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Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the town of Santo Domingo Tehuantepec in the state of Oaxaca, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl tecuani-tepec ("jaguar hill").
Geography
The isthmus includes the part of Mexico lying between the 94th and 96th meridians of west longitude, or the southeastern parts of Veracruz and Oaxaca, including small areas of Chiapas and Tabasco. The states of Tabasco and Chiapas are east of the isthmus, with Veracruz and Oaxaca on the west.
The isthmus is 200 km (125 miles) across at its narrowest point from gulf to gulf, or 92 km (120 miles) to the head of Laguna Superior on the Pacific coast. The Sierra Madre breaks down at this point into a broad, plateau-like ridge, whose elevation, at the highest point reached by the Tehuantepec railway (Chivela Pass), is 224 m (735 ft). The northern side of the isthmus is swampy and densely covered with jungle, which has been a greater obstacle to railway construction than the grades in crossing the sierra.
North America
The southern edge of North America, if North America is defined as its tectonic plate, lies in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (this definition would exclude California west of the San Andreas fault, while including areas of eastern Siberia, such as Kamchatka), and not at the Isthmus of Panama. This definition is not in common usage as Central America is usually considered to be too small to be classified as a continent and is therefore classed as a region on North America.
Climate
The whole region is hot and malarial, except for the open elevations where the winds from the Pacific Ocean render the weather comparatively cool and healthful. The annual rainfall on the Atlantic or northern slope is 3,960 mm (156 in) and the maximum temperature about 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in the shade. The Pacific slope has a light rainfall and dryer climate.
The narrowness of the isthmus, and the gap in the Sierra Madre, allow the trade winds from the Gulf of Mexico to blow through to the Pacific; furthermore, the funnelling effect of the mountains tends to increase the speed of these winds, often to gale force. The Gulf of Tehuantepec, on the Pacific side of the isthmus, is therefore known to sailors as being especially prone to gales.
Proposed canal
Since the days of Hernán Cortés, the Tehuantepec isthmus has been considered a favorable route, first for an interoceanic canal, and since the 19th century for an interoceanic railway. Its proximity to the axis of international trade gives it some advantage over the Panama route; the Isthmus of Panama, however, is significantly narrower, making for a shorter traversal. See also: Panama Canal, Nicaragua Canal.
Railway
When the great cost of a canal across the isthmus compelled engineers and capitalists to give it up as impracticable, James B. Eads proposed to construct a quadruple track ship-railway, and the scheme received serious attention for some time. Then came projects for an ordinary railway, and several concessions were granted by the Mexican government for this purpose from 1857 to 1882. In the latter year the Mexican government resolved to undertake the enterprise on its own account, and entered into contracts with a prominent Mexican contractor for the work. In 1888 this contract was rescinded, after 108 km (67 mi) of road had been completed. The next contract was fruitless because of the death of the contractor, and the third failed to complete the work within the sum specified (2,700,000). This was in 1893, and 60 km (37 mi) remained to be built. A fourth contract resulted in the completion of the line from coast to coast in 1894, when it was found that the terminal ports were deficient in facilities and the road too light for heavy traffic. The government then entered into a contract with the London firm of contractors of S. Pearson & Son, Ltd., who had constructed the drainage works of the valley of Mexico and the new port works of Veracruz, to rebuild the line and construct terminal ports at Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf coast, and at Salina Cruz on the Pacific side. The work was done for account of the Mexican government. Work began on 10 December 1899, and was finished to a point where its formal opening for traffic was possible in January 1907.
The railway is 308 km (192 mi) long, with a branch of 29 km (18 mi) between Juile and San Juan Evangelista. The minimum depth at low water in both ports is 33 ft., and an extensive system of quays and railway tracks at both terminals affords ample facilities for the expeditious handling of heavy cargoes. The general offices, shops, hospital, &c., are located at Rincón Antonio, at the entrance to the Chivela Pass, where the temperature is cool and healthful conditions prevail. At Santa Lucrecia, 175 km (109 mi) from Salina Cruz, connection is made with the Veracruz & Pacific railway (a government line), 343 km (213 mi) to Córdoba, Veracruz, and 500 km (311 mi) to Mexico City.
