Mexico
Mexico, the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is bordered on the north
by the United States of America; on the south by Belize and Guatemala; on the east by the
United States of America, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the west by the
Pacific Ocean.
Mexico's borders stretch approximately 1,958,201 square kilometers or 756,066 square
miles. That figure includes 5,363 square kilometers or 2,071 square miles of outlying
islands. From north to south its longest distance is 1,250 miles. From east to west its
longest distance is 1,900 miles. Mexico's coast line covers about 6,320 miles.
Most of Mexico is just an immense elevated plateau, flanked by mountain ranges that fall
sharply off to narrow coastal plains in the West and East. Much of Mexico's Central
Plateau is a continuation of the great plains through the southwestern United States.
The highest point in all of Mexico is Mount Onzaba (Citlaltepetl). It is 18,707 feet
above sea level. Mexico's lowest point is near Mexicali. This area near Mexicali is
thirty-three feet below sea level.
The capital of Mexico is Mexico City. The metropolitan area of Mexico City is home to
about 14,987,051 people of Mexico's total population of about 93,670,000, according to a
1990 census. Although most of Mexico's population is from Mexico City, which is the
biggest city in the world, Mexico's other cities include Guadalajara, Monterrey, and
Puebla. Most of Mexico's population lives in urban areas, about seventy-five percent,
and the population density is about forty-eight people per square kilometer, or
one-hundred and twenty-four people per square mile.
Mexico's official language is Spanish, although another language that is fairly widely
spoken is Native American. Mexico's ethnic groups can be broken down into three major
groups: Mestizo, Native American, and European. Mestizo's are people of mixed European
and Native American ancestry. Mestizo's make up about sixty percent of Mexico's
population, while Native American's makes up about thirty percent, and European's make up
about nine percent. There are many religions being practiced in Mexico, but the biggest
by far is Roman Catholicism, which is practiced by about ninety percent of Mexico's
population. The other fairly big religion, while nowhere near as widely practiced, is
Protestantism, practiced by about five percent of all people currently going to church in
Mexico.
Most of Mexico's big Cities lies within the Tropic of Cancer. Mexico City averages
about fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit and twelve degrees Celsius in January, and it
averages about sixty-three degrees Fahrenheit and seventeen degrees Celsius in July.
Monterrey, which is above the Tropic of Cancer, averages about fifty-eight degrees
Fahrenheit and fourteen degrees Celsius in January, and averages eighty-one degrees
Fahrenheit and twenty-seven degrees Celsius in July. The average precipitation in Mexico
City is seven-hundred and fifty millimeters per year and in Monterrey it is five-hundred
and eighty millimeters per year.
Mexico's form of government is a Federal Government. The head of State and Government
is a president who is elected by voters to a six year term. They have a Bicameral
Legislature, which consists of a Federal Chamber of Deputies with five-hundred deputies,
and a Senate with sixty-four senators. There are three branches of the military in
Mexico: the Army, Navy, and the Air Force. There are approximately 175,000 people
currently serving the armed forces. In order to serve in the armed forces there you have
to be eighteen years or older, and if you are eighteen or older, you may be conscripted
to twelve months of part-time service.
In Mexico there are four major universities. There is the National Autonomous
University of Mexico, in Mexico City; the University of Guadalajara, in, where else but,
Guadalajara; the Benemerita Autonomous University of Puebla, in Puebla; and the Institute
of Technical and Advanced Studies of Monterrey, in Monterrey.
An estimation in 1994 predicted that Mexico's gross national product was about
$375,500,000,000. Mexico's form of currency is the nuevo peso, but seven and forty-five
hundredths exchanges for only one United States of America dollar. Mexico makes most of
its money by trading it's major exports, crude petroleum, petroleum products, coffee,
silver, internal combustion engines, motor vehicles, cotton, and electronics, with their
major trading partners, the U.S., Japan, Germany, Spain, France, Canada, and Brazil.
From these and other countries, Mexico's major imports are Metal working machines,
steel-mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, automobile parts for
assembly and repair, and aircraft. These products then go towards Mexico's major
businesses, fifty-one percent services, twenty-one percent to industry, and twenty-eight
percent towards agriculture, forestry, and feeding.
Bibliography
1.) "Mexico" ; Rodric A. Camp ; World Book Encyclopedia ; vol. M O1989 ; pages 452-3,
455.
2.) "Mexico: Fact Box" ; Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia ; vol. Encarta 97 Deluxe
?1993-1996.
3.) "Mexico" ; ; World Book Encyclopedia ; vol. M ?1967 ;
pages 372-83.
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