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The United Mexican States[2] (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), or commonly Mexico (IPA: /'m?ks?ko?/) (Spanish: México (help·info) IPA: ['mexiko]), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bounded on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico.[3][4] The United Mexican States is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a federal district, the capital Mexico City, which is one of the world's most populous cities.

Covering almost 2 million square kilometers,[5] Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the Americas by total area and the 14th largest in the world. With an estimated population of 109 million,[6] it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.

As a regional power[7][8] and the only Latin American member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 1994, Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country.[9]

Mexico is the 12th largest economy in the world by gross domestic product (GDP) by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional: PRI) which had held it since 1929, culminating the political alternation at the federal level, which had begun at the local level during the 1980s.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Geography and climate
2.1 Topography
2.2 Climate
2.3 Biodiversity
3 History
3.1 Pre-Columbian civilizations
3.2 Colonial era and independence
3.3 20th and 21st centuries
4 Government and politics
4.1 Foreign relations
5 Military
6 The federation: States of Mexico and the Federal District
7 Economy
7.1 Tourism
7.2 Infrastructure
7.2.1 Energy
7.2.2 Transportation
7.2.3 Communications
8 Demographics
8.1 Immigration
8.2 Ethnography
8.3 Language
8.4 Religion
9 Culture
9.1 Cinema
9.2 Music
9.3 Fine arts
9.4 Broadcast media
9.5 Cuisine
10 Sports
11 Education
11.1 Science and technology
12 See also
13 References
14 Bibliography
15 External links


Image of Mexico-Tenochtitlan from the Mendoza codex.Main article: Toponymy of Mexico
After winning independence from Spain, it was decided that the new country would be named after its capital city, whose original name of foundation was México-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the Mexica tribe, the main group of people of what came to be known as the Aztec civilization. The origin of the name of the Mexica is obscure and subject to diverse interpretations. Some[10] argue that it derives from the Nahuatl Mexitl or Mexitli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mexico means "Place where Mexitli lives". Another hypothesis is that the word Mexiko derives from the metztli ("moon"), xictli ("navel", "center" or "son"), and the suffix -co (place), in which case it means "Place at the center of the moon" or "Place at the center of the Lake Moon", in reference to Lake Texcoco. The system of interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco was at the center, had the form of a rabbit, the same image that the Aztecs saw in the moon. Tenochtitlan was located at the center (or navel) of the lake (or rabbit/moon).[11] Still another hypothesis suggests that it is derived from Mectli, the goddess of maguey.[11]

The name of the city was transliterated to Spanish as México with the phonetic value of the x in Medieval Spanish, which represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative /?/. This sound, as well as the voiced postalveolar fricative /?/, represented by a j, evolved into a voiceless velar fricative /x/ during the sixteenth century.[12] This led to the use of the variant Méjico in many publications in Spanish, most notably in Spain, whereas in Mexico and some other Spanish–speaking countries México was the preferred spelling. In recent years the Real Academia Española, which regulates the Spanish language, determined that both variants are acceptable in Spanish but that the normative recommended spelling is México.[13] The majority of publications in all Spanish-speaking countries now adhere to the new norm, even though the alternative variant is still occasionally used.[14] In English, the x in Mexico represents neither the original nor the current sound, but the consonant cluster /ks/.

Geography and climate

A picture of Mexico seen from space.Main article: Geography of Mexico





Annual snowfall in Chihuahua and an isolated beach in Cabo San Lucas.






Main article: History of Mexico

Pre-Columbian civilizations

"The Castle" of Chichén-Itzá, one of the New Seven Wonders.Human presence in Mexico has been shown to date back 40,000 years based upon ancient human footprints discovered in the Valley of Mexico (previous evidence substantiated indigenous inhabitants at 12,500 years ago). For thousands of years, Mexico was a land of hunter-gatherers. Around 9,000 years ago, ancient Mexicans domesticated corn and initiated an agricultural revolution, leading to the formation of many complex civilizations.

These civilizations revolved around cities with writing, monumental architecture, astronomical studies, mathematics, and militaries. For almost three thousand years, Aridoamerica (northern Mexico)[24] and Mesoamerica (central and southern Mexico)[25] were the site of several advanced Amerindian civilizations, among them the Olmecs, the Mayas and the Aztecs.