References
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External links
- [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1777.htm The Tehuantepec Ship-Railway]
Tehuantepec
Category:Geography of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States or Mexico (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or México; regarding the use of the variant spelling Méjico, see section The name below) is a country located in North America, bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. It is the northernmost and westernmost country in Latin America, and also the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
History
Main article: History of Mexico
Pre-Hispanic Times
Hunter-Gatherer peoples are thought to have discovered and inhabited Mexico more than 28,000 years ago. Ancient Mexicans began to selectively breed corn plants around 8,000 B.C. Evidence shows the explosion of pottery works by 2300 B.C. and the beginning of intensive farming between 1800 and 1500 BC.
For more than 3,000 years, Mexico was the site of several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec, the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and the Mayan.
These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions: pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly-accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus, a complex theology, and the wheel.
Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of Nuevo León) demonstrate an early propensity for counting in Mexico. These very early and ancient count-markings were associated with astronomical events and underscore the influence that astronomical activities had upon Mexican natives, even before they possessed civilization. In fact, the later Mexican civilizations would all carefully build their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical events.
At different points in time, three different Mexican cities were the largest cities in the world: Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula. These cities, among several others, blossomed as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology. In turn, they radiated influence outwards onto neighboring cultures.
Cholula]
Cholula]
While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mexico had four major, unifying civilizations: The Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, and the Mexica. These four civilizations extended their reach across Mexico and beyond like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these four civilizations over the span of 4,000 years. Many made war with them, but almost all found themselves within these four spheres of influence.
Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Mexica, or Aztecs, as they were sometimes called in memory of Aztlán, the starting point of their tribes wanderings, never thought of themselves as anything but heirs of the brilliant civilizations that had preceded them. For them, highly-civilized arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosiac work, and the invention of the calendar were due to the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs, who reached the height of their civilization in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
The Mexica, one of the Aztec groups, were the first people in the world to practice mandatory education for all people, regardless of gender, rank, or station. There were two types of schools: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship, theology, and other areas.
The Aztecs' religious beliefs were based on a fear that the universe would cease functioning without a constant offering of human sacrifice. This belief was common throughout nahuatl people. As a result, Aztec warfare was conducted with an aim to only injure the enemy, so that he could later be sacrificed, and weapons were constructed with this in mind. This penchant for human sacrifice proved to be the undoing of the Aztecs, for when they confronted the Spaniards, who fought to the death, their less effective weapons made resistance difficult. In order to acquire captives in time of peace, the Aztec resorted to ritual warfare, or flower war. Tlaxcalteca and other nahuatl nations were forced into such wars, so they joined the Spaniard forces against the Aztec. The small Spanish force was reinforced with thousands of indian allies, who were schooled on European warfare.
The Spanish Era
The arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century and their defeat of the Mexica in 1521 marked the beginning of the 300 year-long colonial period of Mexico as New Spain. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, it would take decades of continuous war to pacify Mesoamerica. Particularly fierce were the "Chichimeca wars" in the north of Mexico (1576-1606).
The colonists brought with them the Catholic faith, to which the population seemingly converted rapidly, but soon they found the natives had adopted "the god of the heavens", as they called it, as just one of their gods. While it was an important god, because it was the god of the conquerors,they did not see why they had to abandon their old beliefs. As a result, a second wave of missionaries began a process attempting to completely erase the old beliefs, and thus wiped out many aspects of Mesoamerican culture. Hundreds of thousands of codices were destroyed, priests and teachers were persecuted, and the temples and statues of the gods were destroyed. The Mesoamerican education system was set aside and replaced by church education; even some foods associated with religion, like amaranto, were forbidden. Eventually, the natives were declared minors, and forbidden to read and write, so they would always need a white man in charge of them to be responsible of their indoctrination. Although officially they could not become slaves, the system, known as encomienda, came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators did not set out with such intent. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolome de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Bartolome later repented when he saw the treatment given to the black slaves.
