Mexico
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Mexico
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Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country and the second-largest Roman Catholic nation in the world. It extends from the 14th to the 32d parallel north of the equator in southern North America. Brazil and Argentina are the only Latin American countries that exceed it in area. The United States borders Mexico on the north, while Guatemala and Belize are found on the southeast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on the east, and the Pacific Ocean on the west and south. The country's name is taken from the Mexica, one of seven Nahuatl tribes that inhabit the Central region of the country.Ancient Native American civilizations--including those of the Maya, OLMEC, Zapotec, Mixtec, TOLTEC, and AZTEC--flourished there for centuries before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century (see MEXICO, HISTORY OF). Under the Spaniards, Mexico became the Viceroyalty of New Spain. It was ruled as a colony for more than 300 years and gained Independence on Oct. 4, 1824.Political strife, anarchy and war marked the next half century. This period brought war with the United States in 1846 and the loss of what is now Texas, followed in 1848 by the cession of lands included in the present U.S. states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and California. In the late 1800s, dictator Porfirio DIAZ brought a long period of stability and development by foreign interests. The 1910 revolution signaled the beginning of a period of dramatic social change that led to the creation of the Constitution of 1917, which remains in force. president Lazaro CARDENAS achieved widespread land reform and nationalization of the country's basic industries in the l930s. Although Mexican industry expanded substantially between 1940 and l980, rapid population growth prevented millions of Mexicans from escaping the chains of poverty. After 1980 a recessionary world economy slowed progress.LAND AND RESOURCESMexico is mostly mountainous. The volcano Orizaba, located near Puebla in a chain of mountains called the Transverse Volcanic Sierra, is Mexico's highest mountain, with an elevation of 5,747 m (18,855 ft). This sierra extends east-west across Mexico to the north of Mexico city, the country's capital, and includes the spectacular volcanoes Popocatepetl (5,452 m/17,887 ft), Ixtacihuatl (5,386 m/17,671 ft) and PARICUTIN (2,774 m/9,101 ft), the last born only in 1943.LandformsThe two main mountain ranges to the north of Mexico city run north and south; they are southward continuations of the Rocky Mountains. These are the Sierra Madre Occidental in the west, with elevations exceeding 3,300 m (10,000 ft) and the Sierra Madre Oriental in the east, which rises to more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft). The Mexican plateau, covering over 40% of the country's area, sits between them. This tableland increases in elevation as one moves southward; the farther south, the cooler and rainier it becomes. The Sierra Zacatecas divides the Mexican plateau into the dry, sparely settled Northern Mesa and the lake-dotted, densely populated Central Mesa. Coastal plains border the mountains along the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coasts. The Baja California peninsula is separated from the mainland by the Gulf of California (see CALIFORNIA, GULF OF).Mountains along the southern Pacific coast are dominated by east-west trend lines; they are structurally related to landforms in Central America and the West Indies. These mountains are interrupted by the Down-faulted lowland of the Isthmus of TEHUANTEPEC, Mexico's narrowest point. They include the rounded, worn, and ancient rocks of the Southern Sierra Madre, which descend steeply to the Pacific coast between Cape Corrientes and the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The isolated Balsas River Basin separates the volcanic zone from the Southern Sierra Madre.In the east the Yucatan PENINSULA is a low limestone platform that projects northward into the Gulf of Mexico. In the southeast, between the Yucatan Peninsula and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the principal landforms are the Tabasco Plain, along the Gulf of Mexico; the Chiapas Highlands, which reach elevations of more than 2,85O m (9,385 ft); the Chiapas Valley; the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, an eastward continuation of the Southern Sierra Madre; and a narrow coastal plain along the Pacific Ocean.SoilsMexico's most fertile soils are alluvial; they develop mainly in river valleys and along the Gulf and Pacific coastal plains. Lacustrine soils are formed on the dry beds of ancient lakes; they are common in the Bajio de Guanajuato and