Novelist Charles Fleming Embree, an honorary geographer

 Other  Comments Off on Novelist Charles Fleming Embree, an honorary geographer
May 302016
 
Novelist Charles Fleming Embree, an honorary geographer

American author Charles Fleming Embree‘s A dream of a throne, the story of a Mexican revolt, published in 1900, is, I believe, the earliest novel in any language about the Lake Chapala area. It is an historical novel, set in the area during the nineteenth century, but Embree reveals an extraordinary depth of knowledge, not […]

Grupo México plans to mine copper in Monarch Butterfly reserve

 Mexico's geography in the Press  Comments Off on Grupo México plans to mine copper in Monarch Butterfly reserve
May 262016
 
Grupo México plans to mine copper in Monarch Butterfly reserve

Mexico’s largest mining company, Grupo México plans to mine copper from its mine in Angangueo, Michoacán, according to the town’s mayor, Leonel Martínez Maya, who says it would revitalize the local economy. Large-scale mining in the town declined after a serious accident in 1953, said to have been attributable to the company’s then-foreign management in […]

The downside to publicizing one of Mexico’s most beautiful beaches

 Mexico's geography in the Press, Other  Comments Off on The downside to publicizing one of Mexico’s most beautiful beaches
May 232016
 
The downside to publicizing one of Mexico's most beautiful beaches

In the past couple of years, Mexico’s federal tourism department has included a truly magnificent beach on some of its publicity posters. It is one of those advertising posters that really catches the eye. I first saw a poster featuring Playa Escondida (“Hidden Beach”) in a departure lounge at Vancouver’s International Airport and spent the […]

May 192016
 
The spheres of influence of Mexican cartels in the USA

An unclassified DEA Intelligence Report from a year ago has just resurfaced on my desk. Entitled United States: Areas of Influence of Major Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations, it includes two particularly interesting maps. The report states that “Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) pose the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group […]

“Huichol Women, Weavers, and Shamans” by Stacy B. Schaefer

 Books and resources  Comments Off on “Huichol Women, Weavers, and Shamans” by Stacy B. Schaefer
May 162016
 
"Huichol Women, Weavers, and Shamans" by Stacy B. Schaefer

Stacy B. Schaefer is professor emeritus of anthropology at California State University, Chico, and has worked in research and education at a number of California museums. Schaefer has a long-standing interest in Mexico, with particular interest in the Huichol Indians. She is the author of To Think With a Good Heart: Wixarika Women, Weavers, and […]

The race is on to expand 4G-LTE services in Mexico

 Mexico's geography in the Press  Comments Off on The race is on to expand 4G-LTE services in Mexico
May 092016
 
The race is on to expand 4G-LTE services in Mexico

AT&T and Telcel are competing for the concession of 80 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum for the provision of 4G-LTE mobile broadband service in Mexico. The winner is expected to have to pay somewhere in the region of 700 million dollars to the government in order to acquire the rights. The three major competitors currently in […]

Female Mexican diplomat to head U.N. climate framework

 Mexico's geography in the Press  Comments Off on Female Mexican diplomat to head U.N. climate framework
May 052016
 
Female Mexican diplomat to head U.N. climate framework

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has started the process of consultation with the Conference of Parties through its Bureau, and announced his intention to appoint Patricia Espinosa Cantellano of Mexico as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Ms. Espinosa Cantellano has more than 30 years of experience at highest […]

May 022016
 
The Anatomy of Eleven Towns in Michoacán (review)

This little 77-page gem only recently came to my attention, but is sufficiently interesting, for lots of different reasons, to make it well worth reading if you have the chance. Written in straightforward, non-academic language, Stanislawski sets about unpacking the factors explaining the land use patterns for eleven towns in the western Mexico state of […]

Apr 282016
 
Jalisco Tourism Department needs a geographer

Like most geographers, I collect maps and information wherever I travel; you never know what surprises await. Tourism publications are especially interesting since they are specifically designed (one assumes) to show the best side of the places described. My collection of tourist brochures associated with Jalisco and the Lake Chapala area dates back more than […]