Unlike most English-speaking colonists of North America, Spanish colonists married the natives, and were even encouraged to do so by Queen Isabella during the earliest days of colonization (in Cuba, specifically). The first Spanish colonists were mainly male, so they took native women, and sometimes black women, although rarely. After the native population was decimated by epidemics and forced labor, black slaves were imported, and for a time they even outnumbered the white population. However, they eventually mixed with the population. There are still a few black communities (see Afro-Mexican), but few modern Mexicans are aware of this. As a result of these unions, as well as concubinage, a vast class of people known as "Mestizos" and mulatos came into being, of Amerindian, black, and Spanish descent. But even if mixes were allowed, the white population tried to keep their status. A system was created to keep each mix in a different social level. This was "El sistema de castas" (the caste system). Each different mix had a name and a different privileges or prohibitions. There were even two different kind of whites, those born in Spain, or "peninsulares", and in a lower level, those born in America or "criollos". Mestizos and mulatos were next, and then the other mixes. In this system, Native Americans had the lower status, even lower than free black people. The Spanish "peninsulares" tried by all means to keep their status, even if they took native women. Those who could afford also tried to have a Spanish wife, who was sent to Spain to give birth, thus preventing their children became criollos. Mestizos and criollos were not allowed in the upper levels of the government, and eventually they joined forces for the independence of México. With independence, the caste system and slavery were abolished.
Mestizos, while they no longer have a separate legal status from other groups, comprise approximately 60% of the population. In modern México, mestizo has became more a cultural term, since a Native American that abandons his traditional ways is considered a mestizo, also most Afromexicans prefer to be considered mestizo, since they feel more identified with this group.
During the following centuries, under Spanish rule, a new culture developed that combined the customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples with that of Catholic Spain. Numerous churches and other buildings were constructed in the Spanish style, and cities were named after various saints and objects of veneration, such as "San Luis Potosí" (after St. Louis) and "Vera Cruz" ("True Cross").
Spanish settlers brought with them smallpox, typhus, and other diseases. Most of the settlers had developed an immunity from childhood, but the indigenous peoples had not. There were three separate epidemics that decimated the population: Smallpox (1520-1521), measles ( 1545-1548) and typhus (1576-1581). Of the estimated 15 to 20 million of the original prehispanic population, less than two million survived. The New Spain of the end of XVI century was an underpopulated country with abandoned cities, which would be the main cause of collapse of the Mesoamerican cultures.
Mexican Independence
On September 16, 1810, independence from Spain was declared by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest in the small town of Dolores, causing a long war that eventually led to independence in 1821 and the creation of the First Mexican Empire.
After independence, Spanish possessions in Central America which also proclaimed independence were all incorporated into Mexico from 1822 to 1823, with the exception of Chiapas.
Soon after achieving its independence from Spain, the Mexican government, in an effort to populate its sparsely-settled hinterlands, awarded land grants in a remote area of the northernmost state of Coahuila y Tejas to hundreds of immigrant families from the United States, on the condition that the settlers convert to Catholicism and assume Mexican citizenship. It also forbade the importation of slaves, a condition that, like the others, was largely ignored.
The Empire soon fell to rogue republican forces led by Antonio López de Santa Anna. The first Republic was formed with Guadalupe Victoria as its first president, followed in office by Santa Anna. As president, in 1834 Santa Anna abrogated the federal constitution, causing insurgencies in the southern state of Yucatán and the northernmost portion of the northern state of Coahuila y Tejas. Both areas sought independence from the Mexican government. While negotiations eventually brought Yucatán to again recognize Mexican sovereignty, Santa Anna's army turned to the northern rebellion. The inhabitants of Tejas, calling themselves Texans and led mainly by relatively recently-arrived English-speaking settlers, declared independence from Mexico at Washington-on-the-Brazos, giving birth to the Republic of Texas. Texas won its independence in 1836, further reducing the territory of the fledgling republic. In the 1840s, Mexico was invaded and defeated by the United States, which demanded and received roughly one-half of the country's remaining territory, from which were formed the modern states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and most of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado (see Mexican-American War).