In 1519, the native civilizations of what is now Mexico were invaded by Spain;[26] this was one of the most important conquest campaigns in America. Two years later, in 1521, the Aztec capital and metropolis of Tenochtitlan was conquered by an alliance between Spanish and Tlaxcaltecs, the main enemies of the Aztecs, setting up a three-century colonial rule in Mexico. The viceroyalty of New Spain became the first and largest provider of resources for the Spanish Empire, and the most populated of all Spanish colonies.

After the independence of the vice-royalty of New Spain, it was decided to name the country after its capital, Mexico City. The city's original name was Mexico-Tenochtitlan, in reference to the name of the Nahua Aztec tribe, the Mexica.

Colonial era and independence

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the founder of the Mexican independence movement.On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Priest Miguel Hidalgo in the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato state.[27] This was the catalyst for a long war that eventually led to recognized independence in 1821 and the creation of an ephemeral First Mexican Empire. Agustín de Iturbide was the first and only emperor. Two years later, he was deposed by the republican forces. In 1824, a republican constitution was drafted creating the United Mexican States with Guadalupe Victoria as its first President.



20th and 21st centuries


During the next four decades, Mexico experienced substantial economic growth that historians call "El Milagro Mexicano", the Mexican Miracle.[30] The assumption of mineral rights by the government, and the subsequent nationalization of the oil industry into PEMEX during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (1938) was a popular move, but sparked a diplomatic crisis with those countries whose citizens had lost businesses expropriated by the Cárdenas government.

Although the economy continued to flourish, social inequality remained a factor of discontent. Moreover, the PRI rule became increasingly authoritarian and at times oppressive.[31] An example of this is the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, which by according to government officials claimed the life of around 30 protesters, even though many reputable international accounts reported that around 250 protesters were killed by security forces in a clash at the neighborhood.[32] In the 1970s there was extreme dissatisfaction with the administration of Luis Echeverría which took missteps in both the national and international arenas. Nonetheless, it was in this decade that the first substantial changes to electoral law were made, which initiated a movement of democratization of a system that had become electorally authoritarian.[33][34] While the prices of oil were at historically high records and interest rates were low, Mexico made impressive investments in the state-owned oil company, with the intention of revitalizing the economy, but overborrowing and mismanagement of oil revenues led to inflation and exacerbated the crisis of 1982. That year, oil prices plunged, interest rates soared, and the government defaulted on its debt. In an attempt to stabilize the current account balance, and given the reluctance of international lenders to return to Mexico given the previous default, President de la Madrid resorted to currency devaluations which in turn sparked inflation.

Former President Vicente Fox and U.S. President George Bush at the signature of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.The first small cracks in the political monopolistic position of PRI were seen in the late 1970s with the creation of 100 deputy seats in the Chamber of Deputies assigned through proportional representation with closed party-lists. Even though at the municipal level the first non-PRI mayor was elected in 1947,[35] it was not until 1989 that the first non-PRI governor of a state was elected. However, many sources claimed that in 1988 the party resorted to electoral fraud in order to prevent leftist opposition candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas from winning the national presidential elections who lost to Carlos Salinas, which led to massive protests in the capital.[36] Salinas embarked on a program of neoliberal reforms which fixed the exchange rate, controlled inflation and culminated with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which came into effect in 1994. However, that very same day, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) started a two-week-lived armed rebellion against the federal government, and has continued as a non-violent opposition movement against neoliberalism and globalization. Being an election year, in a process that was then called the most transparent in Mexican history, authorities were reluctant to devalue the peso, a move which caused a rapid depletion of the National Reserves. In December 1994, a month after Salinas was succeeded by Ernesto Zedillo, the Mexican economy collapsed.


On March 23, 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was signed by Vicente Fox. During the 2006 elections, the position of PRI in the Congress was further weakened and became the third political force in number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies after PAN and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), even though the party still has the plurality of state governorships. In the concurrent presidential elections, Felipe Calderón, from PAN was declared winner, with a razor-thin margin over Andrés Manuel López Obrador PRD. López Obrador, however, contested the election and pledged to create an "alternative government".[38]

Government and politics
Main article: Politics of Mexico

Palacio de San Lázaro, Chamber of Deputies, Congress of the Union.


