesa Central is
divided into a series of fairly flat intermountain basins separated by eroded volcanic
peaks. These basins are generally quite fertile and have been the most densely populated
portions of Mexico for several hundred years. The largest valleys such as those of Mexico
City, Puebla, and Guadalajara rarely exceed 100 square miles in area, while many others
are quite small. The traditional breadbasket of the country, the Bajio of Guanajuato, is
located in the northern part of the mesa. Many of the basins were sites of major lakes,
like those formerly located around Mexico City that were drained to facilitate European
settlement. The weak, structurally unstable soils that remain have caused numerous
buildings to shift on their foundations and over many years to slowly sink into the
ground. The volcanic axis with such spectacular snowcapped peaks as Popocatepetl at
17,887 feet, Ixtaccihuatl at 17,342 feet, and Toluca at 15,000 feet forms the southern
boundary of the Mexican Plateau.
On the east and west sides of the plateau lie that country's coastal lowlands. The Gulf
Coastal Plain extends from the Texas border to the Yucatan peninsula, a distance of some
900 miles. Characterized by lagoons and low-lying swampy areas, the triangular northern
portion is more than 100 miles wide near the border and tapers rapidly toward the south.
Inland toward the abrupt escarpment of the Sierra Madre Oriental is a series of gently
undulating plains dotted by occasional hills and low mountains. Near Tampico an extension
of the Sierra Madre Occidental reaches the sea and interrupts the plain's continuity. To
the south of Tampico it is narrow and irregular. In several places low hills and isolated
volcanic peaks meet the sea and subdivide the plain. It widens at the northern end of the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec and then encompasses the limestone formations that underlie the
Yucatan peninsula.
The Rio Balsas and its tributaries drain the Balsas Depression as well as much of the
southern portion of the Mesa Central. Dammed where it crosses the Sierra Madre del Sur,
the Balsas is a major source of hydroelectric power. Farther south the Grijalva is the
main river system. It drains a large part of the Chiapas Highlands. Dammed in two places,
the Grijalva has created a pair of huge man-made lakes. The Rio Papaloapan, which enters
the Gulf of Mexico south of Veracruz, was dammed in the 1960s in a project modeled after
the Tennessee Valley Authority. The project's aim was to control flooding along the
previously swampy coastal plain and to provide for new agricultural production.
In the north an arid climate and interior drainage limit the size and number of
rivers. By far the major river in this part of the nation is the Rio Grande in the, which
forms the international border. Because both the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra
Madre Oriental originate close to the coastal margins, streams on the west and east
coasts are short and steep. Along the Pacific Lowlands the Rios Yaqui, Fuerte, and Hunaya
have been dammed, and they support major irrigated acreages. Baja California and the
Yucatan peninsula are essentially devoid of permanent streams.
Because of its topographic diversity and large range in latitude, Mexico has a wide
array of climatic conditions, often occurring in very short distances. More than half of
Mexico lies south of the Tropic of Cancer. Within the tropics, temperature variations
from season to season are small, often less than 10 F between the warmest and coldest
months of the year. In these areas winter is defined as the rainiest rather than coldest
months. The climate also changes significantly with increases in elevation.
From sea level to just above 2,000 feet is the tierra caliente with uniformly high
temperatures. Acapulco, for example, has an average daily temperature of approximately 80
F, with the warmest month averaging 83 F and the coldest about 78 F. The tierra
templada extends from 2,000 feet to about 6,000 feet. At an elevation of 4,500 feet,
Jalapa has an average daily temperature of 63.6 F with a yearly range of 9 F. Tierra
fria is situated from about 6,000 to 11,000 feet. Pachuca, at just under 8,000 feet, has
an average annual temperature of 58 F and a yearly range of just 10 F. Above the tierra
fria are the paramos, or alpine pastures, while the tierra helada, or permanent snow line
in central Mexico, is found at roughly 14,000 feet.
The natural wildlife of northern Mexico was severely affected by the introduction of
cattle, sheep, and goats more than 400 years ago. While rabbits and snakes abound in the
deserts and steppes, such larger animals as deer and mountain lions are found only in
isolated or mountainous areas. Massive flocks of ducks and geese migrate into the
northern part of the Sierra Madre Occidental to winter. A millennium of human habitation
has brought about the virtual elimination of much of the natural fauna throughout the
Mesa Central and parts of the Southern Highlands, especially the Oaxaca Valley. In
contrast the rain forests of the Gulf Coast and Chiapas and the degraded rain forests of
the Pacific coast still provide a largely undisturbed habitat for many animals from
monkeys to parrots to jaguars.