In the 1860s, the country again suffered a military occupation, this time by France, seeking to establish the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria as Emperor of Mexico, with support from the Roman Catholic clergy and conservative criolloss. The Second Mexican Empire was then overthrown by the Zapotec Benito Juárez, with diplomatic and logistical support from the United States and the military expertise of General Porfirio Díaz. General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French Army (arguably the most powerful in the world at the time) at the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, celebrated as Cinco de Mayo ever since. However, after his death, the city was lost in early 1863, following a renewed French attack which penetrated as far as Mexico City, forcing Juárez to organize an itinerant government. 1863 to 1867. In mid-1867, following repeated losses in battle to the Republican Army, Maximilian was captured and murdered by Juárez's soldiers, along with his last loyal generals, in Querétaro. From then on, Juárez remained in office until his death in 1872.
After Juárez's death, Mexico experienced economic growth under the conservative and pro-European rule of Porfirio Díaz. Foreign investment allowed the development of the oil industry and the construction of a railroad system across the country. This period of relative peace and prosperity is known as the "Porfiriato". His mandate, however, was mostly undemocratic and benefited the middle and upper classes, while the Amerindian indigenous population continued to live in precarious conditions. Growing social inequalities, restricted freedom of the press, and his insistence to be reelected for a fifth term led to massive protests. His fraudulent victory in the 1910 elections sparked the Mexican Revolution. Revolutionary forces defeated the federal army, but were left with internal struggles, leaving the country in conflict for two more decades. The creation of the National Revolutionary Party (which later became the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI), in 1929 ended the struggles, uniting all generals and combatants of the revolution.
During the next four decades, Mexico experienced impressive economic growth, and historians call this period "El Milagro Mexicano", the Mexican Miracle. This was in spite of falling foreign confidence in investment, first through the assumption of mineral rights and subsequent nationalisation of the oil industry into Pemex during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. However the management of the economy collapsed several times afterwards. Accused many times of fraud, the PRI's candidates held almost all public offices until the end of the 20th century. It was not until the 1980s that the PRI lost the first state governorship, an event that marked the beginning of the party's loss of hegemony. Through the electoral reforms started by president Carlos Salinas de Gortari and consolidated by president Ernesto Zedillo, by the mid 1990s the PRI had lost its majority in Congress. In 2000, after seventy years, the PRI lost a presidential elections to a candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), Vicente Fox.
On September 19, 1985, an earthquake measuring approximately 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Michoacán and inflicted severe damage on Mexico City. Estimates of the number of dead range from 6,500 to 30,000. (See Great Mexican Earthquake.)
On January 1 1994, Mexico became a full member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, joining the United States of America and Canada in a large economic bloc with two counties vastly more prosperous. On March 23, 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America was signed by the elected leaders of those countries.
Government and politics
Main articles: Government of Mexico, Politics of Mexico
Politics of Mexico
The 1917 Constitution provides for a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Historically, the executive is the dominant branch, with power vested in the president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the Congress. Congress has played an increasingly important role since 1997, when opposition parties first formed a majority in the legislature. The president also legislates by executive decree in certain economic and financial fields, using powers delegated from Congress. The president is elected by universal adult suffrage for a six-year term and may not hold office a second time. There is no vice-president; in the event of the removal or death of the president, a provisional "emergency" president is elected by Congress, whose first task is to summon the Congress for a session to choose an interim president; the first task of that interim president is to call for elections within the next 18 months. However, in the event of a very short unavailability of the president (e.g. in the case of minor surgery) the executive power is handed to the president of the Supreme Court, who at the same time relinquishes temporarily his role as such.