All elected executive officials are elected by plurality (first-past-the-post). Seats to the legislature are elected by plurality and proportional representation at the federal and state level.[42] The Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union is conformed by 300 deputies elected by plurality and 200 deputies by proportional representation with closed party lists[43] for which the country is divided into 5 electoral constituencies or circumscriptions.[44] The Senate is conformed by a total of 128 senators: 64 senators, two per state and the Federal District elected by plurality in pairs; 32 senators assigned to the first minority or first-runner up (one per state and the Federal District), and 32 elected by proportional representation with closed party lists for which the country conforms a single electoral constituency.[43]


In the 2006–2009 Congress of the Union, eight parties are therein represented; five of them, however, have not received neither in this nor in previous congresses more than 4% of the national votes.[45] The other three parties have historically been the dominant parties in Mexican politics:

Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI): a center party that ascribes to social democracy, founded in 1929 to unite all the factions of the Mexican Revolution. Prominent right-wing as well as left-wing Mexican politicians have been members of the party.


Foreign relations

President Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Harper at the 2007 North American Leaders' Summit.Main article: Foreign relations of Mexico


During his presidency, Vicente Fox appointed Jorge Castañeda to be his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Castañeda immediately broke with the Estrada Doctrine, promoting what was called by critics the "Castañeda Doctrine".[47] The new foreign policy called for an openness and an acceptance of criticism from the international community, and the increase of Mexican involvement in foreign affairs.[48]


Main articles: Military of Mexico, Mexican Army, Mexican Air Force, and Mexican Navy

Mexican troops in Mexico City in the Revolution ParadeMexico has the second largest defence budget ($6.07 billion USD)[49] and armed forces[50] in Latin America. Mexico's military strength includes 503,777 total personnel, of which around 192,770 are active in the frontline.[51] The Mexican Military has three branches; the Mexican Army, the Mexican Air Force, and the Mexican Navy.

Mexican Army

Mexican Air Force

Mexican Navy



The Navy maintains significant infrastructure, including naval dockyards that have the capability of building ships, such as the Holzinger class gunboats. These dockyards have a significant employment and economic impact in the country.

The federation: States of Mexico and the Federal District
Main article: Political divisions of Mexico
See also: Mexican state name etymologies

Mexico D.F.AgsBaja

Mexican states are also divided into municipalities (municipios), the smallest official political entity in the country, governed by a mayor or "municipal president" (presidente municipal), elected by its residents by plurality.[53] Municipalities can be further subdivided into non-autonomous boroughs or in semi-autonomous auxiliary presidencies.


The names of the thirty-one states and the Federal district and their official postal abbreviations in parentheses are:

Aguascalientes (Ags)
Baja California (BC)
Baja California Sur (BCS)
Chihuahua (Chih)
Colima (Col)
Campeche (Camp)
Coahuila (Coah)
Chiapas (Chis)
Distrito Federal (DF)
Durango (Dgo)
Guerrero (Gro)
Guanajuato (Gto)
Hidalgo (Hgo)
Jalisco (Jal)
Michoacán (Mich)
Morelos (Mor)
México (Mex or Edomex)
Nayarit (Nay)
Nuevo León (NL)
Oaxaca (Oax)
Puebla (Pue)
Quintana Roo (Q Roo)
Querétaro (Qro.)
Sinaloa (Sin)
San Luis Potosí (SLP)
Sonora (Son)
Tabasco (Tab)
Tlaxcala (Tlax)
Tamaulipas (Tamps)
Veracruz (Ver)
Yucatán (Yuc)
Zacatecas (Zac)

Main articles: Economy of Mexico and Economic history of Mexico

Mexico Stock Market building.
Mexico City is the largest city in the Americas and the second largest in the WorldMexico has a free market economy, and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country,[55] and it is the 12th largest economy in the world as measured in Gross Domestic Product in purchasing power parity.[56] After the 1994 economic debacle, Mexico has made an impressive recovery, building a modern and diversified economy.[55] Recent administrations have also improved infrastructure and opened competition in seaports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity generation, natural gas distribution and airports. Oil is Mexico's largest source of foreign income.[57]