Mexico's population comprises a wide variety of racial and ethnic groups. At the time of
European arrival in the early 1500s, the country was inhabited by numerous Amerind
civilizations. The "Indians" are thought to have migrated into the New World from Asia
some 40,000 to 60,000 years earlier by crossing a former land bridge in what is now the
Bering Straits.
By far the greatest number of people lived in the Mesa Central. Most were under the
general rule of the Aztec Empire, but a great many separate cultural groups thrived in
the region, among them speakers of Tarastec, Otomi, and Nahuatl. Outside the Mesa Central
were numerous other cultural groups such as the Maya of the Yucatan and the Mixtecs and
Zapotecs of Oaxaca. Highly organized civilizations had occupied various regions of Mexico
for at least 2,000 years prior to European discovery. The Aztec cities of the Mesa
Central were marvels of architectural design, irrigation technology, and social
organization. Spectacular Mayan ruins in the Yucatan evidence widespread urbanization and
intense agricultural productivity dating from well before the Christian Era.
Over the last four centuries descendants of Indians and Europeans, sometimes called
mestizos, have become the dominant group in Mexico. Today they account for at least two
thirds and perhaps three fourths of the total population.
While Indians are still said to represent nearly a quarter of the population, in 1980
there were only slightly more than 5 million people who spoke an Indian language and just
over 1 million who spoke only an Indian language. There are more than 50 Indian languages
spoken in the country. Entirely European-descended people, including many who immigrated
during the last half century, account for about 10 percent of all Mexicans.
One of the more dynamic aspects of Mexico's demography is its rapid rate of population
increase. At present the nation's population is growing at a rate of 2.6 percent
annually. This is about 50 percent higher than the world average and almost four times
the rate of the United States. This growth rate, however, represents a recent slowing in
natural increase. From 1960 to 1980 Mexico averaged about 3.0 percent annually. This
reflects the greatly improved health-care standards introduced since 1940. These changes
allowed a significant lowering of the death rate, especially infant mortality. The more
recent decline in the growth rate results from increasing urbanization, higher
educational levels, and a lessened dependence on child labor.
In 1910 Mexico had a population of about 15 million, and by 1940 the number had
increased to only 20 million. In 1960 there were more than 34 million people and by 1970
more than 58 million. The 1980 population surpassed 66 million, and at the end of 1986 it
was estimated that it surpassed 80 million. Such rapid growth has severely taxed the
ability of the Mexican Republic to provide basic social services and economic
opportunities for its citizens. It is estimated that Mexico will have 113 million people
by the year 2000. Traditionally the government has opposed limiting population growth.
This position has been somewhat modified since the late 1970s with continuing high growth
rates and recurring economic difficulties.
More than 50 percent of all Mexicans live on the Mesa Central, which accounts for only
15 percent of the national territory. Mexico City's urban area has about 18 percent of
the population. Parts of the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Southern Highlands, especially
the Oaxaca Valley, are relatively densely settled, but southern Baja California, much of
the Yucatan peninsula, and large parts of the Chiapas Highlands are sparsely populated.
Although Spanish speakers form the bulk of the population throughout most of the
country, there are several areas where Indian speakers still dominate. Mayan speakers are
the majority cultural group in the rural Yucatan. In the Chiapas Highlands and the
Southern Highlands, especially the Oaxaca Valley and more remote parts of the Sierra
Madre del Sur, Indian communities abound, and enclaves of Indians are still significant
in isolated mountain areas on the eastern margin of the Mesa Central.
The movement of people within the nation's borders has drastically altered the
distribution of Mexico's population. Massive migrations of peasants from rural areas and
small towns to cities began in the 1950s, resulting in an estimated 70 percent of
Mexicans now living in cities. This represents a substantial proportional decline in
rural population, which accounted for 50 percent in 1960. In 1987 roughly half of the
country's residents lived in cities with 50,000 inhabitants or more. As a group, Mexican
cities have grown at a rate of more than 5 percent a year since the 1960s.
