Other – Page 15 – Geo-Mexico, the geography of Mexico

The 10 largest states in Mexico in terms of population

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Apr 062010

This table shows the ten states in Mexico which have the largest populations. The total population was 112,322,757 in 2010, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 census. These figures may change slightly when the final results of the census are made available.

Rank	State	Population (2010 census)
1	State of México	15,174,272
2	Federal District	8,873,017
3	Veracruz	7,638,378
4	Jalisco	7,350,355
5	Puebla	5,779,007
6	Guanajuato	5,485,971
7	Chiapas	4,793,406
8	Nuevo León	4,643,321
9	Michoacán	4,348,485
10	Oaxaca	3,801,871

Q. Find these ten states on a map of Mexico [printable map of Mexico in pdf format]. Do the states with the most people also have the largest land areas?

“La Curva de la Gringa”, the American woman’s curve, a place name in Michoacán, Mexico

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Mar 302010

Another interesting example of an unusual place name (following on from an earlier post about unusual place names) is the name “La Curva de la Gringa”, the American woman’s curve.

La Curva de la Gringa is the name of a 90-degree bend near Jungapeo, west of Zitácuaro in the state of Michoacán. Literally translated as “the American woman’s curve”, how did this name come about? The first thing to remember is that all names on maps have to come from somewhere. Detailed maps of Mexico, including the 1:50,000 series, relied initially on aerial (later satellite) imagery, followed by some checking on the ground. Given the expense, ground checking was often relatively limited. However, the on-the-ground surveyors were responsible for adding names to the maps.

La Curva de la Gringa, Michoacán (on Mexico’s 1:50,000 topographic map)

In this case, local informants were apparently unanimous in calling this bend La Curva de la Gringa. Further research shows that this had nothing to do with any purported similarity to the sensuous curve of a gringa‘s breast, but derived from when the road was first paved in the 1950s. Apparently, shortly after the road was finished, an American lady driving her oversized gas-guzzler down to the luxury spa of San José Purua completely missed this bend, and plowed into a cornfield. The locals have long memories!

In 2010, this road is being widened, and sidewalks and street lights installed, all the way from Federal Highway 15 (see map), past La Curva de la Gringa, and as far as the money allocated (currently about 7 million pesos) allows. The first section was due to be inaugurated 21 March 2010. If anyone has an update, please leave a comment. Here’s hoping that no more accidents ever occur along this stretch of road, and that no future place names ever reflect such unfortunate incidents.

A tribute to Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the father of modern geography in Mexico

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Mar 292010

To whom do we owe the birth of modern geography in Mexico? To Alexander von Humboldt, the brilliant early-19th century explorer. His visit to the country in 1803-4 helped him amass sufficient data and ideas to publish works which would prove to be a secure foundation for the development, in particular, of physical geography and meteorology.

It is impossible to do justice in these few lines to the brilliance of Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, aptly described by Charles Darwin as “the greatest scientific traveler who ever lived”. He was born in Berlin, Prussia, in 1769 to a very well-connected family.

He studied political economy before turning to science at the University of Göttingen in 1789. One of his friends there, Georg Forster, had been scientific illustrator on Captain James Cook’s second voyage. This friendship undoubtedly reinforced Humboldt’s determination to undertake his own long distance travels. Humboldt systematically prepared himself for a life as a scientific explorer, first studying commerce and foreign languages at Hamburg, then geology and mining at Freiberg, followed by anatomy at Jena, as well as astronomy and the use of scientific instruments.

Detail from Humboldt's 1811 Map.

Humboldt spent five years in the New World, from 1799 to 1804. His visit to Mexico began in Acapulco on March 22, 1803, and lasted until he set sail from Veracruz for the United States on March 7, 1804. In the intervening months, Humboldt measured, recorded, observed and wrote about anything and everything, with remarkable industry and accuracy. He climbed mountains, burned his boots on active volcanoes, descended into mines, recorded geographical coordinates, and collected specimens and antiquities. He also drew a large number of maps, drawings and sketches. Humboldt’s Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain was the first systematic scientific description of the New World. It appeared in 1811, and marked the birth of modern geography in Mexico. His figures and ideas were used and quoted by writers for many many years.

On his return to Europe, he spent more than twenty years, mainly in Paris, writing and publishing his results. The crowning glory of Humboldt’s career was his five-volume Kosmos. Begun at age 76, it turned out to be a masterpiece, proposing conceptual generalizations, supported by the observations of the physical world he had made decades earlier.

Humboldt’s work was the foundation for the subsequent development of physical geography and meteorology. Developing the concept of isotherms allowed climatic comparisons to be made. He recognized that altitudinal differences in climate echoed latitudinal differences. His essay on the geography of plants related the distribution of plant forms to varying physical conditions. Finding that volcanoes fell naturally into linear groups, Humboldt argued that these presumably corresponded with vast subterranean fissures. In addition, he demonstrated the igneous origin of volcanic rocks for the first time.

Humboldt’s work awakened considerable European interest in the Americas and caused many later artists to travel to Mexico to draw and paint.

Humboldt died, at the age of 89, on May 6, 1859. His travels, experiments, and knowledge had transformed western science in the 19th century. Humanist, naturalist, botanist, geographer, geologist: Humboldt was all of these, and more.

A brief extract from Humboldt’s “Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain” is included in Tony Burton’s “Lake Chapala Through the Ages, an anthology of travellers’ tales” (Sombrero Books 2008). This book has extracts from more than 50 original sources covering the period 1530-1910, together with short biographies of the writers, and an informative commentary setting the extracts in their historical context.

The “Niagara of Mexico”, the Juanacatlán Falls near Guadalajara

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Mar 252010

The “Niagara of Mexico” is a natural waterfall on the River Santiago as it winds its way from Lake Chapala to the Oblatos Canyon, the deep ravine which prevents the city of Guadalajara from expanding further northwards.

Juanacatlán Falls, 1909

Between the small villages of El Salto (The Waterfall) and Juanacatlan, 17 kilometers east of the Guadalajara-Chapala highway, is the second biggest waterfall in North America, the biggest being Niagara. A bridge with 24 arches spans the falls and links the two villages. The falls became part of Mexican postal history in 1899.

The Juanacatlan falls are shown as a waterfall of immense beauty, a conclusion echoed by tourist guides of the time which speak of a “magnificent spectacle” and the “majestic falls”.

Despite their former fame, the 35-meter-high falls were reduced in the 1980s to a trickle of dirty, evil-smelling effluent from local factories.

Next to the falls, which at the turn of the 20th century provided hydro-electric power for Guadalajara, now stands the empty shell of a cotton and woolen mill whose wheels were once turned by the falls. Hopefully one day these historic falls will be restored to their rightful place as one of Mexico’s greatest tourist attractions.

Updates:

The eastern end of Mexico’s largest lake, Lake Chapala, is amputated

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Mar 232010

In the 19th century, most of the proposed schemes to change the course or nature of the Lake Chapala area were never carried out. Of those that were implemented, the most significant was the construction in 1883 of the Presa Corona. This dam facilitated the construction of a hydro-power plant at the Juanacatlán Falls. Associated irrigation channels allowed much of the Santiago valley to be farmed all year.

