As mentioned in an earlier post, Mexico is a predominately Catholic country. In 1980, 96% of Mexicans said they were Catholics; this dropped to 88% in 2000 and is estimated at about 80% in 2010. However, Catholicism seems to be maintaining its strength in Western Mexico. In 2000, 96% of those in Guanajuato and Aguascalientes […]
It is sometimes claimed that Mexico is ‘too crowded’ or ‘overpopulated’. Overpopulation, however, is an elusive concept, since it depends on the complex relationships between total population (and/or population density) and the resources available to support that population. In turn, the value of these resources depends in part on the technologies available to utilize them. […]
What comes to mind when the word “Mexico” is mentioned? For most people, it brings to mind a variety of colorful images, such as those below, usually based on television, magazines, travel brochures and personal travels in Mexico. “Mexico” also is associated with verbal or written words or phrases, such as: Drug wars Illegal immigrants […]
The geography of religion in Mexico is changing quite rapidly. Mexico is a predominately Catholic country, but is becoming less so with each passing decade. In 1980 96% of Mexicans said they were Catholics; this dropped to 88% in 2000 and is estimated at about 80% in 2010. While the proportion non-Catholic is growing in […]
Mexico’s population exploded in the mid-20th century as death rates plummeted and birth rates remained high. From 1940 to 1980, the number of Mexicans more than quadrupled from under 20 million to over 80 million. In the 1960s and 1970s the population growth was among the world’s fastest at 3.3% a year. At this rate, […]
The British-born journalist William English Carson (1870-1940) spent four months in Mexico, in 1908-1909, collecting material for his “Mexico, the Wonderland of the South“, never straying far from the railways. Always an enthusiastic traveler, many of his views about Mexicans will strike modern readers as stereotypical. For example, Carson devoted an entire chapter to “The […]
Here are the ten states of Mexico which have the longest coastlines. Note that these figures are those published by the National Statistics and Geography Information Institute (INEGI). We discussed the impossibility of ever measuring a coastline accurately in a previous post: How long is Mexico’s coastline? Only seven other states have a marine coast. […]
Yucatán state (see the map below) has an area of 39,612 square kilometers and a population of 1,945,840 (2010 estimate). Its distinctive landscapes include coastal rias (drowned river valleys, such as Celestún) and tropical karst (limestone scenery). The state’s capital city is Mérida, the “white city” (2009 population: 955,000). The state was an important sisal-producing […]
“Once in a while a book comes along that I want to bring to people’s attention. Local author Richard Rhoda (with a PhD in geography) in collaboration with Tony Burton has created a book titled Geo-Mexico The Geography and Dynamics of Modern Mexico that is really exceptional… The book would make an excellent textbook.” Author […]
Los Negritos (the Little Black Ones) are a legacy of the volcanic heritage of most of central and western Mexico. They are located a few kilometers east of Jiquilpan in the state of Michoacán. Los Negritos are small mud volcanoes (up to a meter or two across) which burble and gurgle, hiss and splutter, and […]
The southern state of Oaxaca is famous for its lively and colorful markets. Many villages have a weekly market, and it is possible to travel from one market to the next during a week in Oaxaca without ever visiting the same market twice. This is not a coincidence, since it is precisely what many of […]
The state of Campeche (see map) has an area of 57,925 square kilometers and a population of 608,535 (2010 estimate). Its distinctive landscapes include a variety of coastal features and inland karst (limestone scenery). The state’s capital city is Campeche, a colonial city which still preserves some of its ancient city walls and has UNESCO […]
The geysers of Ixtlán de los Hervores have long attracted the attention of travelers. They are located north-west of the city of Zamora in the state of Michoacán. The temperature of the water emerging from underground varies between about 90 and 100 degrees Centigrade. Here is how English explorer Captain George Lyon described them following […]
The following paragraphs come from a Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report about Mexico’s fight against the drug cartels, Mexico and the Failed State Revisited, by George Friedman, published on 6 April 2010. The link above is to the full text of the report. The Drug War and Mexican National Interests From Mexico’s point of view, interrupting […]
On February 20, 1943, Paricutín Volcano erupted in a farmer’s cornfield in Michoacán. Simón Lázaro Jiménez, now a carpenter by trade, was just a young boy. Here, for the first time, an indigenous P’urepecha Indian relives, in vivid and entertaining prose, his first-hand experiences on that fateful day and during the months that followed. This […]
