What do the Chihuahua, the smallest volcano in the world, the enchilada, the mariachi bands, some painted faces, tequila, chocolate, and the coloured TV have in common? They all come from one place. So put on your sombrero, and let's get going. Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country located in the southern portion of North America. squished between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.
It borders three other countries, but its largest boundary is with the sea, projecting its control along these lines. But how did the nation come to be? Mexico as a fully independent state came into existence in 1821. It's only been 200 years since its birth.
But make no mistake, people have inhabited this area for millennia. From 1500 BC to 1500 AC, six major civilizations shaped the region. However, much of what is considered modern Mexican culture, including place names, words, food, art, dress, symbols, and even the name Mexican, derives from the Aztec civilization. They were around since the 1300s until 1521, which is the year the Spanish came and conquered with the help of rival tribes.
This region would then be under Spanish rule for 300 years, specifically under the Viceroyalty of New Spain. with Mexico as the centre of power over nearby colonies, including the Philippines. After they gained independence in 1821, they inherited most of the Spanish possessions, but the borders changed nonetheless by Mexicans giving people a choice to self-determine in the south, by states leaving the union and rejoining later, by war in the United States, and by a controversial sale of territory. And all of this in the span of 30 years. So, after all this mess had ended, They have remained the same so far.
The only thing that changed though was the flag. Well, the eagle design rather. They seem to have found the right one in 1968. Anyways, back to geography.
Mexico's elevation looks like this, due to three mountain chains converging in the center, creating the Mexican Plateau. These mountainous features are created from the friction that these tectonic plates, part of the so-called ring of fire, create when overlapping each other. Large quantities of volcanoes all around the country are created as a result of this, the highest of them being at 5,600 meters above sea level. Rivers flow over these mountainous hills, the longest one being the Rio Grande, known in Mexico as Rio Bravo. They all feed forests and rainforests, both with a coverage of 33% of all the land area, predominantly in the south.
The north, in contrast, is filled with deserts, covering around 40% of the country. Climate-wise, Mexico can be divided into three regions. A warm climate with plenty of rain in the south. A temperate climate in the inner center, where average temperature is mild, yet it can get cold on winter nights and hot on summer days.
And a dry and hot climate in the north. Mexico also faces hurricanes from time to time, but they are not as destructive as in the countries in the Caribbean. So, here we are with this beautiful nation filled with 120 million people. distributed in 31 states and the capital city of Mexico, which is home to almost 9 million people.
We find numbers such as 16 million people in the nearby Mexico state, 8 million in these other states, 6 million here, 5 million there, 4 million there, and so on. The population is huge, and that makes Mexico the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, and that is not the only part of their identity that they've inherited from Spain. They are also the third country with the most Christians in the world with an outstanding 107 million people, accounting for 91% of the population.
The other 18 million are made out of people with no religion and other minor religious groups. Another aspect of demographics is ethnicity. There are estimates that the prevalent ethnicity are mestizos, which have cultural traits incorporating elements from both indigenous and Spanish traditions, and they make up about 60% of the population. When talking about economy, well, Mexico has the 11th largest economy in the world.
On the one hand, we've got exports equivalent to 441 billion US dollars, and almost all of it goes to the United States, accounting for 77% of Mexico's trade. The next two trading partners are Canada with 4% and Guatemala with 2%. The three main categories in exports are machinery, transportation, and instruments, most of them in the medical field. On the other hand, we've got imports equivalent to 416 billion US dollars.
The US again is the main partner with 57% of all trade, followed by China with 13% and Germany with 4%. The top two percentages are in the same field as exports, with the third one consisting on mineral products such as refined petroleum. All this trade is done in key ports across both sides of the country, which is an advantage due to the proximity to the main international trade routes. When talking about means of transportation for the people, air travel is the best option, since there is no passenger railway system as of today and the roads and highway can get tiring due to long distances.
For example, a trip from Cancun to Tijuana can take up to 50 hours by by car, greatly reduced to little less than 5 hours by plane. So they must have an extensive network of modern airports all throughout the territory to challenge these long distances. And they do.
Flying domestically is considered efficient and safe. In fact, Mexico's infrastructure is the most efficient in all of Latin America, and many airlines fly over the skies. Internationally, Mexico is well connected as well, having non-stop routes to important centres of travel such as Paris, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, London, Tokyo and many more. We have reached our final chapter, friendship and rivalry, and the easiest to identify out of both of the concepts is the latter.
The United States incentivizes competition due to the country doing way better in aspects such as economy and development. That is why Mexico always looks forward to rise its standards. In contrast, one thing that Mexico is able to give their citizens that the U.S. cannot is an excellent and affordable health care to the point where people from San Diego cross the border in order to get insulin.
at 10% the price. Now when talking about a best friend, well, people would think Latin America in general would be the answer, but they've never really had a deep connection with either Central or South America. Sure, they can relate to Colombia, as they both face drug wars inside their countries, or to Peru, due to both having ancient civilisations heritage. but those friendships are a little distant. How about the US, you may ask?
Well, they do business together a lot, and they actually are each other's top migration destination, with 11 million Mexicans in the US and 1 million Americans in Mexico. So... Their ties are definitely close, but as a best friend, I don't know.
Ethiopia is worth mentioning. Yes, this African country on the other side of the planet. They both named places in their countries after each other after Mexico refused to recognise Italy's annexation of this African nation.
Despite this, it is not considered a close friendship. That is why we're leaving this spot empty, for now. As the Mexican saying goes, if you're born to be a tamale, the leaves will fall from the sky.