At the eastern end of the lake, farmers had tried several times to gain permanent additional land by draining parts of the lakeshore. Calls for more land, and more control over the position of the edge of the lake were renewed following a drought in 1896, and the very low lake level the following year, when the hydro plant had to be taken out of service for lack of water. Engineers decided to build a dam at Poncitlán to regulate the River Santiago and conserve water in times of plenty.

A few years later, in 1904, very high floods following the rainy season made landowners even more unhappy. The inauguration of the Poncitlán dam in 1905 ironically meant that water levels remained high each year for longer than usual in the much-coveted eastern marshes. In several places, including Jamay and La Palma, local landowners constructed dykes to prevent the water from covering their fields. Levées were built along the Lerma and its tributary the Duero.

Manuel Cuesta Gallardo, a native of Guadalajara, had a much bolder vision, which reflected how successfully Europeans had increased their areas of farmland through drainage and reclamation schemes. He convinced President Porfirio Díaz to award him a concession for the 50,000 hectares of land that would be gained by constructing an 80-kilometer-long earth bank from La Palma to Maltaraña, to completely amputate the eastern end of the lake, the area known as the Ciénega of Chapala. The scheme, designed by engineer Luis P. Ballesteros, also involved digging major drainage channels. All the work was done by hand. By 1908, the work was complete.

The following year, disastrous floods overwhelmed the earth banks, destroyed bridges and wrecked crops. Further floods in 1913 caused further damage, but all the dykes were rebuilt by the following year. While the scheme has certainly not prevented occasional flooding, it has increased the agricultural area in the region. But at what cost? Critics say that the delicate ecological balance of the lake was destroyed for ever. The marshland’s natural sponge-like ameliorating effect, soaking up excess rainfall to make it available again in times of drought, was gone for good.

The hydrology of Lake Chapala is discussed in chapters 6 and 7 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. A case study of ‘residential tourism’ in the villages on the northern shore of Lake Chapala is discussed in chapter19. Lake Chapala was recently declared an Internationally Important Wetland by the Ramsar Convention, joining a large global network of similarly important wetland sites. The 13th International Living Lakes Conference is being held in Chapala, March 22-25, 2010.

This is an edited excerpt from Tony Burton’s Lake Chapala Through the Ages, an anthology of travelers’ tales (Sombrero Books 2008)

Earliest landscapes on Mexican postage stamps

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Mar 192010

The earliest landscapes to be depicted on Mexican postage stamps were in 1899. The set included these magnificent images of The Juanacatlán Falls, popularly known as the “Niagara of Mexico”, on the 50 cent stamp, and of Popocatapetl volcano on the 1 peso stamp.

The Juanacatlán Falls are on the River Santiago, shortly after it leaves Lake Chapala on its way to carve the deep Oblatos Canyon on the northern edge of Mexico’s second city, Guadalajara. In 1899, these falls were considered to be the second largest waterfall in North America (in terms of volume of flow) after Niagara Falls. A bridge with 24 arches spans the falls and joins the villages of Juanacatlán and El Salto (The Waterfall).

There are two major volcanoes near Mexico City. The first is the still active Popocatepetl (“Popo”), which rises to 5500 meters (18,045 feet) and is shown on the 1899 1 peso stamp. Alongside it, the dormant volcanic peak of Iztaccihuatl is 5220 m (17,126 ft) high. Both are clearly visible from Mexico City on a smog-free day. The southern suburbs of Mexico City are overshadowed by a third, smaller volcano, Ajusco, which reaches 3930 m (12,894 ft).

These beautiful 1899 stamps, designed and printed in the UK, are considered to be among the gems of Mexican philately.

Mexico’s many volcanoes are discussed in chapter 2 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Water issues are examined in chapter 7, and environmental trends and issues are the subject of chapter 30.

The Irish may be everywhere, but mainly due to a Mexican water mold

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Mar 172010

During the Irish potato famine more than one million people died of starvation when their staple crop failed, and many of those who survived were forced to emigrate. This tide of emigration carried many Irish people to North America, particularly to the north-east of the USA.

How did the potato famine come about? The census of 1841 in Ireland recorded a population of about 8 million. This figure was a staggering 300% more than sixty years earlier. The staple Irish food at that time was the humble potato and Ireland’s rapid population growth during the early part of the nineteenth century was based on the so-called “potato economy”. Ireland was bursting at the seams in 1841, but just a decade later, after the potato famine, the population had fallen to 6.5 million and by 1900 to around 4 million.

And where does a Mexican mold come in? The cause of famine was a water mold (Phytophthora infestans) that originated in Mexico. This fungus-like mold results in a disease called “late blight” in which entire fields of mature potato plants are destroyed within days. The name “late blight” is because the mold strikes late in the growing season, close to harvest time. Infected tubers are subject to soft-rot bacteria which render them useless as food. What is worse, the discarded rotting tubers can easily re-infect the succeeding year’s crop.

One kind of late blight mold, A1, crossed the Atlantic in the 1840s, reaching Europe in 1845 before rapidly spreading across the continent to reach Ireland. Although cultivated potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) originated in Peru, the late blight mold appears to have originated in the Toluca Valley of Mexico (adjacent to the western edge of Mexico City) where it is found in several related wild-growing Solanum tubers.

After the Irish potato famine, farmers learned to control the A1 mold through careful fungicide applications and by choosing varieties that had some resistance to late blight and planting only healthy tubers.

Since the 1980s, however, farmers are once again fighting late blight as the direct result of the escape of a second kind, A2, into the cultivated potato population. The problem stems from the fact that A1 and A2 can reproduce sexually, with the potential to have offspring that are strains with greater virulence or increased resistance to fungicides. Having two different kinds of late blight as parents greatly magnifies the genetic variability available for future generations of the mold .

The A2 mold first appeared outside Mexico in the 1970s and has already spread with serious economic consequences to the Middle East, Africa and North and South America. It seems almost certain that it will eventually also disrupt harvests in India and in China, the world’s largest potato producer. The A2 mold is considered the most important threat to potato cultivation worldwide. The current response of hitting it with higher and more lethal doses of fungicide is not in line with public demands for greener farming methods.

How did the A2 mold escape from Mexico? It was probably unintentionally carried by potatoes exported to Europe during the winter of 1976-77. Europe needed potatoes because a drought a year earlier had reduced its potato yields significantly. Unrecognized, the mold was then re-transported in seed potatoes throughout Europe and to the Middle East and Africa.

Scientists are studying wild potatoes in the Toluca Valley in an effort to try and identify precisely which gene or combination of genes provides these particular wild potatoes with some degree of defense against the worst ravages of the mold. Mexico’s main center for potato research is the Agricultural University at Chapingo, near Texcoco, on the eastern edge of Mexico City. The University is well worth a visit – if only to admire the magnificent Diego Rivera murals, including one of the world’s great nudes.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, wherever you may be!

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect – Click here for the original article

Mexico’s innumerable links (economic, social, demographic and cultural) to the world are relevant to many chapters of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

Unusual place names in Mexico

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Mar 162010

In earlier posts, we’ve taken a quick look at typical Spanish-language place names (toponyms) and also some common indigenous place name elements. But what about those place names that do not match any of the expected categories?