On July 2, 2000, Vicente Fox of the opposition "Alliance for Change" coalition, headed by the National Action Party (PAN), was elected president. Fox began his six-year term on December 1, 2000. His victory ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) 71-year hold on the presidency.
The three most important political parties in Mexico are the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
Political divisions
:Main article: States of Mexico
:See also: Mexican state name etymologies.
Mexico is divided into 31 states (estados) and a federal district. Each state has its own constitution and its citizens elect a governor as well as representatives to their respective state congresses.
governor
The Federal District is a special political division in Mexico, where the national capital, Mexico City, is located. It enjoys more limited local rule than the nation's "free and sovereign states": only since 1997 have its citizens been able to elect a Head of Government, whose powers are still more curtailed than those of a state governor. Much of the capital city's metropolitan area overflows the limits of the Federal District.
Major cities
The following is a list of the biggest Metropolitan Areas of Mexico in order of population:
#Mexico City, Distrito Federal (22.0 million)
#Guadalajara, Jalisco (4.7 million)
#Monterrey, Nuevo León (3.6 million)
#Puebla, Puebla (2.6 million)
#Tijuana, Baja California (1.5 million)
#León, Guanajuato (1.2 million)
#Toluca, México (1.2 million)
#Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (1.1 million)
#Torreón, Coahuila (1.1 million)
#San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí (0.8 million)
#Mérida, Yucatán (0.8 million)
#Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro (0.8 million)
#Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes (0.7 million)
#Cuernavaca, Morelos (0.7 million)
#Chihuahua, Chihuahua (0.7 million)
:Population figures according to INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information) 2000
Geography
Chihuahua, Chihuahua]]
Main article: Geography of Mexico
Situated in the southwestern part of mainland North America and roughly triangular in shape, Mexico stretches more than 3000 km from northwest to southeast. Its width is varied, from more than 2000 km in the north and less than 220 km at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the south.
Mexico is bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. Mexico is about one-fourth the size of the United States. Baja California in the west is a 1,250-km peninsula and forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by Mexico's other peninsula, the Yucatán. The center of Mexico is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands lying outside of them. (See list of mountains in Mexico).
list of mountains in Mexico
The terrain and climate vary from rocky deserts in the north to tropical rain forest in the south. Mexico's major rivers include the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) and the Usumacinta on its northern and southern borders, respectively, together with the Grijalva, Balsas, Pánuco, and Yaqui in the interior.
Economy
Yaqui.]]
Main article: Economy of Mexico
According to the World Bank, Mexico is the 12th nation in the world in regard to GDP and the highest per capita income in that region; and is firmly established as an upper middle-income country. Since the economic debacle of 1994–1995 the country has made an impressive economic recovery. According to the director for Colombia and Mexico of the World Bank, the population below the poverty level has decreased from 24.2% to 17.6% in the general population and from 42% to 27.9% in rural areas [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/301198.html].
Mexico has a free-market economy with a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. The number of state-owned enterprises in Mexico has fallen from more than 1,000 in 1982 to fewer than 200 in 1999. The administration of President Ernesto Zedillo (1994–2000) continued a policy of privatizing and expanding competition in sea ports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity, natural gas distribution, and airports which was initiated by his predecessors Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas.
A strong export sector helped to cushion the economy's decline in 1995 and led the recovery in 1996–1999. Private consumption became the leading driver of growth, accompanied by increased employment and higher wages. Mexico still needs to overcome many structural problems as it strives to modernize its economy and raise living standards. Income distribution is very unequal, with the top 20% of income earners accounting for 55% of income.
Following 6.9% growth in 2000, real GDP fell 0.3% in 2001, with the US slowdown the principal cause. Positive developments in 2001 included a drop in inflation to 6.5%, a sharp fall in interest rates, and a strong peso that appreciated 5% against the US dollar. Trade with the US and Canada has tripled since NAFTA was implemented in 1994.