In addition to internal migration, the number of individuals who have emigrated from
Mexico to the United States illegally has grown sharply since the 1970s. Estimates are
highly inaccurate and vary drastically, but it is believed that somewhere between 4 and 8
million Mexicans relocated illegally to the United States between 1970 and 1985. An
increasing number of highly qualified technicians and professionals have found their way
northward causing a "brain drain" for Mexico.
Mexico has made great efforts to improve educational and health opportunities for its
people. Despite a rapidly growing population and an increasingly large number of
school-age children, gains are being made in many areas. As in most Third World
countries, social infrastructure is much more available in cities than in the
countryside, but national programs have sought to provide primary schools and basic
health-care centers to all rural areas.
Within the hierarchy of Mexican urban places, Mexico City is the political, economic,
social, educational, and industrial capital of the nation. The metropolis covers a
solidly built-up urbanized area of some 15 by 20 miles. Despite its already enormous
population, Mexico City gains more than 350,000 people per year. By the end of the
century the city's population could easily exceed 25 million.
The famous Aztec pyramids of Teotihuacan are located northeast of the city, and the
floating gardens of Xochimilco are in the southeast. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans,
many of them peasants, make annual pilgrimages to the Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
which is a holy site for the country's Roman Catholics.
Through the years Mexican writers and artists have received worldwide acclaim for their
creativity and innovation. Within the nation both folk and classical traditions are
strong. The country's most renowned writers have gained their reputations by dealing with
questions of universal significance, as did Samuel Ramos. Octavio Paz is the foremost
poet of Latin America. Carlos Fuentes is honored throughout the world, Gustavo Sainz is a
leader in Spanish-language literature, and Juan Jose Arreola's fantasies are widely
admired. Among dramatists Rodolfo Usigli was extremely influential during his lifetime,
but more recently Luisa Josefina Hernandez and Emilio Carballido have made significant
contributions to Mexican drama.
In economic terms Mexico is a developing nation. With a 1986 gross domestic product of
approximately United States $2,300 per capita, the country has a long way to progress
before it can provide its people with living standards similar to the more developed
nations. But even this modest figure represents a major improvement in a relatively short
period of time. In constant 1982 dollars Mexico's GDP per capita has increased from about
$1,100 in 1960. Given the steady and rapid population growth rate, the nation's economic
growth has been impressive. Between 1960 and 1980 the GDP grew at an average annual rate
of 6.8 percent. To illustrate the effect of petroleum prices on Mexican economic growth,
in 1981 the GDP increased by 7.9 percent. In 1982, the year of the price collapse, GDP
growth fell to -0.5 percent.
Largely because of the diversity of its physical environment, Mexico produces a wide
array of agricultural products in different parts of its national territory. Despite the
fact that farming and ranching have been the basic economic activities throughout its
history, Mexico has a very limited amount of good agricultural land. Much of the country
is too arid or too mountainous for crops or grazing. Irrigation is required in many areas
to bring the land into any kind of production. It is estimated that no more than 20
percent of the nation can be classified as potentially arable. Normally only from 10 to
12 percent of the country's area is planted to crops annually, and because of weather
conditions only half of that is harvested. Only 20 percent of the cropland in production
is irrigated.
The most fertile soils and the largest areas of agricultural land are located in the
Mesa Central, where a dense farming population has been present for at least 1,000 years.
Aridity in the north and dense tropical vegetation in much of the south have hampered the
spread of agriculture to these areas. Ranching has been extended into many areas
considered marginal for crops.
Slightly less than a fifth of Mexico's national territory is forested. It is estimated
that nearly two thirds of the country was covered by forests in the mid-1500s, but
indiscriminate exploitation decimated the resource. While conservation methods are now
practiced in some of the pine forests in the north, the uprooting of rain forest
continues elsewhere.
Metallic minerals have been a significant part of the economy throughout the nation's
history. Silver was long the most valuable product mined, and Mexico was the world's
leading producer until about 1970. The major mining area during the colonial period was
the Silver Belt, a region that extended from Zacatecas and Guanajuato in the northern
part of the Mesa Central into Chihuahua on the Mesa del Norte. San Luis Potosi was an
eastern outpost. The Silver Belt is still the primary region of mineral production, but
the focus is now on industrial rather than precious minerals.
exico's nearly 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) of coastline is richly endowed with marine
resources. Seafood products do not form a major part of the Mexican diet despite attempts
to increase it, so the nation's fishing industry has not yet been developed to its
potential. Commercial exploitation of ocean products has occurred only since the 1940s.