Honey Railway Station (dating from 1908)

My personal favorites in this category include the railway stations of Honey in the state of Puebla (named for a famous railroad engineer) and Wadley in the state of San Luis Potosí. The latter is particularly strange since the letter w does not belong to the Spanish alphabet. I’ve never been able to identify the origin of the name Wadley with any certainty, but for one possible explanation, see Mexico has many “Est”raordinary railway places.

Wadley Railway Station in San Luis Potosí

Another example of an unusual name is that given to one of the sharpest curves on the Mexico City to Cuernavaca highway — La Curva de la Pera, which means “The Curve of the Pear”. The derivation of this name for a bend in the road that loops back on itself is fairly self-evident. Here’s hoping that your vacation after navigating past this bend does not end up being similarly “pear-shaped”!

Many similar instances of how names were allocated, and examples where place names proved critical to legal issues, are given in Raymond Craib’s excellent “Cartographic Mexico, a history of state fixations and fugitive landscapes” (Duke University Press, 2004). This is a perceptive study of the relationships between history and geography in Mexico from the mid-19th century until about 1930. Craib emphasizes the significance of map-making in post-Independent Mexico as a means towards furthering nationalism and as a development tool. He also traces the changing motives of map-makers, focusing especially on the key area of Veracruz-Puebla which served as Mexico’s main gateway to Europe for centuries. One case study examines a mining area where the granting of water rights hinged on precisely where a particular river flowed, and which tributary was which. This proved to be a case where cartographic ‘proof’ was impossible to find, and a pragmatic solution was required.

For a more complete explanation of some of Mexico’s place names, see “Mexico’s place names and their meanings” on MexConnect.

First map of Mexico on postage stamp

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Mar 142010

It was not until 1915, in the middle of the Mexican Revolution, that a map of the Republic appeared for the first time as the central design on a Mexican postage stamp.

Most states were named, though abbreviations were necessary given the size of the stamp. In 1915, though, the state of Nayarit on the Pacific Coast, north-west of Colima did not yet exist. It came into being in1917, with the signing of Mexico’s Constitution (the one which is still currently in force). Baja California, shown as single entity on the map, was divided into northern and southern sections in 1931.

In addition to the states, the map shows the main railway lines and also the main shipping routes. In 1915, the easiest way to reach the Yucatán Peninsula was by boat. It would be another 35 years or so before a rail link was completed between Veracuz and Merida. International shipping routes were very important in 1915, since air travel was in its infancy.

The map take some artistic license with scale. In particular, the island of Cuba has been brought much closer to the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula than it really is.

The historical evolution of the boundaries of Mexico, and of its individual states, are analyzed in chapter 12, “The changing political map of Mexico” of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. The development of Mexico”s railway lines is discussed in detail in chapter 17.

Cuautla, Mexico, has the world’s oldest railway station building

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Mar 102010

As mentioned in a previous post about tourist guidebooks, the introduction of railways into Mexico and the gradual expansion of the railway network encouraged the development of all kinds of social, industrial and tourist activities.

The Mexico City-Puebla line was completed in 1886 and went via the small town of Cuautla in the state of Morelos. Cuautla is about 25 kilometers south-east of Cuernavaca.

In Cuautla, the builders of the railway found a perfect location for the town’s new station, very close to the center. They station was constructed around the cloisters of an abandoned building, the former Dominican convent of San Diego, which dated back to 1657. Its ecclesiastical life ended some years before parts of it were incorporated into the railway station in 1881.

The 1899 edition of Reau Campbell’s famous Guide provides an idea of what visitors to Cuautla could expect when the train was in its heyday:

The train stops some minutes in Cuautla and there may be time for a walk through the little alameda, just outside of the station, where there are trees and flowers, a hotel where there are good wines, coffee and lunches to be had. As the approach to the station has been through a grove of tropical trees and gardens, so is its departure, and the train continues southward through the cane country to Yautepec…

A decade later, the British-born journalist William English Carson (1870-1940) spent four months in Mexico. Carson also visited Cuautla:

It is a quaint, old-fashioned place, with narrow, cobble-paved streets, and houses of the usual low, flat-roofed type. As I strolled about the town the next morning, I noticed some unusually amusing signs of Americanization. An enterprising barber, for example, displayed a big signboard with the English inscription, “Hygienic, non-cutting barber shop,” as a tempting inducement to tourists, and one or two other establishments displayed in their windows the interesting announcement, “American spoke here.”

The Oldest Railway Station in the World. Cuautla. Inter-Oceanic Railway (from Carson).

Carson also describes the railway station:

Cuautla is also famous for having the oldest railway station in the world, the crumbling, ancient structure which is now used for this purpose having been the Church of San Diego built in 1657. … The day after my arrival I went into the old church, the body of which is now used as a warehouse, while one side of it bordering the railway line provides accommodation for the waiting-room and various offices. A quantity of wine-barrels were piled up at the spot where the high altar had formerly stood, and all kinds of merchandise were stored in other parts of the building. Over the door was an inscription, the first words of which seem appropriate enough to the present condition of the once sacred edifice: “Terribilis est iste hic domus dei et porta coeli ” (How dreadful is this place. This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven).

In October 1973, the original narrow gauge track from Mexico City to Cuautla was replaced with standard gauge line, bringing a premature end to the lives of several steam engines. These engines were among the very last steam locomotives used in regular service anywhere in North America. Fortunately, the oldest section of narrow gauge in Mexico, built between Amecameca and Cuautla still survives. Originally built in 1881 as the Ferrocarril Morelos (Morelos Railroad), it was partially re-opened, between Cuautla and Yecapiztla, for a tourist steam train service in July 1986, using engine #279 and four restored second class coaches. Engine 279 is a Baldwin locomotive, built in Philadelphia, first brought into service in 1904, and now spends most of its time resting contentedly in the Cuautla museum, the museum that is housed in the oldest building ever used as a railway station anywhere in the world.

Postscript: The rival claims of Red Hall, Bourne, U.K. to be the oldest station building in the world

I am very grateful to Tony Smedley and Ian Jolly, two very alert railway enthusiasts from the U.K., for bringing to my attention the rival claims of a railway station building in Lincolnshire to be the oldest in the world. The original owner of Red Hall, in Bourne, died in 1633. The Hall was later used as the Station Master’s house and Ticket office for the Bourne & Essendine Railway, which began operations in 1860. The last passenger train through Bourne station was apparently in 1959, with freight services ending a few years later. (For more details, click on Red Hall and Bourne Railway Station respectively.

Since the Red Hall (Bourne) station no longer has any rail tracks or trains associated with it, I stand by my claim (for now at least) that Cuautla station (which still does have rail tracks and trains) is the oldest railway station in the world. Apparently, Carson, at the time he was writing, was unaware of the rival claims of Red Hall.

Sources:

Campbell, Reau. Campbell’s New Revised Complete Guide and Descriptive Book of Mexico. Chicago. 1899.

Carson, William English. Mexico: the wonderland of the south. 1909

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect.
Click here for the complete article

The growth of the railway network and the importance of railways in Mexico are examined in depth in chapter 17 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico and tourism in Mexico is the subject of chapter 19.

