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# Mexico

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Mexico is a country located in North America south of the United States and north of Guatemala and north of Belize.
Its capital is Mexico City (Federal District). Important cities include Monterrey (northeastern Mexico), and Guadalajara (western Mexico).
It is divided into 31 states and 1 Federal District (Distrito Federal).
The form of government is a Republic, and it is also a Federation?. The official name of the country is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" (United Mexican States or United States of Mexico).
The current president is Vicente Fox Quezada.
Quick History - Told in plain English, and quite informally.
Mexico was originally conquered by Spain, in 1521. The conquerors were led by [Hernan Cortes]?, who entered the country in 1517 from the port known back then as Puerto de la Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. The Aztecs, dominant native people in the country back then, believed (according to the historical myth) that the Spanish conquerors were people sent by the gods, so they obeyed them. The spanish conquerors sacked Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire. A new culture was being born: the mestizo? culture, in which spanish people were marrying native mexicans, and mixing all the culture. During 1500 to 1800 (approx.), Mexico was known as "[Nueva Espaņa]?" or "New Spain". The territories included about half the actual territory of the United States of America. The war for independence started in 1810, and finished in 1821. Its independence was first proclaimed in September 16, 1810, but the republic was not established until 1824. The first form of government was a monarchy, with Agustin de Iturbide as emperor, but that plan failed (1821). Finally, in 1824, a president, a guy who went by the name of "[Guadalupe Victoria]?" was the first president. [Guadalupe Victoria]? was not his real name, but it was a name specially chosen: Guadalupe for the protection of [Our Lady of Guadalupe]?, and Victoria which means Victory. The first constitution was made.
Many presidents came and went, and there was a period of instability. Many people preferred a monarchical? form of government (conservatives), while others preferred a democracy/republic (liberals). In the middle of all this, conservatives "imported" an archduke of Austria, known as [Maximiliano de Habsburgo]? (wife [Carlota de Habsburgo]?). But such a thing backfired the conservatives, because Maximiliano de Habsburgo favored the establishment of a Republic, and a "liberal" way of government. Poor Maximiliano was killed by the conservatives in the [Cerro de la Campana]?, Queretaro?, by the conservatives (led by [Gral. Miguel Miramon]?). In this period, many of the territories in the north were lost to the USA. They were either sold dirt cheap, or lost in bloody battles against the USA. One of the memorable battles is when the USA invaded Mexico in 1847, and the [Heroic Military College]? fought against experienced soldiers (September 13, 1847). In 1857, the republic was restored, and a new constitution was written.
During the period (mid 1800s), the French Army was the strongest one. The French were interested in claiming Mexico as part of their territory, so they came to Mexico and invaded it. The cinco de mayo (may 5th, 1862) battle took place precisely when mexicans were defending their territory from the French interests. The general that led the defense was [Ignacio Zaragoza]?.
There was a president who apparently did a lot of good to the newly restored nation. His name was [Benito Juarez]?. He was a president of Mexico. But after so much power, he was becoming more and more corrupt (he had a particular hate against a state called [Nuevo Leon]?), so there was a man, [Porfirio Diaz]?, who tried to fix that. With the proclamation of the [Plan de Tuxtepec]? (1876), a small war against the president started. Porfirio Diaz became the new president; he was in power for about 30 years. During this period of about 30 years (1876 - 1911), Mexico progressed a lot with the investments of other countries. This period of prosperity and relative peace is called the Porfiriato?. But the people was not happy with the form of government in the porfiriato: It was attracting investors because the pay for workers was dirt cheap, which made a very steep social division: only a small bunch of investors (national and international) were super rich, but the grand majority of the people was super poor.
Not happy with this, a man named [Francisco I. Madero]? prepared the [Plan de San Luis]?, in which he called the mexican people to take their weapons and fight against the government of [Porfirio Diaz]? on November 20, 1910, at 18:00hrs. This started what is known as the Mexican Revolution (Revolucion Mexicana). Madero was incarcerated in [San Antonio]?, Texas, but his plan took effect in spite of being in jail. This is the period where [Pancho Villa]?, [Emiliano Zapata]?, and other important people figure. Porfirio Diaz "abdicated" for the "sake of the peace of the nation", left for France (in a boat named "Ipiranga") and died in Paris, France in May 1911, but there seemed to be much more problems with Mexico, and the war lasted more than 10 years. However, a man who went by the name of [Venustiano Carranza]? got together with other people, and promulgated the Constitution on February 5, 1917 (and became president). This is the constitution that still rules Mexico.
In the 20s and 30s there was another civil war called "la Guerra Cristera"; it was based on religious issues. The new government (a party called the PNR, later called PRI, who would "rule" for about 70 years) wanted to supress catholicism, to which the people (majoritarily catholic) reacted with a war. In 1938, the oil companies were nationalized (March 18, 1938, by Lazaro Cardenas, president).
The 40s, 50s, and 60s were a period of economical prosperity and peace in Mexico. During the WWII, the "apagones" were made very famous. The "apagones" consisted of turning off all the lights of the city, to avoid to be spotted by "enemy" countries (but Mexico remained neutral all the way through the end). This period was also a period where movies were big in Mexico (called the golden age of mexican cinema "epoca de oro del cine mexicano), which gave opportunities to artists like [Maria Felix]?, [Agustin Lara]?, [Consuelo Velazquez]?, [Pedro Infante]?, [Jorge Negrete]?, [Dolores del Rio]?... (although not all the mentioned above are actors).
In the 70s, things started to look not-so-bright, and the banks were nationalized. The mexican peso devaluated, and ever since, it was normal to expect a big devaluation and recession period after each presidential period ended (every 6 years). People started getting tired of the corruption of the PRI, party in power for about 70 years. How did they stay in power for so long, if leaders are elected through general vote? They always "fixed" the elections somehow, so they would win. As a measure to deter this, the IFE (Instituto Federal Electoral - Federal Electoral Institute) was created in the early 90s, and it is run by normal citizens. As a result of this, in 2000, the PAN (Partido Accion Nacional) the actual strongest party won the federal elections, and the president is now Vicente Fox Quezada. As a curious fact, with the change of powers, there hasn't been any devaluation.

See also:

- Mexican food

From the CIA World Factbook 2000. Not Wikified.

- History
- Geography
- People
- Government
- Economy
- Communications
- Transportation
- Military
- Transnational Issues

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Last edited July 27, 2001 1:23 am (diff)
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