other basins and are also very fertile. soils of volcanic origin are likewise generally productive. Arid soils, deficient in humus and often highly alkaline, are found in dry areas of the northern Mexican plateau, in the Sonoran desert, in Baja California, and in the northern Yucatan Peninsula. Rendzina soils, found in warm and humid areas underlain by limestone, dominate the northern Gulf coast plain, parts of the Balsas River Basin, and the southern Yucatan Peninsula.ClimateMexico's climate is hot and humid in the southern coastal areas but becomes increasingly arid toward the north. Temperatures decrease with increasing altitude. One of the most important features of Mexico's climate is the pronounced seasonality it experiences in rainfall distribution. The rainy season comes during the warmer half of the year, from May through October; during those months moist winds blow onto the land from the adjoining oceans and are forced to rise up over mountainous areas, creating OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION. Tropical cyclones add to summer rainfall. In the cooler half of the year, when the world's wind belts shift southward, the Bermuda Subtropical High dominates the climate of most of Mexico and brings clear skies with almost no precipitation.The wettest areas, where rainfall varies between 1,000 and 3,100 mm (45-120 in) each year, are located south of the 22nd parallel and include the mountainous, windward slopes of southern and Central Mexico. Drier conditions prevail in the north. The driest areas on the Mexican plateau receive less than 3O5 mm (12 in) of precipitation a year.Temperatures decrease with increasing altitude, giving Mexico several altitudinal temperature zones. The hottest lands (tierra caliente) are along the coastal plains, in the Balsas River Basin, and in the Chiapas Valley. Tropical crops and irrigated vegetables are common in these areas. Temperate (tierra templada) to cool (tierra fria) conditions are common over most of the Mexican plateau. In Mexico city, which is situated at an altitude of 2,240 m (7,350 ft), July temperatures range from a low of 12 deg C (54 deg F) to a high of 23 deg C (73 deg F). High mountain slopes experience even colder temperatures.DrainageThe major rivers flowing to the Pacific are the Colorado, which empties into the?northern end of the Gulf of California; the 724-km/450-mi-long) Balsas; and the 927-km/576-mi-long) Lerma-Santiago river system (the longest in Mexico), whose headwaters are diverted for use by Mexico city. The valley within which Mexico city is situated is a basin of interior drainage, and its major rivers evaporate, disappear underground, or flow into lakes. The nation's capital suffers from chronic water shortages.Vegetation and Animal LifeMexico is divided by a major biogeographic regional boundary: the imaginary line that separates the temperate and tropical floral and faunal zones. This contributes to Mexico's great biological diversity. Rain-forest vegetation predominates in the states of southeastern Mexico, especially southwestern CAMPECHE, northeastern Chiapas, northern TABASCO, southeastern VERACRUZ, and in the southern and eastern regions of the Yucatan Peninsula. Annual rainfall exceeds 2,000 mm (80 in) in these places. Coniferous and oak-tree forests predominate in humid areas at higher elevations, including the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, the Transverse Volcanic Sierra, and the uplands of northern Baja California. Tropical savanna dominates much of the Yucatan Peninsula and some parts of the Pacific and Gulf coastal plains. Thorny desert thickets and dry grasslands can be found in dry areas of the Mexican plateau, northeastern and northwestern parts of the country, and in Baja California. mangrove swamps are common in low, muddy areas along the Gulf and Pacific coasts south of the Tropic of Cancer.Widely distributed fauna include deer, coyote, rabbits, skunks, badgers, pumas, bears, snakes, and many species of birds. The tropical areas are inhabited by armadillos, iguanas, tapirs, monkeys, macaws, parrots, crocodiles, and snakes.ResourcesMexico has abundant petroleum resources along the Gulf coastal plain. The Reforma field of Chiapas and Tabasco states, developed since 1972, and offshore in the Gulf of Campeche, where deposits were discovered in 1978 and 1981, have made Mexico the fifth-leading exporter of oil in the world. More gas and oil fields were found in 1984, bringing Mexico's proven oil reserves to almost 66 billion barrels in 1992. natural gas, sulfur, and salt are found with the petroleum deposits. Other minerals of commercial importance are coal and iron ore. Mexico is also the world's leading exporter of silver and an important producer of gold, Copper, lead, manganese, zinc, mercury, fluorite, and salt.