Latin History and Culture Essay -- Mexico

Mexico:
A Look at Our Neighbor

When we take a look at our homeland, the United States, we see that we are bordered to the South by Mexico. Mexico is located in Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the United States and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the U.S. Mexico accounts for a total area of 1,972,550 square kilometers, including 49,510 square kilometers of water. The country also accounts for several terrain types such as rugged mountains, which are Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre Occidental, low coastal plains, high plateaus and desert. Much of Mexico’s territory is vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic activity. Mexico is a nation of climatic extremes, from tropical to desert; so much rain falls so hard that most of the water runs off before it can be absorbed.
Mexico’s People
The largest country in Middle America, Mexico, is home to 112,322,757 people, and an annual growth of 1.15 percent. The people of Mexico speak Spanish, but there is also various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages. Although the ethnical diversity is not as extreme is it is in the United States, Mexico is still home to multiple ethnic groups. The majority are Mestizo, being at sixty percent, Ameridian holding at thirty percent, white nine percent, and five percent other. A Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America and Spain, for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent. It was in use during the Spanish Empire, and used to describe those who had one European-born parent and one who was a member of an indigenous American population. A Mestizo usually had fewer rights than a European born person called a Criollos, who were persons born in the New World of two European-born parents but more right than “Indios” and “Negros”. In Mexico religion and family are very important. Most Mexicans have larger families and living with multiple different parts of their family in one house. The majority of Mexico is Roman Catholic, seventy-six percent, six percent Protestant (but rapidly growing) and thirteen is unspecified or no religion at all. In the family the men are seen as the chiefs or leaders. Women play an important role in the family as caretakers of morality. In most of the cases just males work to support their family while females stay at home. Mexico has one of the highest students to teacher ratios in the world. Mexican students came in fourth in problem solving, third in science and technology, and eighth in mathematics.

Significant People & Events
In no specific order, other than the time they lived, I have collected list of what I think are Mexico’s most significant people. Let me start from the beginning with Emperor Moctezuma II (1466–1520) He expanded the Aztec empire, and was the ruler of Tenochtitlan reigning from 1502 to 1520. The Spanish captured Moctezuma and killed him during the initial stages of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when Hernan Cortes and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital. in a battle and later killed him. Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) is the second significant person on our list. Hernan Cortes’s invasion of Mexico began the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811) who was a priest he was assigned to a church in Dolores Mexico. Where he gathered an army of nearly 90,000 poor farmers and Mexican civilians in his rebellion against Spanish rule. Known as the Napoleon of the West, Santa Anna (1794-1876), was a Mexican political leader, general and president that served eleven terms and his last being in 1853. Benito Juarez (1806-1872) was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec who served five terms as president of Mexico. He resisted the French and overthrew the Second Mexican Empire, and restored the Republic. Emperor Maximilian I (1832–67) From Austria’s imperial family, he briefly became Emperor in 1864 before being executed. Porfirio Díaz (1830–1915) Army general and president, he initiated many reforms and modernized Mexico. Pancho Villa (1878–1923) was a Mexican folk hero, he was also one of the foremost leaders of the Mexican Revolution. Finally on my list is Francisco I. Madero (1873–1913) A politician, he opposed the rule of Porfirio Díaz but was soon deposed and executed.

A major historical trend in Mexico is one that has been going on for over hundreds of years and today has become a crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Mexico has cultivated opium since before the 1900's and has been an important transit route for South American cocaine for decades. However, only recently has drug use, particularly injection drug use, been documented as an important problem. Heroin is the most common drug used by Mexican injection drug users. Increased cultivation of opium in some Mexican states, lower prices for black tar heroin and increased security at U.S.-Mexican border crossings may be contributing factors to heroin use, especially in border cities. Risky practices among IDUs, including needle sharing and shooting gallery attendance are common, whereas perceived risk for acquiring blood borne infections is low. Although reported AIDS cases attributed to IDU in Mexico have been low, data from sentinel populations, such as pregnant women in the Mexican-U.S. border city of Tijuana, suggest an increase in HIV prevalence associated with drug use. Given widespread risk behaviors and rising numbers of blood borne infections among IDUs in Mexican-U.S. border cities, there is an urgent need for increased disease surveillance and culturally appropriate interventions to prevent potential epidemics of blood borne infections. We review available literature on the history of opium production in Mexico, recent trends in drug use and its implications, and the Mexican response, with special emphasis on the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.
Mexico’s Resources Due to a combination of its climate, location and landforms, Mexico is rich natural resources. The country of Mexico is located in one of the most geologically active regions in the world. Because of this, it has many different landforms. There are three mountain ranges, a plateau, the flat lands of the Yucatan Peninsula and 5,797 miles of coastline. Agriculture, Mexico’s most fertile growing area is found on the Central Plateau and the southern states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. Main crops include corn and beans. Other crops that Mexico exports are cocoa beans, wheat, coffee, sugarcane, tropical fruits, tomatoes, cotton, and tobacco. Livestock Mexico also produces cattle, pigs, goats and sheep for export. Mining in Mexico is very large, where they are the largest producer of silver in the world and is in the top 15 producers of gold, copper, and iron. Silver is mined in the central state of Zacatecas and in the southern coastal state of Guerrero. Mining Gold is found in Baja California Sur, near Santa Bárbara in Chihuahua, and near Pachuca in the state of Hidalgo. Copper is mined in the northern state of Sonora, and the central State of Zacatecas. Most of Mexico’s iron ore reserves are located in the northern border state of Coahuila, and the Pacific coastal state of Colima. Mexico has 5,798 miles of coast along the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea making it a great place for fishing. In 2007, Mexico’s total catch of fish and shrimp was 1.02 million tons, which ranked them 17th in the world. Petroleum Products Oil is Mexico’s main export. Mexico’s petroleum industry is the sixth largest in the world. Money from the sale of oil and natural gas generates over 10% of Mexico's export earnings. Oil wells are found along the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Forestry 39% of Mexico’s land is comprised of forests and woodland. Mexico’s forests are commonly used for providing timber, as well as ecological and wildlife reserves, and ingredients for pharmaceuticals. Mexico’s forest industry is located mainly on the Yucatan Peninsula near the Caribbean coast.

Mexico is certainly an emerging nation. Yes, it is “poor” as of now. However, the country and its economy seem to have amazing potential for Mexicans and for foreign investors. If Mexico implemented a few steps so that its tumultuous economic history doesn’t rear its ugly head yet again, maybe it can succeed and become a nation that isn’t looked at as the U.S.’s poor neighbor to the South.

Work sited http://www.slideshare.net/sayda_304/a-country-report-mexico-part-1#btnPrevious http://traveldk.com/mexico-city/topten/historical-figures-9 http://www.slideshare.net/pam_roshio/mexicos-natural-resources
Paul B. Goodwin, Global Studies, Latin America, 2009