Apr 252016
 
Cuatro Ciénegas wetlands threatened by five invasive species

Cuatro Ciénegas (“Four Marshes”) is a city and municipality in the northern border state of Coahuila. Founded in 1800, it has some historical significance, since it was the birthplace of Venustiano Carranza, Mexico’s president from 1915 to 1920. The natural nearby “marshes” are highly unusual. Situated in an arid region (part of the Chihuahuan desert), […]

Trends in Mexico’s avocado-growing industry

 Mexico's geography in the Press, Updates to Geo-Mexico  Comments Off on Trends in Mexico’s avocado-growing industry
Apr 212016
 
Trends in Mexico's avocado-growing industry

Mexico is by far the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of avocados. Production topped 1.3 million metric tons last year, well ahead of the USA (240,000 tons) and Chile (205,000 tons). Mexico’s avocado exports have risen by a staggering 414% over the past eight years to more than 600,000 metric tons in 2015, worth […]

Apr 182016
 
Another Cancun hotel construction project stopped

Only weeks after the suspension of hotel construction work in the Malecón Tajamar area of Cancún due to the wanton destruction of mangroves, work on another major hotel project in Cancón has also been stopped. This time, it is the building of Riu Hotel’s 95-million-dollar, 530-room, Hotel Riviera Cancún, with two 70-story towers, that has […]

Apr 142016
 
Rust disease gives Mexico's coffee producers an uncertain future

Mexico is the world’s ninth largest coffee producer and second largest producer of organic coffee. However, coffee production in Mexico in recent years has been affected by adverse weather conditions (untimely rainfall, frosts, excess humidity) which have been ideal for the expansion of coffee rust disease (roya del café) in many production areas. The 2015/16 […]

Apr 112016
 

According to ECOCE, a non-profit environmental grouping of 24 food and beverage firms, representing more than 80 brands such as Peñafiel, Bonafont, Herdez, Jumex and Coca-Cola, Mexico is the world’s leading recycler of hard plastic PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and containers. Mexico has 14 PET recycling plants, the construction of which represents total investments of […]

Gender disparities and the value of women’s work in the home

 Mexico's geography in the Press, Updates to Geo-Mexico  Comments Off on Gender disparities and the value of women’s work in the home
Apr 072016
 
Gender disparities and the value of women's work in the home

In August 2012, in The value in Mexico of unpaid work in the home, we saw that a study by the National Statistics Institute (INEGI) based on 2010 data had calculated that routine work done in the home (almost 80% of the time-value involved comes from women) was worth about 2.9 trillion pesos to the […]

The world’s first ecological museum was designed and built in Mexico

 Other  Comments Off on The world’s first ecological museum was designed and built in Mexico
Apr 042016
 
The world's first ecological museum was designed and built in Mexico

The world’s first ecological museum was designed and built in Mexico, at the archaeological site of Xochicalco, in the state of Morelos. The museum, about thirty kilometers south of Cuernavaca, was built as part of Mexico’s celebrations to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus. The project, which overs 12,676 square meters, […]

Trump’s U.S.-Mexico Border Wall is already almost complete

 Books and resources  Comments Off on Trump’s U.S.-Mexico Border Wall is already almost complete
Mar 242016
 
Trump's U.S.-Mexico Border Wall is already almost complete

A recent National Geographic piece about the U.S.-Mexico border wall has some stunning photos of exactly what the wall looks like in various different places. This Is What the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall Actually Looks Like U.S. business magnate, and would-be politician Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to completely seal the U.S.-Mexico border with a wall […]

Mar 212016
 
New international terminal for Cancún airport

Cancún International Airport (CUN) has opened a new terminal, Terminal 3. The airport is the nation’s busiest for international traffic and second only to Mexico City for national traffic. The airport served a total of more than 19 million passengers in 2015, 11% more than the previous year. The new 60-million-dollar, state-of-the-art Terminal 3 is […]