According to the director for Mexico at the World Bank, the population in extreme poverty has decreased from 24.2% to 17.6% in the general population and from 42% to 27.9% in rural areas from 2000-2004.[58] Nonetheless, income inequality remains a problem, and huge gaps remain not only between rich and poor but also between the north and the south, and between urban and rural areas. Sharp contrasts in income and Human Development are also a grave problem in Mexico. The 2004 United Nations Human Development Index report for Mexico states that Benito Juárez, a district of the Distrito Federal, and San Pedro Garza García, in the State of Nuevo León, would have a similar level of economic, educational and life expectancy development to Germany or New Zealand. In contrast, Metlatonoc, in the state of Guerrero, would have an HDI similar to that of Syria.[59][60]

Many of the positive effects in poverty reduction and the increase in purchasing power of the middle class are attributed to the macroeconomic stability pursued by the last two administrations. GDP annual average growth for the period of 1995–2002 was 5.1%.[61] The economic downturn in the United States also caused a similar pattern in Mexico, from which it rapidly recovered to grow 4.1% in 2005 and 3% in 2005. Inflation has reached a record low of 3.3% in 2005, and interest rates are low, which have spurred credit-consumption in the middle class. The Fox administration also provided monetary stability: the budget deficit was further reduced and foreign debt was decreased to less than 20% of GDP.[61] Along with Chile, Mexico has the highest rating of long-term sovereign credit in Latin America. Poverty in Mexico is further reduced by remittances from Mexican citizens working in the United States of America, which reaches US$20 billion dollars per year and is the second largest source of foreign income after oil exports.[62]

Exports Imports
Country Percentage Country Percentage
United States 88.4 % United States 68.4 %
Canada 2.0 % Japan 4.7 %
Germany 0.9 % Germany 3.6 %
Spain 0.8 % Canada 2.5 %
Netherlands Antilles 0.6 % China 2.2 %
Japan 0.4 % South Korea 2.1 %
United Kingdom 0.4 % Taiwan 1.6 %
Venezuela 0.4 % Italy 1.6 %
Others 6.1 % Others 13.3 %
Source: INEGI, 2005
Approximately 90% of Mexican trade has been put under free trade agreements with over 40 countries, of which the North American Free Trade Agreement remains the most significant. Almost 90% of Mexican exports go to the United States and Canada[63] and close to 65% of its imports come from these two countries.[63] Other major trade agreements have been signed with the European Union, Japan, Israel and many countries in Central and South America. As such, Mexico has become a major player in international trade and an export power. Measured in the dollar value of exports, Mexico was the 15th largest exporter in the world—tenth if the European Union is treated as a single entity.[64] Mexican exports roughly equal the total exports of all Mercosur members together, Venezuela inclusive.[64]


Main article: Tourism in Mexico


Mexico's middle/lower class typically take their vacations within Mexico, in contrast to the middle/higher class who travel worldwide, especially to Europe and the United States, and in lesser numbers to Asia and South America. Mexico is the twenty-third highest tourism spender in the world, and the highest in Latin America.


See also: Electricity sector in Mexico

Pemex is in charge of the exploration, extraction, transportation and marketing of crude oil and natural gas, as well as the refining and distribution of petroleum products and petrochemicals. Pemex is the largest company in Latin America,[68] and the ninth-largest oil company in the world.[69] In terms of total output, in 2007 it was the sixth-larger producer in the world[70]—in 2003 it was the third-largest[69]— producing 3.1 million of barrels a day, way above the production of Kuwait or Venezuela.[70]

Main article: Transportation and Communications in Mexico
See also: List of Mexican Federal Highways and List of Mexican railroads

Low-level water bridge, in the state of Chiapas.The paved-roadway network in Mexico is the most extensive in Latin America at 116,802 km in 2005; 10,474 km were multi-lane freeways or expressways,[71] most of which were tollways. Nonetheless, Mexico's diverse orography—most of the territory is crossed by high-altitude ranges of mountains—as well as economic challenges have led to difficulties in creating an integrated transportation network and even though the network has improved, it still cannot meet national needs adequately.[72]

Being one of the first Latin American countries to promote railway development,[72] the network, though extensive at 30,952 km,[73] is still inefficient to meet the economic demands of transportation.[72] Most of the rail network is mainly used for merchandise or industrial freight and was mostly operated by National Railway of Mexico (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, FNM), privatized in 1997.