Mexico has rich shrimping grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Gulf of California,
and along the southern Pacific coast. The gulf coast from Tampico to the United States
border and from Veracruz to Campeche has been fished commercially since the 1940s,
producing about 25,000 tons of shrimp in 1984. The Gulf of California shrimping grounds
were not exploited on a large scale until the late 1950s but are now the most productive.
More than 40,000 tons of shrimp were taken there in 1984, with another 10,000 tons landed
in the far south.
Petroleum is Mexico's primary economic asset. Nearly 70 percent of the nation's
foreign-exchange earnings are derived from the sale of oil and natural gas, the
overwhelming majority of which is exported to the United States. Petroleum is seen as the
commodity capable of creating enough resources to bring about significant changes in the
country's social and economic systems. Oil money will be used to create jobs, improve
infrastructure, and finance social programs. Oil revenues could lead to the modernization
of Mexico.
exico is the most industrialized country in Latin America after Brazil. A
disproportionate share of manufacturing is located in the Mexico City metropolitan area
largely because of its huge market and superior infrastructure. Its impressive array of
manufacturing includes everything from agricultural processing to automotive assemblage
and electronics to iron and steel production. Most of the country's industrial jobs are
located in this urban area, acting as a magnet to migrants from throughout Mexico.
Because of its physical diversity and economic status, Mexico has had a difficult time
creating an integrated transportation network. Although it was one of the first in Latin
America to develop railway lines, the nation is joined together by an extensive but
inefficient state-owned railway system.
Major rail routes extend outward from the Mexico City hub along the west coast to
Mexicali, through the Central Plateau to El Paso and Laredo, via the Gulf Coastal Plain
to the Yucatan peninsula, and south to Oaxaca. Rail traffic, both for passengers and
freight, is slow and unreliable.
Tourism is a growth industry in Mexico. The country attracted visitors, especially from
the United States, for many years, but in relatively limited numbers. Historically these
tourists came to visit Mexico City and surrounding colonial towns in the Mesa Central and
to see the archaeological ruins at Tenochtitlan and Tulum. More adventurous tourists went
to the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan or to the Indian-dominated Oaxaca Valley. People later
discovered Mexico's beaches, and the government invested heavily in this sector of the
economy.
Before the Spanish arrival in 1519, Mexico was occupied by a large number of Indian
groups with very different social and economic systems. In general the tribes in the arid
north were relatively small groups of hunters and gatherers who roamed extensive areas of
sparsely vegetated deserts and steppes. These people are often referred to as Chichimecs,
though they were a mixture of several linguistically distinctive cultural groups.
In the rest of the country the natives were agriculturalists, which allowed the
support of dense populations. Among these were the Maya of the Yucatan, Totonac, Huastec,
Otomi, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tlaxcalans, Tarascans, and Aztecs. A number of these groups
developed high civilizations with elaborate urban centers used for religious, political,
and commercial purposes. The Mayan cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Palenque, the Aztec
capital of Tenochtitlan, Tzintzuntzan of the Tarastec, and Monte Alban of the Zapotecs
are examples.
By AD 1100 the Toltecs had conquered much of central and southern Mexico and had
established their capital at Tula in the Mesa Central. They also built the city of
Teotihuacan near present-day Mexico City. At about the same time, the Zapotecs controlled
the Oaxaca Valley and parts of the Southern Highlands. The cities they built at Mitla and
Monte Alban remain, though they were taken over by the Mixtecs prior to the arrival of
the Spanish.
When the Spanish arrived in central Mexico, the Aztecs controlled most of the Mesa
Central through a state tribute system that extracted taxes and political servility from
conquered tribal groups. The Aztecs migrated into the Mesa Central from the north and
fulfilled a tribal prophesy by establishing a city where an eagle with a snake in its
beak rested on a cactus. This became the national symbol of Mexico and adorns the
country's flag and official seal. The Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlan in the
early 1300s, and it became the capital of their empire. The Tlaxcalans to the east, the
Tarascans on the west, and the Chichimecs in the north were outside the Aztec domain and
frequently warred with them. The nation's name derives from the Aztecs' war god,
Mexitli.
|