75% mestizo, 15% indigenous peoples and 10% white (Caucasians)
Among the descendants of the indigenous people, the Maya on Yucatán form the largest group ahead of the Nahua, Otomi, Zapotec and Miztecs.
Religious affiliation
93% of the population are Catholic, whereby the faith is often shaped by ancient Indian beliefs and customs, 3% are Protestants and Jews.
National language The official language is Spanish (92%), but 59 native Maya dialects still exist.
Capital and other cities
The capital of Mexico is Mexico City with a population of over 9 million, in the entire metropolitan area even about 22 million people live. According to Abbreviation Finder, MEX stands for Mexico in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.
Other cities are:
Veracruz with around 800,000 residents
Puebla with around 2,500,000 residents
Mérida with around 1.5 million residents
Monterrey with around 1,100,000 residents
Aguascalientes with around 1,000,000 residents.
Mexico: geography, map
Mexico covers a total area of 1,958,201 km². Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Mexico. Thereof:
Forest and bushlandAround 25% of the country is forested.
Meadows and pasture landAround 38% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land
Fields and fieldsAround 12% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing maize, rice, beans, fruit, cotton, vegetables, wheat and sugar cane.
Most of Mexico is located in the southern United States on the territory of North America. The smaller part is on the Central American land bridge with Baja California in the west and the Gulf of Mexico in the east.
The country shares a border with three countries:
USA with a length of around 3,141 km
Guatemala with a length of around 962 km
Belize with a length of around 250 km.
Coastline
Mexico has a coast to the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of California and the Pacific with a length of around 10,000 km.
Longitude and latitude
Mexico extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
Δφ = from around 14 ° 33 ‘to 32 ° 43’ north latitude Δλ = from around 86 ° 46 ‘to 117 ° 08’ west longitude
You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.
Legal time
For Mexico, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without daylight saving time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET:
Δt (CET) = – 6 h to – 8 h
Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.
Highest point of the sun in Mexico City
Mexico City is located at a north latitude of around φ = 19.5 ° and thus in the tropics.
If the declination δ of the sun has the value of 19.5 ° and thus the image point of the sun is above the city, the sun is perpendicular there. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 15 days before June 21st and 15 days after June 21st (for details see position of the sun).
Attention
If the image point of the sun and thus the declination δ is north of the latitude of Mexico City, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.
mountains
Note
There are around 300 volcanoes in Mexico, but only 14 of them are active.
Pico de Orizaba
The highest mountain in the country is the volcano Pico de Orizaba (Citlatépetl) with a height of 5,700 m. The volcano lies on the border of the Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla. A very severe eruption took place in 1566 – the last one was in 1846. Near the volcano is the city of Orizaba, which has 120,000 residents and was badly affected by an earthquake in 1973..
Popocatépetl
The Popocatépetl volcano – translated from the language of the locals = “smoking mountain” – has a height of 5,452 m and is therefore the second highest mountain in Mexico. It forms a double volcano with the Iztaccíhuatl. The mountain is located approx. 70 km southeast of Mexico City. In the 16th century, Christian missionaries built 14 monasteries on the slopes of Popocatepetl to convert the indigenous population to the Christian faith.
Iztaccíhuatl
The extinct volcano Iztaccíhuatl – also known as Mujer dormida (= sleeping woman) – has a height of 5,286 m, making it the third highest mountain in Mexico. With the Popocatépetl it forms a double volcano. The mountain is located approx. 70 km southeast of Mexico City. Because of the snow-covered peaks, the mountain is also known as the “White Woman”. The mountain was officially climbed for the first time in 1889 by James de Salis.
Legend of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl
The following Aztec mythology recalls “Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. According to mythology, Iztaccíhuatl was a princess who fell in love with her father’s soldier. To prevent the bond, her father sent him off to war. The father told the girl shortly after that her lover was dead. Because of the news she took her own life. When the soldier returned unharmed, he died of grief over her death. The fate of the lovers even touched the gods, who then turned the two lovers into mountains and with them Hence the name of the mountain Iztaccíhuatl called “white woman.” Since then, the soldier has been spewing fire out of anger and desperation as the Popocatépetl volcano.
Nevado Toluca
The extinct stratovolcano Toluca has a height of 4,680 m, making it the fourth highest mountain in Mexico. The mountain is located about 80 km west of Mexico City and south of the city of Toluca.
Malinche
The Malinche volcano has a height of 4,461 m. The mountain is named in honor of the Aztec La Malinche (1501-1529), the interpreter and lover of the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés (1485-1547). The mountain is located in the state of Tlaxcala in central Mexico.
Colima
The Colima volcano has a height of 4,340 m and is the most active volcano in Mexico – it has erupted more than 40 times since 1576. Not least because of this, the UN counts it among the 16 most dangerous volcanoes in the world.
The mountain is located on the Jalisco-Colima border.
The volcano consists of two volcanoes, namely the older, inactive Nevado de Colima with an altitude of 4,330 m and the younger, somewhat more southerly, very active Volcán de Colima with an altitude of 3,860 m. Colima is ranked among the 16 most dangerous volcanoes in the world by the UN. The active volcanic cone is located in a large caldera, i.e. a cauldron-like structure at the starting point of the magma, which is often filled with water.
The most violent eruption in 100 years occurred in 1913. The two eruptions on May 23, 2005 and June 4, 2005 were the strongest eruptions since 1991. The volcano is located in the Nevado de Colima National Park of the same name.
Rivers
Río Bravo (Grande) del Norte
The longest river in the country is the Río Bravo (Grande) del Norte with a length of around 3,030 km (1,800 Mexican share).
Río Grande de Santiago
The Río Grande de Santiago (with Río Lerma) has a length of around 1,000 km.
Río Usumacinta
The Río Usumacinta has a length of around 970 km
Río Balsas
The Río Balsas has a length of around 770 km
Lakes
Lago de Chapala
The largest lake is Lago de Chapala with an area of around 1,080 km².
Lago de Cuitzeo
The Lago de Cuitzeo covers an area of around 350 km². The lake lies
Laguna Bacalar, the lake has a length of approx. 145 km and a width of approx. 1 km.
Lago de Pátzcuaro with an area of around 9 km2
Islands
Cozumel
Cozumel is the largest island in Mexico with an area of 704 km². The island lies
Isla Holbox
Isla Holbox is 25 km long
Isla Mujeres
Isla Mujeres has an area of 7 km² and is located
Isla Angel de la Guardia
Isla Angel de la Guardia covers an area of 1,086.3 km²
Islas Marías Biosphere Reserve The Islas Marías
Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 641,285 hectares = 6,413 km² and is located.
Baja California
In the north of Mexico lies the Baja California peninsula with a length of 1,250 km and a width of 90 km.
Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of California
The Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is also known as the Pacific, Pacific or Great Ocean.
Mexico borders the Pacific Ocean, the largest and deepest ocean in the world, with a length of approximately 1,640 km. It stretches between the Arctic, North, Central and South America as well as the Antarctic, Australia, Oceania and Asia. It has a gigantic area of 166.24 million km² (excluding secondary seas) and thus covers around 35% of the entire surface of the earth.
