Basic notes on the democratic nation of Mexíco

Catedral de Guadalajara,Mexíco.
Originally uploaded by Enrique López-Tamayo Biosca

With an estimated population of 109 million,[9] it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country, according to Wikipedia.[12

Mexico is a newly industrialized country[13][14][15][16] and the 12th largest economy in the world by GDP by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners. Despite being considered an emerging power,[17] the uneven distribution of income and the increase in insecurity are issues of concern.

It was decided that the new country would be named after its capital city (Mexico City) that was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Aztec capital of México-Tenochtitlan. The origin of the name of the city comes from the Nahuatl language, where Mextli or Mēxihtli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Aztecs, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mēxihco means "Place where Mēxihtli lives".

Ancient civilizations revolved around cities with writing, monumental architecture, astronomical studies, mathematics, and large militaries. For almost three thousand years, Aridoamerica[24] and Mesoamerica[25] were the site of several advanced Amerindian civilizations.

Almost 300 years after New Spain was created, on September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, in the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato.[27] This was the catalyst for a long war that ended in 1821 which eventually led to the independence and creation of the ephemeral First Mexican Empire.

The Empire's territory encompassed the area of the current Mexican republic as well as the present-day U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, parts of Colorado and Wyoming, and all current Central American countries except for Panama and Belize.

Mexico is one of the 18 megadiverse countries of the world. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10–12% of the world's biodiversity.[74] Mexico ranks first in biodiversity in reptiles with 707 known species.

The discovery of the Americas brought to the rest of the world many widely used ingredients. Some of Mexico's native ingredients include: chocolate, tomato, maize, vanilla, avocado, guava, chayote, epazote, camote, jícama, nopal, tejocote, huitlacoche, sapote, mamey sapote, and many varieties of beans. Most of these names are in indigenous languages like Nahuatl.

Oil is Mexico's largest source of foreign income.[79] According to Goldman Sachs BRIMC review of emerging economies, by 2050 the largest economies in the world will be as follows: China, United States, India, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico.[80]

The North American Free Trade Agreement remains the most significant factor in business: Almost 90% of Mexican exports go to the United States and Canada[86] and close to 65% of its imports come from these two countries.

Mexico has one of the largest tourism industries in the world. In 2005 it was the seventh most popular tourist destination worldwide, receiving over 20 million tourists per year;

* Mestizos (those of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry) form the largest group, comprising up to 60-75% of the total population.[69][108]
* Amerindians called indigenous peoples (indígenas) are estimated to be between 12% (pure Amerindian)[109] and 30% (predominantly Amerindian).