Mexico’s berry exports now exceed a billion dollars a year

 Mexico's geography in the Press  Comments Off on Mexico’s berry exports now exceed a billion dollars a year
Mar 152016
 
Mexico's berry exports now exceed a billion dollars a year

Berry production is one of the most dynamic segments of Mexico’s buoyant agricultural sector, and exports of berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) in 2015 totaled 1.1 billion dollars, according to preliminary figures. Last year, 99.6% of all U.S. imports of fresh strawberries came from Mexico and 27% of all imported raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. […]

Mar 112016
 
Cartographer José María Narváez, the first to sail through the Georgia Strait, Canada

Spanish seaman José María Narváez (1768-1840) was an explorer and cartographer, whose major contributions to Mexican cartography in the first half of the eighteenth century have been largely forgotten. Narváez did not even give his name to what ranks as probably his greatest “discovery” – the stretch of water on the west coast of Canada […]

Mar 072016
 
Mexico welcomed a record 32.1 million tourists in 2015

Tourism accounts for about 9% of Mexico’s GNI and provides almost 4 million direct jobs. In 2015, Mexico welcomed a record 32.1 million international tourists, making it the 10th most popular international destination in the world. They spent a combined $17.5 billion in the country. Almost 50% of these overseas visitors arrived by air; they […]

Acclaimed biography of Alexander von Humboldt completely ignores his time in Mexico

 Books and resources  Comments Off on Acclaimed biography of Alexander von Humboldt completely ignores his time in Mexico
Feb 292016
 
Acclaimed biography of Alexander von Humboldt completely ignores his time in Mexico

The English language press has lavished dollops of praise on The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science, the biography of Humboldt written by Andrea Wulf, a design historian at the Royal College of Art in London. According to a review in the New Scientist, “Historian Andrea Wulf […]

A 1902 travel account, and unexpected link between Mexico and a Swiss castle

 Books and resources  Comments Off on A 1902 travel account, and unexpected link between Mexico and a Swiss castle
Feb 252016
 
A 1902 travel account, and unexpected link between Mexico and a Swiss castle

Dr Carl Wilhelm Schiess (1869-1929) is the unexpected link between Mexico and a Swiss castle. Schiess wrote a travel account, first published in 1902, of a two-month trip in Mexico in the winter of 1899-1900. The account, only ever published in German, is Quer durch Mexiko vom Atlantischen zum Stillen Ocean (“Across Mexico from the […]

The evolution of Mexico as a nation

 Books and resources  Comments Off on The evolution of Mexico as a nation
Feb 182016
 

What better way to describe Mexico’s territorial evolution as a nation than via an animated graphic? Fortunately, we didn’t have to do the work ourselves, but found one, showing all of North America, at giphy.com. Sadly, it is no longer active. The graphic covered the period 1750-2000. Mexico appeared in 1821, when it became formally independent […]

Mexico City chosen over Curitiba (Brazil) as World Design Capital 2018

 Mexico's geography in the Press  Comments Off on Mexico City chosen over Curitiba (Brazil) as World Design Capital 2018
Feb 152016
 
Mexico City chosen over Curitiba (Brazil) as World Design Capital 2018

At its 29th General Assembly in Gwangju, South Korea, a few months ago, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) announced that Mexico City has been designated World Design Capital (WDC) 2018. Mexico City is the first city from the Americas to hold the designation. ICSID President Professor Mugendi M’Rithaa stated, “Mexico City […]

New era for Federal Electricity Commission as it is split into four divisions

 Mexico's geography in the Press, Updates to Geo-Mexico  Comments Off on New era for Federal Electricity Commission as it is split into four divisions
Feb 112016
 
New era for Federal Electricity Commission as it is split into four divisions

Mexico’s state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) has remained the dominant electric utility in Mexico for almost eighty years, even though most Latin American countries ended state monopolies in the 1990s. Now, Mexico’s on-going energy reforms are revamping the CFE behemoth by splitting it into four distinct entities focusing, respectively, on electricity […]