In 1999, Mexico had 1,806 airports, of which 233 had paved runways; of these, 35 carry 97% of the passenger traffic.[73] The Mexico City International Airport remains the largest in Latin America and the 44th largest in the world[74] transporting 21 million passengers a year.[75] There are more than 70 domestic airline companies of which only two are known internationally: Aeromexico and Mexicana.




Usage of radio, television and Internet in Mexico is prevalent.[73] There are approximately 1410 radio broadcast stations, and 236 television stations (excluding repeaters).[76] Major players in the broadcasting industry are Televisa—the largest Spanish media company in the Spanish-speaking world[77]— and TV Azteca.

Main article: Demographics of Mexico



Rank Core City State Pop. Rank Core City State Pop.

Mexico City


1 Mexico City DF 19,231,829 11 Queretaro Qro 918,100
2 Guadalajara Jal 4,095,853 12 Merida Yuc 897,740
3 Monterrey NL 3,664,331 13 Mexicali BC 855,962
4 Puebla Pue 2,109,049 14 Aguascalientes Ags 805,666
5 Toluca Mex 1,610,786 15 Tampico Tamps 803,196
6 Tijuana BC 1,483,992 16 Culiacan Sin 793,730
7 Leon Gto 1,425,210 17 Cuernavaca Mor 787,556
8 Juarez Chih 1,313,338 18 Acapulco Gro 786,830
9 Torreon Coah 1,110,890 19 Chihuahua Chih 784,882
10 San Luis Potosi SLP 957,753 20 Morelia Mich 735,624

Mexico is home to the largest number of U.S. citizens abroad (estimated at one million as of 1999),[80] which represents 1% of the Mexican population and 25% of all U.S. citizens abroad. Other significant communities of foreigners are those of Central and South Americans, most notably from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Belize. Though estimations vary, the Argentinian community is considered to be the second largest foreign community in the country (estimated somewhere between 30,000 and 150,000).[81][82] Throughout the 20th century, the country followed a policy of granting asylum to fellow Latin Americans and Europeans (mostly Spaniards in the 1940s) fleeing political persecution in their home countries.


See also: Indigenous peoples in Mexico

Traditional Aztec dancer.Mexico is ethnically diverse, and the constitution defines the country to be a pluricultural nation.

Mestizos (those of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry) form the largest group, comprising up to 60-75% of the total population.[18][83]
Amerindians called indigenous peoples (indígenas) are estimated to be between 12% (pure Amerindian)[84] and 30% (predominantly Amerindian).[18] Indigenous peoples are considered the foundation of the Mexican pluricultural nation and therefore enjoy self-determination in certain areas. Indigenous languages are also considered "national languages" and are protected by law.
Whites make up 9%-17%[18][83] of the population, mostly descendants of the first Spanish settlers; although there are a minority of French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Irish, Polish, Romanian, Russian and British descents from recent contemporary migration [85][86] after the waves of immigration that brought many Europeans at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, along with some Canadians and Euro-Americans from the United States. Most are found in major cities.
Mexico also received a large number of Lebanese, Turkish,[87] Chinese, Japanese[85], Koreans[88] and Filipino immigrants.[89]


Main article: Languages of Mexico
See also: Mexican Spanish
There is no de jure constitutional official language at the federal level in Mexico.[90] Spanish, spoken by 97% of the population, is considered a national language by The General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, which also grants all indigenous minority languages spoken in Mexico, regardless of the number of speakers, the same validity as Spanish in all territories in which they are spoken, and indigenous peoples are entitled to request some public services and documents in their native languages.[91] Along with Spanish, the law has granted them –more than 60 languages– the status of "national languages". The law includes all Amerindian languages regardless of origin; that is, it includes the Amerindian languages of ethnic groups non-native to the territory. As such the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo, who immigrated from the United States,[92] and recognizes the languages of the Guatemalan Amerindian refugees.[93] The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual primary and secondary education in some indigenous rural communities. Approximately 7.1% of the population speaks an indigenous language and 1.2% do not speak Spanish.[94]

Mexico has the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world with more than twice as many as the second largest Spanish-speaking country. Almost a third of all Spanish native speakers in the world live in Mexico.[78] Nahuatl is spoken by 1.5 million people and Yucatec Maya by 800,000. Some of the national languages are in danger of extinction; Lacandon is spoken by fewer than one hundred people.