Mexico’s most valuable brands

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Mar 092010

Consultancy firm Brand Finance recently published its fifth annual survey (2010) of the world’s 500 most valuable brands. The Mexican firms in the list are:

Corona (# 184) – principal product – beer
Banorte (#189) – finance and banking
Claro (#262) – cell phone service
Telcel (#290) – cell phone service
Bimbo (#369) – bread and pastry products
Telmex (#420) – fixed line telephone and internet service
Televisa (#490) – film and television

One noteworthy fact is that three of these—Claro, Telcel and Telmex— are owned or controlled by a single individual: Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest businessman.

The top ten in the world (in order) are Wal-Mart, Google, Coca Cola, IBM, Microsoft, GE, Vodafone, HSBC, HP and Toyota.

Note that these firms are not necessarily the largest firms in Mexico in terms of sales. Table 16.2 of chapter 19 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico lists the ten largest Mexican private enterprises in 2008. Important aspects of several of these major firms are discussed in the chapters about manufacturing, construction and services, transportation, communications, etc.

The origins of the cabañuelas system of weather forecasting

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Mar 072010

An earlier post described the weather forecasting system known as las cabañuelas.

In this post, we look at the possible origins of such an unusual and distinctive system.

Is the term cabañuelas derived from the Mayan language?

The historical origins of the word cabañuelas are unclear. Some sources claim that the system’s roots lie in the Old World, and go back well before the Spanish colonization of the New World. Writing in Mexico Desconocido, Homero Adame claims that the origins date back to the Zumac, or “Festival of Luck”, in the Babylonian calendar. The term cabañuelas may be connected to the Hebrew version, which was the “Festival of the Tabernacles”. Adame also points out that twelve days in the middle of winter were used in India to forecast the future weather conditions. He applies the lore of las cabañuelas to the weather experienced in the city of San Luis Potosí in 2001, finding that it does a fairly good (though not perfect) job of predicting the weather later in the year.

However, an alternative viewpoint is argued by Graciela Minaya, in an article originally published in 1945, in La Nación, a Mexico City daily. She views las cabañuelas as an example of the common heritage of the ancient indigenous peoples of Mexico, central America, and the larger Caribbean islands, that was passed down from one generation to the next. This would explain the variability in details from one country to another.

In her view, las cabañuelas were probably handed down from the Maya. The Maya calendar had 18 months, each of 20 days, followed by five additional “non-month” days. The Maya version of las cabañuelas used the first 18 days of the first month to predict the weather for the year (18 months). To complete the system, the 19th day of the first month predicted the weather for the summer solstice and the 20th the weather for the winter solstice.

The Maya version was known as Chac-chac. For those who are curious, the 18 months are: pop, uo, zip, zots, tzec, xul, yakin, mol, chen, yax, zac, ceh, mac, kankin, muan, pax, kayab, cumhú. The spare 5 days are known as uayeb. The days of each month went in the following order: ik, akbal, kan, chiechán, cimí, manik, lamat, muluc, oe, chuen, eb, bon, ix, men, cíb, cabán, eznab, cauac, ahua, imix. Minaya argued that the 16th day, cabán, gave rise to the word cabañuelas, presumably because it had some additional significance, perhaps in terms of some other calendric calculation, or time-marker.

The testimony of Román Pané, a monk of the order of St. Geronimo, who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, lends credence to the idea that las cabañuelas originated in the New World. While in Haiti, Pané recorded the fact that “these Indians know by consulting their gods and observing the first days of the year which days will be good, which will be bad, which will be rainy and which dry.” (Loosely translated from what is the earliest purely ethnographic treatise on American Indians.) Pané, incidentally, is thought to have been the first person to take tobacco back to Spain.

How did the Maya come up with the system in the first place? They had already undertaken sophisticated astronomical observations and had developed advanced mathematical and calendric systems, even to the point of being able to predict the arrival of some comets. So, perhaps by long and patient observation of their weather patterns, they had also amassed evidence of cyclical weather phenomena.

Whatever their origin, las cabañuelas occur every January, giving everyone an opportunity to record the weather and see how well they work during the coming year. It is not at all unusual in early January, for example if the 8th of the month is cloudy and rainy, that someone will exclaim, “¡Ay! es que estamos en la cabañuela de agosto” (We are in the August cabañuela).

Should you hear this, you’ll know exactly what they are talking about! Both Chac, the Maya rain god, and Kukulcan, the Maya wind god, will be proud of you!

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect. Click here for the complete article

The climate of Mexico is discussed, with several maps, in chapter 4 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Climatic hazards, such as hurricanes, droughts and floods, are looked at in detail in chapters 4 and 7.

Mexico’s cultural geography and cultural landscapes are discussed in chapter 13.

Baseball is not the oldest ballgame in the Americas

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Mar 052010

Forget modern “traditions” like the World Series! Forget soccer, tennis and golf! By far the oldest ballgame in the Americas is the little known game of Ulama. Amazingly, this game is still played in some regions of Mexico, where it is believed to have originated more than 3000 years ago!

The precise rules of the ancient game are lost in the mists of antiquity, but three distinct forms of Ulama (using the hip, arm and a stick respectively) were played at the Mesoamerican ballgame (Ulama) Festival in Mazatlán in April 2002. The Festival was organized by the Mazatlán Historic Society, which was pushing for the game to be included in the “Intangible Heritage Category” of UNESCO’s World Heritage denominations. (As of March 2010, it had not yet made the list.)

The original ballgame, played by the Aztecs and other Nahuatl speaking peoples in Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest, was known as Ullamaliztli, a name deriving from ullama, which means the playing of a game with a ball, and ulli, rubber. Many archaeological sites in Mexico boast the ruins of one or more ballcourts where the game was played and hundreds of representations are known in Pre-Columbian art of ballgame players with their characteristic protective gear, some dating as far back as 1500 B.C. The protective padding was necessary because the solid rubber ball used in the game weighed five to eight pounds (2 – 3 kilos) and was propelled at speeds of up to 95 kph (60 mph). While most ballgame relics are of single players, one polished clay model found in the state of Nayarit actually depicts a game in progress.

Before you say “What a load of (old) balls!”, consider the fact that the ballgame has had profound consequences on sports all around the world. When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés returned to Spain in 1528, he took with him ballplayers who demonstrated their skills at the court of King Charles V. The rubber ball they used amazed the Europeans as much as the game itself, since it bounced much more than the hair-stuffed leather balls in use at the time in Europe. The smuggling of the first rubber seeds out of Brazil led to rubber-tree plantations being established in Malaysia and rubber quickly became a world commodity, with the widespread uses we know today.

The research establishing the links between the relatively modern versions of Ulama, played in Sinaloa, and the pre-Columbian game of Ullamaliztli was carried out by Dr. Ted Leyenaar of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, Holland. Emphasizing the game’s immense historical importance, he says, “That the Mesoamerican ballgame has survived and flourished for more than 3000 years earns it the distinction of being one of humanity’s great cultural expressions”.

The details, meaning and significance of the game are explored more fully on the Mazatlán Historical Society’s webpages at http://www.ulama.org, the main source for this article. The Society is hoping to set up the world’s first Ulama Museum and has begun collecting related artifacts.

“A load of old balls!”? – I don’t think so!

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect.