Mexico has opened its markets to free trade as no other country in the world, having lifted its trade barriers with more than 40 countries in 12 Free Trade Agreements, including Japan and the European Union. However more than 85% of the trade is still done with the United States. Government authorities expect that by putting more than 90% of trade under free trade agreements with different countries Mexico will lessen its dependence on the US. The government is seeking to sign an additional agreement with Mercosur.
Demographics
Mercosur
Mercosur]]
Mercosur
Main article: Demographics of Mexico
With an estimated 2005 population of about [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/127113.html 106.5 million], Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
Mexico is ethnically and culturally diverse. According to the CIA World Factbook, about 60% of the population is mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white), another 30% is Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian, and 9% is white (or of European descent). The remaining 1% includes Afro-Mexicans and others. Mexico is also home for many other Latin American groups: mostly Argentines, but also Brazilians, Cubans, Nicaraguans,Colombians and Venezuelans. The PRI governments in power for most of the 20th century had a policy of granting asylum to fellow Latin Americans fleeing political persecution in their home countries. Mexico also has a sizeable population of Asians numbering around 200,000, many of them being Chinese and Japanese. There are also a small amount of Lebanese.
According to the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas ("The National Council for the Development of Indigenous People") the Amerindian population in Mexico is approximately [http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/127113.html 12.7 million]. However, the Mexican government does not collect racial information during censuses. In 2004, the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatic had estimated this figure to be 12,089,094 of indigenous people of which, more than one million do not speak Spanish and almost five million are bilingual ([http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/integracion/sociodemografico/mujeresyhombres/2004/myh_2004.pdf INEGI, 2004]).
Judging by the proportion of people speaking indigenous languages the states with a higher proportion of indigenous people are Yucatán (37.3%), Oaxaca (37.1%), Chiapas (24.6%) and Quintana Roo (23%). The states of Aguascalientes (0.2% ), Coahuila (0.2%), Zacatecas (0.2%) and Nuevo León (0.5%) have the lowest proportion of speakers of indigenous languages ([INEGI, 2004]).
Mexico is the country where the greatest number of U.S citizens live outside the United States. This may be due to the growing economic and business interdependence of the two countries under NAFTA, and also that Mexico is considered an excellent choice for retirees. A clear example of the latter phenomenon is provided by San Miguel de Allende and many towns along the Baja California peninsula and around Guadalajara, Jalisco. The official figures for foreign-born citizens in Mexico are 493,000 (since 2004), with a majority (86.9%) of these born in the US (with the exception of Chiapas, where the majority of immigrants are from Central America). The five states with more immigrants are Baja California (12.1% of total immigrants), Federal District (11.4%), Jalisco (9.9%), Chihuahua (9%) and Tamaulipas (7.3). More than 54.6% of the immigrant population are 15 years old or younger, while 9% are 50 or older. 4.2% of male immigrants and 3.8% of female immigrants did not have formal education while 20.2% of male immigrants and 17.7% of female immigrants had a college degree [INEGI, 2004.
Life expectancy in Mexico increased from 34.7 for men and 33 years for women in 1930 to 72.1 for men and 77.1 years for women in 2002. The states with the highest life expectancy are Baja California (75.9 years) and Nuevo Leon (75.6 years). The Federal District has a life expectancy of the same level as Baja California. The lowest levels are found in Chiapas (72.9), Oaxaca (73.2) and Guerrero (73.2 years), although the first two have had the highest increase (19.9 and 22.3% respectively).
The mortality rate in 1970 was 9.7/1000 people and by 2001 the rate had dropped to 4.9/1000 for men and 3.8/1000 for women. The most common reasons for death in 2001 were heart problems (14.6% for men 17.6% for women) and Cancer (11% for men and 15.8% for women).
Religion
Guadalajara, Jalisco]
Mexico is predominantly Roman Catholic (about 89% of the population), with 6% adhering to various Protestant faiths (mostly Pentecostal), and the remaining 5% of the population adhering to other religions or professing no religion. Some of the country's Catholics (notably those of indigenous background) syncretize Catholicism with various elements of Aztec or Mayan religions.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) has a growing presence in the major border cities of northeastern Mexico with over 1,000,000 members nationwide. Judaism has been practiced in Mexico for centuries, and there are estimated to be 100,000 Jews in Mexico today. Islam is mainly practiced by members of the Arab, Turkish, and other expatriate communities, though there is a very small number of the indigenous population in Chiapas state that practice Islam.