Metropolitan Cathedral of Guadalajara, Jalisco.See also: Religion in Mexico, Roman Catholicism in Mexico, and Our Lady of Guadalupe

The last census reported, by self-ascription, that 95% of the population is Christian. Roman Catholics are 89%[95] of the total population, even though only 47% percent of them attend church services weekly.[96] In absolute terms, Mexico has the second world's largest population of Catholics after Brazil.

About 6% of the population (more than 4.4 million people) is Protestant,[95] of whom Pentecostals and Charismatics (called Neo-Pentecostals in the census), are the largest group (1.37 million people)[95]. There is also sizeable number of Seventh-day Adventists (0.6 milion people)[97]. The 2000 National census registered more than one million Jehovah's Witnesses.[95] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims one million registered members as of 2006, about 250,000 of whom are active,[98][99] though this is disputed.[100] The presence of Jews in the country dates back to as early as 1521, when Hernando Cortés conquered the Aztecs, accompanied by several Conversos. According to the last national census by the INEGI, there are now more than 45,000 Mexican Jews.[95] Additionally, almost three million people in the 2000 National Census reported having no religion.[95]

In 1992, Mexico lifted almost all restrictions on the Catholic Church and other religions, including granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights, and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country.[101] Until recently, priests did not have the right to vote, and even now, they cannot be elected for public office.


A type of traditional Mexican dance and costumes.Main article: Culture of Mexico



Pan's Labyrinth movie poster.Main article: Cinema of Mexico


Main article: Music of Mexico

Jalisco Symphony Orchestra.Mexican society enjoys a vast array of music genres, showing the diversity of Mexican culture. Traditional music includes Mariachi, Banda, Norteño, Ranchera and Corridos; on an every-day basis most Mexicans listen to contemporary music such as Pop, Rock, etc. in both English and Spanish. Mexico has the largest media industry in Latin America, producing Mexican artists who are famous in Central and South America and parts of Europe, especially Spain. Some well-known Mexican singers are Thalía and Belinda. Popular groups are Café Tacvba, Molotov, RBD and Mana, among others.

Most State Ministries of Culture or Education sponsor their own Orquestas Sinfónicas or Orquestas Filarmónicas (Orchestra) so people can enjoy Classical Music. The Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco is the oldest in the country.

Fine arts

Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City.Post-revolutionary art in Mexico had its expression in the works of renowned artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Juan O'Gorman. Diego Rivera, the most well-known figure of Mexican muralism, painted the Man at the Crossroads at the Rockefeller Center in New York City, a huge mural that was destroyed the next year due to the inclusion of a portrait of Russian communist leader Lenin.[103] Some of Rivera's murals are displayed at the Mexican National Palace and the Palace of Fine Arts.


Broadcast media

Main article: Mexican cuisine

The most internationally recognized dishes include chocolate, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos and mole among others. Regional dishes include mole poblano, chiles en nogada and chalupas from Puebla; cabrito and machaca from Monterrey, cochinita pibil from Yucatán, Tlayudas from Oaxaca, as well as barbacoa, chilaquiles, milanesas, and many others.


FIFA World Cup Mexico 1970, 1986
The Estadio Azteca is the home stadium of the Mexico national team.
Baseball stadium in Monterrey, home to Monterrey Sultans.See also: 1968 Summer Olympics, 1970 FIFA World Cup, and 1986 FIFA World Cup
Mexico City hosted the XIX Olympic Games in 1968, making it the only Latin American city to do so.[105] The country has also hosted the FIFA World Cup twice, in 1970 and 1986.[106]

Mexico’s most popular sport is football (soccer). It is commonly believed that Football was introduced in Mexico by Cornish miners at the end of the 19th century. By 1902 a 5 team league emerged still with a strong English influence [107][108]. Football became a professional sport in 1943. Since the “Era Professional” started, Mexico’s top clubs have been Guadalajara with 11 championships, América with 10 and Toluca and Cruz Azul with 8 [109] . In Mexican Football many players have been raised to the level of legend, but two of them have received international recognition above others. Antonio Carbajal was the first player to appear in 5 World Cups, and Hugo Sanchez was named best CONCACAF player of the 20th Century by IFFHS. Mexican’s biggest stadiums are Estadio Azteca, Estadio Olimpico Universitario and Estadio Jalisco.