Click here for the complete article

“Indigenous peoples” is the title of chapter 10 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico and “Mexico’s cultural landscape” is the title of chapter 13.

Sports-related teaching idea:

Map the locations of Mexico’s top fútbol (soccer) clubs.
To what extent do these locations match a map of Mexico’s population density (Figure 8.2 in Geo-Mexico)?
Does it appear that factors such as GDP/capita (Figure 14.3) or Mexico’s highway system (Figure 17.3) have also influenced where the top soccer clubs are located?
Suggest what other factors may have influenced where Mexico’s soccer clubs are located.

The development of railways led to tourist guide books

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Mar 012010

In the golden age of steam, railway lines were built all over Mexico. Rail quickly became THE way to travel. Depending on your status and wealth, you could travel third class, second class or first class. Anyone desiring greater comfort and privacy could add their luxury carriage to a regular train. To avoid mixing with the ordinary folk, the super-rich and the privileged few hired or ran their own special trains.

The railway era ushered in an entire new genre of travel writing, which culminated in the first genuine guidebooks, describing routes and places that other travelers could visit with relative ease. The earliest comprehensive guide to Mexico was Appletons’ Guide to Mexico (1883); it was soon followed by several others including Campbell’s Complete guide and descriptive book of Mexico, first published in 1895.

The 1899 edition of Reau Campbell’s famous Guide provides an idea of what visitors to Cuautla in the state of Morelos, for example, could expect when the train was in its heyday:

Here again the tourist finds another feature of Mexico’s scenery and people, totally different from all the other travels in the Republic. The houses are adobe as to walls and thatched as to roofs; the broad plains have curious trees; bands of Indians troop from one town to another in curious costumes, marching along totally oblivious to the passing locomotive and approaching civilization, and will not give way to the latter any quicker than they will to the engine if they happen to be on the track when it comes along. In fact, it is hard for them to understand that the train cannot “keep to the right” when it meets people in the road, and they claim the right of way from the fact that they were there first.

A decade later, the British-born journalist William English Carson (1870-1940) spent four months in Mexico. Carson also visited Cuautla, on the advice of a doctor as the result of catching influenza.

Upon making inquiries at the railway office about trains to Cuautla, the clerk handed me an illustrated pamphlet with a fine colored picture on the cover representing a Mexican tropical scene. It bore the title, “Cuautla, Mexico’s Carlsbad.” What! I thought, another Carlsbad? In glowing language the booklet described Cuautla as an earthly paradise with a magnificent climate, beautiful scenery, splendidly equipped hotels and a warm sulphur spring whose waters were a certain specific for almost every human ailment. What more could one desire?

Carson continues:

Cuautla is about a hundred miles or so from Puebla, and the speedy trains of the Interoceanic Railway take about ten hours to make the journey. The train which I took left about seven o’clock in the morning ; it was not timed to reach Cuautla until five in the evening; and as there was not any restaurant at any intermediate station, a somewhat terrifying prospect of starvation faced travellers. How were they to get their luncheon? A little pamphlet given away by an American tourist agency and evidently written by an accomplished press-agent gave me the desired information: “At a certain station on the road,” said my traveller’s guide, “your train will stop for some twenty minutes. Here you will be greeted by graceful Indian women,— beauties, many of them, with their olive skins and dark, flashing eyes, bearing themselves with queenly grace in their dainty rebosos and flowing garments, white as the driven snow. They will offer you such dainties as tamales, chili-con-carne and tortillas, piping hot from their little stoves, and prepared with all the scrupulous cleanliness of a Parisian chef. They will bring you dainty refrescos of freshly gathered pineapple or orange to quench your thirst, and pastry such as your mother may have made when her cooking was at its prime.”
Now, what more could any reasonable traveller demand? What need was there for a restaurant when there were all these good things to be enjoyed? I showed my guide to an American friend before I started. He chuckled, gave a knowing wink and remarked, “Great is the faith of man, for after all your experiences you can still believe in a Mexican guide-book.”

Hotels were not always the same standard as those in the USA, but were certainly less expensive:

The attractions of the hotel were hardly up to those of a Carlsbad establishment, for it had neither a writing nor a smoking room; but the terms were rather more attractive than the usual Carlsbad tariff, being about two dollars a day inclusive. It is true there was a good deal of Mexican about the cooking, but the meals were not at all bad and the service very fair…

Railways may have opened up Mexico for tourism, but today, sadly, there are virtually no passenger lines still operating, the main exception being the justly famous Copper Canyon line from Los Mochis to Chihuahua.

Sources:
Campbell, Reau. Campbell’s New Revised Complete Guide and Descriptive Book of Mexico. Chicago. 1899.
Carson, William English. Mexico: the wonderland of the south. 1909

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect.
Click here for the complete article

The growth of the railway network and the importance of railways in Mexico are examined in depth in chapter 17, and tourism in Mexico is the subject of chapter 19. of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

The geography of cholera in Mexico

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Feb 282010

When Mexico braced herself for the imminent arrival of cholera from South America in 1991, many people believed that the disease had never previously been known here. However, during the 19th century, there were several outbreaks, including the epidemic of 1833 in which more than 3,000 people died in the city of Guadalajara alone.

A meeting of public health officials in January 1833 stressed the need for public areas to be regularly cleaned. This meeting called for the construction of six carts, to be used each night for removing the excrement left on street corners, since not all the houses had “accesorios” (toilets). This proposal reveals the unsanitary conditions which prevailed in Guadalajara at that time.

The epidemic struck in July, and peaked in August, when more than 200 people died of the disease each day. Sporadic cases dragged on into early 1834.

The shout of “Aguas!” (“Waters!”) as a warning of imminent danger, still used in many contexts today, actually dates back to when there was no sewage collection or provision. It was used to warn passers-by in the street below that the contents of “night buckets” were about to be emptied onto their heads…

In 1849 the city of Guadalajara feared a second epidemic. The authorities published a list of precautions that they considered essential, and a list of the “curative methods for Asiatic cholera.” At that time, the only major hospital in the city was the Hospital Belén. Its rival, the San Juan de Díos hospital, was “small and poorly constructed, insufficiently clean, and careless in waste disposal.”

The situation was made worse because the San Juan De Díos River was little more than an open sewer running through the center of the city. This river is now entirely enclosed and runs directly beneath the major avenue of “Calzada Independencia.”

Only two methods of sewage disposal were in use in 1850. Some houses took their sewage to the nearest street corner, where it was collected by the nightly cart for subsequent removal from the city. Other (higher class) houses deposited their sewage in open holes in the ground which allowed the wastes to separate, with the liquids permeating into the subsoil and the solids accumulating. Not exactly ideal in terms of public health!

The town council called for the construction of more of these latrines and for the activities of the night carts to be reduced.

The council also advocated increasing the air circulation in the city and simultaneously fumigating it. Authorities in Cuba had tried something similar in 1840, when they had spread resin, and fired batteries of cannons simultaneously, all over Havana! It was believed that the air housed cholera and other diseases and that it could directly affect the organism, through its “miasmas.”

The “Cuban solution” is tried in Guadalajara

In 1850, the epidemic began and the Guadalajara council voted to try the Cuban solution. On August 7th , at the height of the epidemic, fireworks, artillery and everything else were ignited – even the church bells were rung – in order to stimulate air movement and purification , “to increase the electricity in the air and reduce the epidemic.”