Languages
Spanish is the official language of Mexico and is spoken by the majority of the population. About 7% of the population speak an Amerindian language. The government officially recognizes 62 Amerindian languages. Of these Nahuatl, and Maya are each spoken by 1.5 million, while others, such as Lacandon, are spoken by less than 100. The Mexican government has promoted and established bilingual education programs in indigenous rural communities.
Although Spanish is the official language of Mexico, English is widely used in business. As a result, English language skills are much in demand and can lead to an increase in the salary offered by a company. It is also spoken along the U.S. border, in big cities, and in beach resorts. Also, the majority of private schools in Mexico offer what they like to describe as "bilingual" education, both in Spanish and English. English is the main language spoken in U.S. expatriate communities such as those along the coast of Baja California and the town of San Miguel de Allende. There are also Mennonite colonies in Chihuahua where education is delivered in English.
With respect to other European languages brought by immigrants, the case of Chipilo, in the state of Puebla, is unique, and has been documented by several linguists like Carolyn McKay. The immigrants that founded the city of Chipilo in 1882 came from the Veneto region in northern Italy, and thus spoke a northern variant of the Venetian dialect. While other European immigrants assimilated into the Mexican culture, the people of Chipilo retained their language. Nowadays, most of the people who live in the city of Chipilo (and many of those who have migrated to other cities) still speak the unaltered Veneto dialect spoken by their great-grandparents making the Veneto dialect an unrecognized minority language in the city of Puebla. A similar case is that of the Plautdietsch language, spoken by the descendants of German and Dutch Mennonite immigrants in the states of Chihuahua and Durango.
Education
Mexico has made impressive improvements in education in the last two decades. In 2004, the literacy rate was at 92%, and the youth literacy rate (ages 15-24) was 96%. Primary and secondary education (9 years) is free and mandatory. Even though different bilingual education programs have existed since the 1960s for the indigenous communities, after a constitution reform in the late 1990s, these programs have had a new thrust, and free text books are produced in more than a dozen indigenous languages.
In the 1970's, Mexico became the first country to establish a system of "distance-learning" satellite secondary education, aimed for the little towns and rural communities. In 2005 this system included 30,000 connected schools, 3 million students and 300,000 teachers, who use televised lectures and education science programs, pre-recorded and transmitted through "EduSat", via satellite. Schools that use this system are known as telesecundarias in Mexico. The Mexican "distance-learning" secondary education is also transmitted to some Central American countries and to Colombia, and it is used in some southern regions of the United States as a method of bilingual education.
Culture
United States
Main article: Culture of Mexico
- Music of Mexico
- Literature of Mexico
- Cinema of Mexico
- Cuisine of Mexico
- Holidays and celebrations in Mexico
The name
Mexico is named after its capital city, whose name comes from the Aztec city Mexico-Tenochtitlan that preceded it. The Mexi part of the name is from Mexitli, the war god, whose name was derived from metztli (the moon) and xictli (navel) and thus meant "navel (probably implying 'child') of the moon". So, Mexico is the home of the people of Mexitli (the Mexicas), co meaning "place" and ca meaning "people".
When the Spaniards encountered this people and transcribed their language, they naturally did so according to the spelling rules of the Castilian language of the time. The Nahuatl language had a sound (like English "shop"), and this sound was written x in Spanish (e.g. Ximénez); consequently, the letter x was used to write down words like Mexitli.