The inter-census population count in Mexico in 2005 found that more than one million people in Oaxaca spoke at least one indigenous Indian language. Close behind came the state of Chiapas with about 950,000 indigenous language speakers. In Oaxaca, according to the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, more than 1.5 million people […]
The economics of the drug trade The amount of money pouring into Mexico annually is stunning. It is estimated to be about $35 billion to $40 billion each year. The massive profit margins involved make these sums even more significant. Assume that the manufacturing sector produces revenues of $40 billion a year through exports. Assuming […]
The “top ten” states in Mexico for annual precipitation amounts are: No other state normally receives more than 1,000 mm of precipitation, which in Mexico’s case is almost entirely rainfall. As is evident from this list, the southern half of Mexico receives significantly more precipitation than the northern half. Among other implications, this means that […]
The Cuexcomate volcano, in a suburb of the city of Puebla, is generally considered to be the world’s smallest volcano. Weighing in at an estimated 40 metric tons, it stands just 13 meters (43 feet) tall, with a reach (diameter) of 23 meters (75 feet). The name Cuexcomate derives from the Nahuatl Cuexcomac which means […]
Most of Mexico’s indigenous population lives in small, isolated rural localities with under 500 inhabitants. These communities are very disadvantaged compared with other Mexican communities. About one-third of the nation’s 2442 municipalities are indigenous. However, almost half of all the municipalities defined by the National Statistics Institute (INEGI) as “highly marginalized” are indigenous, as are […]
These paragraphs come from a Stratfor Global Security and Intelligence Report by Fred Burton and Ben West, When the Mexican Drug Trade Hits the Border, published 15 April 2009 (republished with permission of STRATFOR). Though the drug trade as a whole is highly complex, the underlying concept is as simple as getting narcotics from South […]
The first detailed scientific account of Lake Chapala was written by Henri Guillaume Galeotti. It was based on a visit to Chapala in February-March 1837, and published in French in 1839. Galeotti (1814-1858) was born in Paris and studied natural history at the Establissement Géographique de Brussels, founded in 1830 by Philippe Vandermaelen, a very […]
In north-western Mexico, two towns in close proximity—Los Mochis and Topolobampo—are both examples of “new towns”. Many Mexican towns and cities are more than 500 years old; relatively few major settlements in the country are less than 150 years old. How did it come about then that these two “new towns” in the state of […]
This article dates back to 2010. For updates, see: Mexico’s drug cartels and their shifting areas of operation, a 2012 update Mexico’s drug cartels and their areas of operation, a 2014 update This map of drug cartel territories and drug trafficking and export routes comes from a Stratfor Global Security and Intelligence Report by Fred […]
Most people realize that the national language of Mexico is Spanish and that Mexico is the world’s largest Spanish speaking country. In fact, its population, now numbering 105 million, represents about one-third of all the 330 million or so Spanish speakers in the world. Spanish is the majority language in nineteen other countries besides Mexico, […]
A few months ago, English journalist Rachel Rickard Straus wrote an article entitled “How I swapped a medical trial for a free holiday in Mexico” and published on the telegraph.co.uk website. This is an interesting variation on the increasingly important field of medical tourism, much studied by geographers over the past decade or so. Several […]
The state Jalisco (see map) has an area of 78,609 square kilometers and a population of 7,070,555 (2010 estimate). The state’s capital city is Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city (2009 population: 4,365,000). On the outskirts of the city is an area of industry that is known as Mexico’s “Silicon Valley” because of its various computer-related […]
The following paragraphs come from a Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report about Mexico’s fight against the drug cartels, Mexico and the Failed State Revisited, by George Friedman, published on 6 April 2010. The link above is to the full text of the report. Mexico’s Core Problem Let’s begin by understanding the core problem. The United States […]
The Mexican Mam (there are also Guatemalan Mam) first settled in Chiapas in the late nineteenth century, mainly in the deforested mountains of the eastern part of the state. They had virtually disappeared from view as a cultural group by 1970, having lost most of their traditional customs. Today, the 8,000 or so Mam, living […]
Scenically, the entire Tuxtlas region, in the south-eastern section of the state of Veracruz, is one of the most fabulously beautiful in all of Mexico. High temperatures combined with lots of rainfall result in luxuriant vegetation and boundless wildlife. Average monthly temperatures range from a pleasant 21 degrees C (70 degrees F) in January to […]