Essay About Mexico

Mexico is named after the Mexica. This is the largest and most powerful branch of the Aztecs. The country of Mexico is located on the bottom of the North American continent. This country borders the Caribbean Sea, the North Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is between border countries of Belize (276km), Guatemala (958 k) and United States (3,155 km). Mexico has four large physical features including mountains, coastal plains, plateaus, and volcanos. The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range that runs through all of Mexico from North to South. The precise coordinates are 23 00 N, 102 00 W. The total area of Mexico is 1,964,375 square km. This is including 1.943,945 square km of land and 20, 430 square km. For a comparison, this is almost three times the size of Texas. In area size, Mexico is ranked the 14th largest country in the world (Mexico Geography).
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majority of Mexico’s population is located in between the states of Jalisco and Veracruz which are in the middle of the country. Another approx. quarter of the population lives around Mexico City. The population is mainly centralized in the urban regions with 79.2% of the population. There are about 20.999 million people located in Mexico’s capitol: Mexico City. The majorities of the population Guadalajara 4.843 million, Monterrey 4.513 million, Puebla 2.984 million, Toluca de Lerdo 2.164 million, Tijuana 1.987 million people. The World Factbook produced by the CIA estimated Mexico’s population to be over 123,166,749 people in 2016. This would’ve made Mexico the 12th largest country in population size for last year. Mexico does not collect census data on the ethnic varieties within the state. However, in 2012, the CIA estimated the ethnic varieties and percentages. They estimated Mexico to be comprised of 62% Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) people, 21% predominantly Amerindian people, 7% pure Amerindian people, and another 10% of mostly European people. There are a variety of different languages spoken amongst these groups. These languages include Spanish (97%), Spanish and Indigenous languages (5.7%), and indigenous languages (0.8%) and unspecified languages (0.8%). The indigenous languages of the Mexican tribes includes Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional languages. The total median age of Mexico’s population is about 28 years. This is averaged from Male (26.9 years) and Female (29.1 years) ages. The birth rate of Mexico is calculated as 18.5 births/1,000 people. The death rate is calculated as 53 /1,000 people. Immigration into Mexico is calculated as -1.7 migrants/1,000 people. Maternal mortality 1rate is calculated as 38 death/100,000 live births infant mortality rate is calculated as a total of 11.9 deaths/1,000 live births. These data collections give Mexico a population growth rate of 1.15%. The growth rate calculated makes Mexico the 133rd fastest growing country in the world (The World Factbook).
There are 31 states and 1 city that comprise the administrative divisions. There have been many constitutions throughout the years of Mexico’s government history. The latest constitution was approved on February 5th, 1917 and was amended most recently in 2015. The first constitution was approved on the national Independence Day of September 16th, 1810; It helped build the government and legal systems. The legal system is based on United States constitutional law, influencing the civil law system. The head of the government is President Enrique Pena Nieto (Dec. 1, 2012). Mexico’s government is run primarily like the United States’ with three different governmental branches: judicial, legislative and executive. There are several different political parties involved in the country: Citizen’s movement, Institutional Revolutionary Party, Labor Party and Mexican and Green Ecological Party are some of the more major affiliations (The World Factbook).
Mexico is well known for its tourism and oil. However, this country also makes money off of more than just these two key industries. Mexico has ten top export products that are very important to its economical standing. These products include vehicles (23.6% of total exports); Electrical equipment (20.4%); machinery including computers (16.5%); mineral fuels (4.8%); optical, technical, medical apparatus (4.3%); furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings (2.8%); plastics, plastic articles (2.2%); gems, precious metals (2%); vegetables (1.8%); fruits, nuts (1.5%) (Mexico’s Top 10). Mexico has many natural resources that are used as exports as well. These include silver, copper, salt, zinc, gold and petroleum. Petroleum is Mexico’s most valuable mineral resource (Mexico’s Top 10). Mexico is also one of the largest forest reserves left in the world. About one-fourth of the country is forest covered. These forests are found throughout the Sierra Madre ranges and the Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas Highlands (Land and Resources). Mexico is a highly cultural country.
Many practices, customs and cultures have been used for multiple years brought up from the indigenous tribes to the local people and immigrants to Mexican cities. The main religion of Mexico, Roman Catholicism, was brought over by the invading Spaniards. Since then, most of the Mexican population has adopted it as their own religion. The local culture is heavily influenced by the Aztec traditions and customs that Mexico was home to before the colonization of Spain over three hundred years ago. This has led to the Mestizo heritage that most of Latin America falls under. Although traditions and customs are related to almost three hundred years of cultural history, the modern dress for many Mexicans, excluding the indigenous tribesmen, is relatively similar to that of the Western European and United States style. The traditional clothing items include some things such as ponchos, sombreros, churros, and huipil (colorful tunic). Work attire mimics Western business dress for men and women. It is best to remain conservative in all parts of Mexico (Guide To
Mexico).
Mexico is a largely friendly country. The people can be very welcoming, friendly, sociable, warm, and physical with greetings. Unlike in America, it is not uncommon to see two women kissing on the cheek or two men greeting each other with a warm hug. Personal space is much smaller than that of the American way. Mexicans are comfortable with an arm’s length, any longer can seem like you are distancing yourself from the other person. When in conversation, you will have the best interaction if you are familiar with the Mexican traditions and home life. Many Mexican people adore their families and build their lives around family traditions and bonds. The most positive conversations are the ones that include talk about family and friends. They also are delighted when you are eager to learn about their lifestyles. Questions asked such as “what types of food do you often eat?” or “Where do you come from?” can lead to very warm, open and pleasant conversations. Mexican people are very flattered by compliments. An array of different, heart felt compliments can turn a skeptical person into a new friend (Guide To Mexico).
Mexican’s can be very open at times as well. Conversations about family, emotions and personal issues are not uncommon. Their lack of hand movements and eye contact during conversation is a sign of respect. This is not meant to be discouraging. The most respectful conversations are with little to no eye contact except for the greeting. Upon greeting someone in Mexico, it is considered rude to use a first name unless invited to by this addressed person. Respect is shown through using the proper title and first surname. Commonly, Mexicans have two surnames. One is from the father while the other is from the mother. No title recognized would be an ideal situation to use Senor or Senora. Once the proper formal greetings and respect have been presented, the Mexican will be warm and open. Mexican people are very friendly and caring people as a whole (Guide To Mexico).

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