During the 1833 epidemic, various industrial plants, including ones making soap, starch and leather, had been closed, though no regulations were ever passed for their subsequent improvement. This time, in 1850, more drastic measures were taken. Tanneries had to construct their own watercourses, and their water was not allowed to collect and stagnate by bridges. Soap works were transferred out of the city completely. Despite these efforts, many stagnant pools of water would have lain on the city’s poorly constructed cobblestone streets: pools of water just waiting for an outbreak of cholera.

The police force was given the power to supervise everyone’s adherence to the regulations. Inspectors were appointed for each district or barrio to see that all “night activities” (carts included) terminated before 8:00 a.m., that sewage water was not used for the irrigation of plants, that gatherings were not too large, and that billiard, lottery and society halls all closed at the start of evening prayers.

A group of doctors was obliged to give its services free to anyone who needed medical help. The doctors apportioned the city among themselves and were told by the town council that they would be paid for their services as soon as council funds permitted. The main idea, of course, was to help the poor, perhaps not so much from any altruistic motives but to avoid any inconvenience to the rich!

Fortunately, any new outbreak of the disease in modern Guadalajara will be handled very differently to these 19th century epidemics. The excellent modern medical facilities in the city, and the large number of qualified doctors, mean that anyone unlucky enough to contract the disease should be able to get adequate treatment ensuring a full and speedy recovery.

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect

Click here for the complete article

Note: The diffusion of cholera in Mexico during the 1991-1996 epidemic is discussed, alongside a map showing the incidence of the disease, in chapter18 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

Geo-Mexico also includes an analysis of the pattern of HIV-AIDS in Mexico, and of the significance of diabetes in Mexico.

Mexico’s top yachtsman wins the first round-the-world yacht race.

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Feb 272010

The first Whitbread Round-The-World yacht race was won by a Mexican.

Most people do not associate Mexico and Mexicans with yachting, but it’s a fact that the first Whitbread Round-The-World Yacht Race, in 1973-4, was won by the Mexican ketch Sayula II, skippered by Ramón Carlin, a Mexican businessman who made his money from washing machines.

What makes Carlin’s achievement all the more remarkable is that relatively few of Mexico’s 108 million inhabitants actually reside on the coast, even though the country is sandwiched between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean and actually has a long coastline. Most large Mexican cities are located in the interior. The nation’s capital, Mexico City, is unusual in being one of the very few major cities in the world not situated on the sea.

Not surprisingly, then, when Carlin set out with Sayula II from Portsmouth, England, alongside 16 other yachts, in September 1973, the pundits did not give him any chance of victory. Most of the yachts in the race were European, and Europeans have completely dominated the race ever since. But Carlin, with his crew of 12 (including family, friends and some professional sailors from other countries) sailed off in their production line Swan 65 determined to do their best.

And their best proved very good indeed. The 1973-4 race had four legs. Taking handicap into account, Sayula II came second in the first leg, Portsmouth to Cape Town, and then won the second leg, Cape Town to Sydney. This was a particularly remarkable achievement since this leg proved to be the hardest in the entire race, exposing all the competitors to unbelievably adverse weather in the Southern or Indian Ocean. Violent storms and 40-knot winds battered all the contestants and two yachts were forced to abandon the race. Sayula II capsized. Her cabin was filled with water and most of her crew, fortunately securely tethered, were swept overboard, sustaining numerous minor injuries. But the ketch survived and the crew soon had her under way again.

From Sydney, the race took the yachts across the Pacific and round Cape Horn. Prior to the race, less than 10 private sports yachts had ever rounded Cape Horn successfully. It should also be remembered that Sayula II didn’t have the benefit of the thousands of dollars worth of modern navigational equipment, including GPS systems and transmitters for audio and video satellite communications, now considered standard on racing yachts.

For the Sydney-Rio de Janeiro leg Sayula II came second, on handicap, and then placed fourth (on handicap) for the final leg across the Atlantic to Portsmouth. Carlin sailed the yacht across the finish line on April 9, 1974, and was declared the overall winner. Sayula II had taken 152 days (133 days on corrected time) to sail 32,500 nautical miles (about 60,000 kilometers).

And, how did Carlin celebrate his unexpected victory? Well, in time-honored Mexican tradition, he donned a mariachi’s sombrero and partied, partied, partied!

Source: The main inspiration and source for this article was “Sayula pusó la muestra” published on page 7 of the Guadalajara daily Público on July 26, 2001.

This is an edited version of an article originally published on MexConnect.

Click here for the complete article

Tourism in Mexico, including yachts and marinas, is discussed in chapter19 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.]

Mexico has the world’s 11th largest economy

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Feb 242010

These are the world’s 14 largest economies (GDP, purchasing power parity, 2008, in US dollars):

USA 14,960 billion
China 7,800 billion
Japan 4,487 billion
India 3,319 billion
Germany 2,863 billion
UK 2,279 billion
Russia 2,225 billion
France 2,097 billion
Brazil 2,030 billion
Italy 1,801 billion
Mexico 1,578 billion
Spain 1,378 billion
Canada 1,336 billion
South Korea 1,312 billion

As you can see, Mexico has the world’s 11th largest economy, slightly larger than the economies of either Canada or Spain.

[Figures taken from Table 14.1 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.]

A brief history of geography in Mexico

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Feb 192010

Mexico has a long tradition of geography. Modern geography was given a jump-start in the country by the brilliant Prussian traveler Alexander von Humboldt, who explored Mexico for twelve months in 1803–04.

The Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics was founded in 1833, only three years after the UK’s Royal Geographical Society and fully 55 years before the National Geographic Society. Geography remains a popular and respected subject in Mexican high schools and universities.

Even prior to Humboldt, many authors had made valuable descriptions of many aspects of Mexico’s geography. Writing in the mid-17th century, but looking back to a century earlier, Father Antonio Tello, in describing the province of Xalisco (Jalisco) offers lots of information about plants, animals, natural hazards, rivers and natural hot springs, while speculating about whether underwater springs fed Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest natural lake.

Though many volumes have been lost, the surviving parts of the Geographic Accounts written at the end of the 16th century are a veritable “Domesday Book” of information.

After Humboldt, however, geography set off on a much more scientific, analytical path, one which has continued to the present day and which has now resulted in Richard Rhoda and Tony Burton’s Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

Mexico’s ecological footprint compared to that of other countries

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Feb 162010

The ecological footprint of a country is defined as the area of land (and water) required by a population, given prevailing technology, to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb any wastes created.

Ecological footprints are measured in ‘global hectares’ (gha). A global hectare encompasses the average annual productivity of all biologically productive land and ocean areas in the world. In 2005 the world’s population required the resources of 2.7 gha /person. Unfortunately, the world’s biocapacity—the amount of resources its ecosystems can supply each year—was only equivalent to 2.1 gha per person and is declining each year as population increases (see graph).

The deficit between biocapacity and our ecological footprint causes damaging environmental changes to forests, fisheries, rivers, coral reefs, soil, water and air, and plays a major role in global climate change. The figures mean that our current usage of the world’s resources is inherently unsustainable.