Baseball, is also popular, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula and the Northern States. The season runs from March to July with playoffs held in August. The Mexican professional league is named the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol. Current champions (2007) are Sultanes de Monterrey who defeated in a tight series Leones de Yucatán. However the best level of baseball is played in Liga Mexicana del Pacífico, played in Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California. Given that it is played during the MLB off-season, some of its players are signed to play with the league 8 teams. Current champions (2007) are Naranjeros de Hermosillo. The league champion participates in the Caribbean Series, a tournament between the Champions of Winter Leagues of Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.



Ice Hockey is played in larger cities like Monterrey, Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Culiacan and of course Mexico City, with teams like: Galerias Pumas, Gran Sur Wolves, Lomas Verdes Falcons, Metepec Tigres, Monterrey Toros, San Jeronimo Bears, Villahermosa Garrobos and as independent teams: Bosques, Cuatitlan Izcally, Jalapa, Jalisco, Leon, Merida, Puebla, Jurasicos. The IIHF or Federación Deportiva de Mexico de Hockey Sobre Hielo A.C. is the Official Mexico National Ice Hockey Federation and regulates all tournaments in Mexico.

Other notable Mexican athletes include golfer Lorena Ochoa, who is currently ranked first in the LPGA world rankings,[111] Ana Guevara, former world champion of the 400 metres and Olympic subchampion in Athens 2004, and Fernando Platas, a numerous Olympic medal winning diver.



UNAM Central Library, in University City, Mexico City.
ITESM, Tecnológico de MonterreyMain article: Education in Mexico
Mexico has made improvements in education in the last two decades. In 2004, the literacy rate was at 91%,[112] and the youth literacy rate (ages 15–24) was 96%, placing Mexico at the 24th place in the world rank accordingly to UNESCO.[113] Primary and secondary education (9 years) is free and mandatory. Even though different bilingual education programs have existed since the 1960s for the indigenous communities, after a constitutional reform in the late 1990s, these programs have had a new thrust, and free text books are produced in more than a dozen indigenous languages.


The largest and most prestigious public university in Mexico, today numbering over 269,000 students, is the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) founded in 1551. Three Nobel laureates and most of Mexico's modern-day presidents are among its former students. UNAM conducts 50% of Mexico's scientific research and has presence all across the country with satellite campuses and research centers. The National Autonomous University of Mexico ranks 192th place in the Top 200 World University Ranking published by The Times Higher Education Supplement in 2007,[115] making it the highest ranked Spanish-speaking university in the world and the third highest ranked in Latin America. The second largest university is the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). These institutions are public, and there are at least a couple of public universities per state.

One of the most prestigious private universities is Monterrey's Technological and Higher Education Institute (ITESM). It was ranked by the Wall Street Journal as the 7th top International Business School worldwide[116] and 74th among the world's top arts and humanities universities ranking of The Times Higher Education Supplement, published in 2005. ITESM has thirty-two secondary campuses, apart from its Monterrey Campus. Other important private universities include Mexico's Autonomous Technological Institute (ITAM), Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), the Ibero-American University (Universidad Iberoamericana).

Science and technology

Large Millimeter Telescope
Dr. Rodolfo Neri Vela, the first Mexican in spaceNotable Mexican technologists include Luis E. Miramontes, the co-inventor of the contraceptive pill, and Guillermo González Camarena, who invented the "Chromoscopic adapter for television equipment", the first color television transmission system. Dr. Rodolfo Neri Vela, an UNAM graduate, was the first Mexican in space (as part of the STS-61-B mission in 1985), and Mario J. Molina, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.


Nonetheless, the government currently spends only 0.31% of GDP in science and technology,[117] a low percentage in comparison with other countries. Mexico has the lowest number of researchers of the OECD countries, with only 4.8 researchers per 10,000 inhabitants.[117] Mexico trains only three PhDs per million inhabitants per year.[117] Moreover, there is a regional disparity in the allocation of scientific resources; 75% of all doctorate degrees are awarded from institutions in Mexico City area.[117]

The Mexican Space Agency (AEXA) will be established in 2008 if approved by the Mexican Senate.