Mexico

Mexico: Basics

•Capital: Mexico City• Language: Spanish•Religion: Catholic•Colonized: Spanish, 1510• Independent: 1822

Mexico: Basics

•Population: 120 Million (12th)•Size: 14th (2 million square miles)•Resources:• petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber• 1/3 revenue = oil• Biggest Customer = US

Climate of Mexico

• Tropical to Desert• Beaches• Tsunamis, typhoons, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanos•Natural freshwater scarce, made worse by pollution•Deforestation

Economy

•Highly dependent upon US•Gap between Rich and Poor• Rural, Urban areas• Shanty towns

• Immigration – losing 1.5/1,000 each year (158th)• 2007 – 1 Million/year arrested attempting to cross US Border illegally.

Government of Mexico

• “United Mexican States” – 31 states• Federal Republic• Single-party state until 1997• Recent governments have tackled corruption, past history of political oppression

Crime in Mexico

• Highest rate of kidnapping in the world• 35,000 drug-related deaths since 2006• Cartel: an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition• $13B drug trafficking/year

Native Issues

•Mestizo: (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%• Amerindian: 30%•White 9%

Native Issues

• Violent uprisings 1994/1997 in Chiapas, 145/45 dead• Recent governments have opened dialogues with Indian groups.

Emigration

•ImmigrateIN

•EmigrateOUT

Why do people leave their home country?