Click here for a printable bookmark of this graph (pdf file)

The graph shows the ecological footprint of several countries. China’s footprint matches global biocapacity while the footprints of India, Indonesia and Bangladesh are fully sustainable. On the other hand, the USA’s footprint of 9.4 gha is surpassed only by the United Arab Emirates. Australia and Canada both have footprints over 7 gha. In simple terms, their populations require more than three times their fair share of the world’s biocapacity.

Chapter 30 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico, from which this extract is taken, looks in much more detail at the implications of ecological footprints and at alternative ways of assessing ‘sustainability’.

Giant whirlpool swallows several boats in 1896

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Feb 152010

An anonymous writer in the Los Angeles Times edition of 13 January 1896, reported on a strange and terrifying happening that struck the western part of Lake Chapala (Mexico’s largest natural lake)…

Startling Spectacle at Lake Chapala.

Its Waters Swallowed by a Subterranean Cave.
Several Pleasure Boats and Their Occupants Engulfed.

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 12.—(Special dispatch.) Prof. E. H. Coffey of this city, has just received a letter from a correspondent. living near Lake Chapala, State of Jalisco, Mex.. which describes some startling phenomena occurring. Lake Chapala is a sheet of water fifty miles long and ten miles wide. The formation of the country around it is purely volcanic.

On the forenoon of January 8 residents in one of the small settlements near the western end of the lake were terrified to see a gigantic whirlpool raging far out on the water. The waters rose in great serpentine movements, and from all directions rushed toward a common center, where a vast cavity seemed to exist. At the same time a heavy, rumbling sound, apparently in the bowels of the earth, took place. The whirlpool was caused by the sudden sinking of a large portion of the lake’s bottom, and before the disturbance subsided several pleasure-boats were drawn into the whirlpool and disappeared with their occupants. It is estimated that a score of lives were lost.

The whirlpool continued for nearly twenty minutes, and when the inhabitants of the surrounding territory turned their eyes from the overwhelming sight they saw that the lake had receded several feet from its former shore line. As the lake is about fifty miles in length, with an average width of ten miles, the enormous amount of water that was swallowed up by the earth may be imagined. After the whirlpool subsided the surface of the lake resumed its placid aspect, and the subterranean rumblings ceased.

There was the greatest excitement among the people for miles in the vicinity of the western end of the lake, the most ignorant and superstitious natives being beside themselves with fear. Years of familiarity with volcanic eruptions and terrestial disturbances did not seem to reassure them during this dreadful experience.

[This post is an edited extract from Lake Chapala Through the Ages, an anthology of traveller’s tales]

Natural hazards in Mexico are discussed in detail in chapters 2, 4 and 7 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

One of Mexico’s earliest geographers

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Feb 142010

José Antonio Villa-Señor y Sanchez, born in Mexico in about 1700, is one of the earliest Mexican geographers. He studied at the College of San Idelfonso in Mexico City, and was later employed in the collection of taxes, becoming comptroller of revenue from mercury (a chemical essential to the refining of silver ores).

He was subsequently appointed cosmographer of New Spain. In this capacity in 1742, he was commissioned by the Viceroy, Pedro de Cebrián y Agustín, Count of Fuenclara, to write a descriptive history and geography to comply with a royal edict from King Philip V of Spain. His works included Teatro Mexicano; Descripción general de los Reinos y Provincias de la Nueva España (1746), Observación del Cometa, que apareció en el hemisferio de México en Febrero y Marzo (1742) and several maps, including one of the Jesuit province of New Spain, from Honduras to California (1754). He died in about 1760.

More than 200 years later, the planners of Ciudad Satélite, an urban development in the northern part of Mexico City, named a street in the Circuito Geógrafos area after him.

Villa-Señor’s descriptions help to paint a wonderful picture of what New Spain was like in the middle of the 18th century. For instance, he describes the city of Guadalajara as having eight plazas; fourteen churches, monasteries and convents; two colleges and a university; two hospitals and a dozen government buildings or public facilities, making it a fine, surprisingly spacious and prosperous city.

Villa-Señor y Sanchez provides us with our earliest description of the marshy areas at the south-east corner of Lake Chapala, which at that time had several small islands. This is the area that was deliberately drained in the early years of the 20th century. The former islands are now visible only as small hills protruding above flat, intensively cultivated farmland.

[This post is an edited extract from Lake Chapala Through the Ages, an anthology of traveller’s tales]

Lake Chapala’s remaining wetlands were recently (4 February 2009) granted Ramsar Protection Status.

To read more about the issues facing Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest natural lake, see chapters 6, 7 and 19 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

For more background to Lake Chapala’s issues, read Tony Burton’s series on MexConnect or use that site’s search function.

The growth of Cancún, Mexico leading tourist resort

Other 2 Responses »

Feb 132010

Mexico’s mass tourism industry in the past forty years has been dominated by large-scale, purpose-built developments partially funded by federal funds. In 1967, responding to bullish predictions of US demand for beach vacations, Mexico’s central bank identified the five best places for completely new, purpose-built tourist resorts. Top of the list, as part of a 30-year plan, was the uninhabited barrier island now known as Cancún. The other choice locations were Ixtapa, Los Cabos, Loreto and Huatulco.

The National Fund for Tourism Infrastructure (renamed the National Tourism Development Fund, Fonatur, in 1974) began building Cancún in 1970 and Ixtapa in 1971.

Cancún has become Mexico’s foremost tourist resort. Factors considered in the choice of Cancún included water temperatures, the quality of beaches, varied attractions, sunshine hours and travel distances from the main markets. The stated benefits were thousands of new jobs, increased revenues, the development of a previously peripheral region and the diversification of the national economy.

Public funds were used to purchase land, improve it by fumigation and drainage, and install all necessary basic infrastructure (airport, highways, potable water, electricity, telephone lines, convention center, golf course, harbors). Private sector investors developed hotels, a shopping center and supporting services.

By 1975, Cancún had 1769 rooms in service; by 2008, it boasted about 150 hotels and more than 27,000 rooms. Second only to Mexico City, Cancún airport now handles 200 flights a day. The influx of people to Cancún has been especially dramatic. The city has had to cope with unprecedented growth rates as its population shot up from 30,000 in 1980 to 676,238 in 2010 (preliminary census figure) (see graph).

The number of tourists in Cancún dipped slightly in 2001–2002 due, in part, to the 2001 9/11 tragedy in the USA. Hurricane Wilma (2005) put many hotel rooms temporarily out of commission. Cancún is now only one focus of an extensive tourist corridor along the Quintana Roo coast, stretching as far south as Tulum.

Chapter 19 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico, from which this extract is taken, looks in much more detail at Mexico’s purpose-built resorts as well as many other aspects of tourism, resorts and hotels in Mexico.

The Aztecs knew their geography!

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Feb 122010

Aztec place glyphs drawn in the 16th century Codex Mendoza suggest that the Aztecs had all the major branches of geography covered.

Physical geography

Poctépec = hill that smokes (volcano)

Human geography

Teocalcingo = where the temple is

Economic geography

Michmaloyan = place to fish

The Aztecs clearly knew their geography!

[Extract from chapter 1 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico]

The geography of Mexican cuisine

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Feb 102010

Mexican cuisine is extraordinarily varied and has become one of the most popular in the world. Diana Kennedy, the foremost authority on the subject, has devoted her life to researching the regional variations in ingredients, cooking methods and typical local dishes.

The ingredients used reflect different climates and ecosystems (see Geo-Mexico chapters 4 and 5). For instance, corn (maize) tortillas predominate in southern and central Mexico while wheat tortillas are more commonly found in the north of the country.

Pork and hominy stew (pozole) is largely restricted to the Pacific coast states of Jalisco and Guerrero. The grilled beef of cattle ranges in the northern interior of Mexico contrasts with the seafood found along the coast.

Cuisines are strongly influenced by trade routes and migration, especially the arrival of immigrant groups. Mexican cuisine is a fusion of ndigenous and Spanish cooking, influenced in some regions by Cuban, Italian, French and other migrants.

On a more local scale, miners from Cornwall in the UK who came to work in the silver mines of Real del Monte in the state of Hidalgo brought with them their meat and vegetable-filled pastries called Cornish pasties. These were quickly assimilated into the local cuisine, and pastis, admittedly with some chilies added, are still sold in the town.

[Note: This post is an edited extract from chapter 13 of Geo-Mexico]

For more about Mexican cuisine, visit the amazing award-winning blog Mexico Cooks! and also browse the huge selection of recipes, articles and tips about all aspects of Mexican food and cooking in the “Cuisine” section of MexConnect. ¡Buen provecho!

Chapter titles of Geo-Mexico

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Jan 272010

Geo-Mexico has 31 chapters:
1 The dynamics of Mexican geography
2 Earthquakes and volcanoes
3 Relief and landforms
4 Land of diverse climates
5 Ecosystems and biodiversity
6 Water availability, rivers and aquifers
7 Water issues and hazards
8 Population decline, followed by population explosion
9 The dynamics of population growth
10 Indigenous peoples
11 The geography of religion
12 The changing political map of Mexico
13 Mexico’s cultural landscape
14 Economic activity: is Mexico a world player?
15 Agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining
16 Manufacturing, construction and services
17 Transportation: the movement of people and goods
18 Communications: the movement of information and ideas
19 Tourism and development
20 Mexico and the world economy
21 500-year transition to an urban society
22 The internal geography of Mexico’s cities
23 Urban issues, problems and trends
24 Rural Mexico and rural-urban interactions
25 Migration within Mexico
26 Migration to the USA
27 Mexicans in the USA
28 Quality of life in Mexico compared to other countries
29 Variations in quality of life within Mexico
30 Environmental trends and issues
31 What does the future hold?

Canadian Club of Ajijic listens to Geo-Mexico co-author

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Jan 152010

More than 300 people packed the grounds of La Nueva Posada hotel in Ajijic, Mexico, to hear Geo-Mexico co-author Tony Burton talk about the significance of 2010 in Mexico. Burton took an historical approach, exploring both the history of geography and the geography of history while comparing many aspects of Mexico in 1810 (Independence), 1910 (Revolution) and 2010. His entertaining and informative talk, which was largely based on material in Geo-Mexico, was well received.
At the end of his talk, Burton highlighted the fact that Mexico’s population projections for 2050 suggest that the country will have moved from a predominately young to an elderly population in only one or two generations.

Geo-Mexico talk in ACÁ eco-series

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Jan 112010

UPDATE – This post has been edited to reflect the fact that ACÁ closed in mid-2011.

Geo-Mexico author Tony Burton, aided by Richard Rhoda, gave a presentation today about “Man and Nature in Mexico” as a fund-raiser to a good-sized group of ACÁ supporters.
ACÁ was a non-profit organization in Mexico that promoted sustainable farming and resource use, and had made a considerable positive impact on hundreds of villagers in the Lake Chapala region of Jalisco. The talk was well received and some great questions were asked, which we will try to answer more fully in future posts on this blog. They included a request for more details about the highly productive chinampa system of food production which dates back to pre-Hispanic times. Watch this space for more details in the near future!

Females, males and gender inequality in Mexico

Excerpts from Geo-Mexico, Other 2 Responses »

Jan 032010

There are more females than males in Mexico. In fact, there are 94.8 men for every 100 women in the country.

The map below shows gender inequality, using a composite gender inequality index based on the state rankings for three variables: difference in literacy rates between male and females, differences in rates of economic participation and the percentage of municipal leaders who are female. (Data sources are listed below)

The overall pattern of gender disparity is quite similar to the pattern for female quality of life, but there are some anomalies. Southern states are those where both the quality of life for females and the gender disparities are greatest. However, while females living in the three states comprising the Yucatán peninsula have a comparatively low quality of life, the gender disparities in those states are relatively low. On the other hand, while the quality of life in and around Mexico City is quite high for females, the level of disparities in central Mexico remains considerable.

Gender inequality is not an intangible aspect of life. Figures show that there are significant differences in the median wages of male and female employees in every subsection of the workforce with the exception of skilled technicians where females’ median wages are fractionally higher. For instance, the median wage for female teachers is 91.2% that for men; for professionals, 82.7%; and for industrial supervisors 66.9%… (extract from chapter 29 of Geo-Mexico)

Sources of data for composite index:

Literacy: (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía) 2000 XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda. 2000. Aguascalientes, Mexico: INEGI.

Economic participation: INEGI-STPS 2001 Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, 2001. via .inegi.org.mx/ [13 April 2009]

Female municipal presidents: INAFED 2002 Resumen nacional de la filiación política de los presidentes municipales de México. http://www.elocal.gob.mx/
work/resources/LocalContent/9523/1/filiacion.htm.orig [15 April 2009]

Mexico book launch – lectures and book signing

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Jan 012010

Richard Rhoda and Tony Burton’s long awaited “Geo-Mexico: the Geography and Dynamics of Modern Mexico” is scheduled for release January 9. The book’s kick-off is the focus of several events beginning with a Monday January 11, 12:30 PM presentation on “Man and Nature in Mexico” by Burton and Rhoda at the weekly ACA Eco Talks on the back patio of Lake Chapala Society (LCS) in Ajijic. Note this event is on Monday, not the usual Tuesday ACA Eco Talks time slot. On Wednesday January 13 Burton (with Rhoda) will speak at the Canadian Club meeting at La Nueva Posada in Ajijic, 3 to 6 PM. On January 15 the two authors will be at the LCS Sala to initiate Dr. Rhoda’s series of ten Friday noon lectures based on the book. Sala space is limited, so interested participants should sign up at the LCS Office. A formal book signing is scheduled for Saturday January 16 at La Nueva Posada from 4 to 6 PM.

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Where to buy in Mexico

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Jan 012010

Geo-Mexico, which lists at $39.95 in the US, will be available locally for $390 pesos at the following locations: in Ajijic – Libros y Revistas Chapala (Bugambilias Plaza Newsstand), Diane Pearl’s Collection, La Nueva Posada, Lois Cugini’s Opus Boutique and LCS patio; in Jocotepec – Papeleria O’Shea; Guadalajara – Sandi Bookstore. It should also soon be available in San Miguel de Allende at El Tecolote Bookstore, the Biblioteca gift shop, and Garrison and Garrison Books as well as in Puerto Vallarta at The Book Store.

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