Over the centuries, the pronunciation of Spanish changed. Words like Ximénez, exercicio, xabón and perplexo started to be pronounced with a (this phonetic symbol represents the sound in the word "loch"). The sound (as in "vision") represented by the letter j (usually g before e or i) also started to be pronounced this way. The coalescence of the two phonemes into a single new one encouraged scholars to use the same letter for the sound, regardless of its origin (Spanish scholars have always tried to keep the orthography of their language faithful to the spoken tongue). It was j/g that was chosen. So, modern Spanish has ejercicio, ejército, jabón, perplejo, etc. (Another example is the old spelling of Don Quixote which is now Don Quijote. The old pronunciation is maintained in French "Quichotte", and the English word "quixotic" maintains the spelling while pronouncing it with its English value.)
Proper nouns and their derivatives are optionally allowed to break this rule. Thus, although xabón is now incorrect and archaic, alongside many millions of people called "Jiménez", there also are plenty called "Giménez" or "Ximénez" — a matter of personal choice and tradition.
In Mexico, it has become almost a matter of national pride to maintain the otherwise archaic x spelling in the name of the country. It is regarded as more authentic and less jarring to the reader's eye. Mexicans have tended to demand that other Spanish-speakers use this spelling, rather than following the general rule, and the demand has largely been respected. The Real Academia Española states that both spellings are correct, and most dictionaries and guides recommend México first, and present Méjico as a variant. Today, even outside of the country, México is preferred over Méjico by ratios ranging from 10-to-1 (in Spain) to about 280-to-1 (in Costa Rica). Also, in the placenames "Oaxaca" and "Xalapa", the x is pronounced as ; in "Xochimilco", however, it sounds as a .
A cultural side-effect of the fact that Mexicans use México and Spaniards sometimes use Méjico is the occasional boiling-over of negative sentiment towards the old colonial oppressor. The mere act of using the j spelling is interpreted by some as a form of colonial aggression. On the other hand, some Peninsular scholars (such as Ramón Menéndez Pidal) prefer to apply the general spelling rule, arguing that the spelling with an x could encourage non-Mexicans to mispronounce México as (as is generally the case in the English-speaking world). Méjico on the other hand could easily be mispronounced as well, because the letter j stands for in other languages.
In the Nahuatl language, from which the name originally derived, the name for Mexico is Mēxihco (IPA ).
Further reading
- James D. Cockcroft, Mexico's Hope: An Encounter with Politics and History, 320 pages, Monthly Review Press 1999, ISBN 0853459258 – leftist view of Mexican history
- Enrique Krauze, Mexico: Biography of Power. A history of Modern Mexico 1810-1996, 896 pages – Perennial 1998, ISBN 0060929170 - standard work by a renowned Mexican author
- Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon, Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2004, hardcover, 608 pages, ISBN 0374226687 – recent history since the Tlatelolco massacre of 1968 told by two journalists
- Joanne Hershfield, David R. Maciel, Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers, SR Books 1999, ISBN 0842026827 – comprehensive survey
- Michael C. Meyer, William H. Beezley, editors, The Oxford History of Mexico, 736 pages, Oxford University Press 2000, ISBN 0195112288 – 20 essays, also covers cultural history
See also
- Communications in Mexico
- Education in Mexico
- Foreign affairs of Mexico
- List of cities in Mexico
- List of Mexican Universities
- List of Mexicans
- List of Presidents of Mexico
- Military of Mexico
- Music of Mexico
- Sport in Mexico
- Transportation in Mexico
- U.S.-Mexico border
- Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico
External links
Government
- [http://www.gob.mx Gob.mx]: Governmental portal (in Spanish)
- [http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/en/ Presidencia]: President of the Republic
- [http://www.cddhcu.gob.mx Cámara de Diputados]: Chamber of Deputies (in Spanish)
- [http://www.senado.gob.mx/index.php?lng=en Cámara de Senadores]: Senate
Information about Mexico
- [http://archaeology.about.com/od/s4/ Mexican Archaeological Sites]
- [http://www.consejomexicano.org.mx/ Mexican Council for Economic and Social Development]
- [http://www.inegi.gob.mx INEGI]: National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information (in Spanish)
- [http://www.cenam.mx/husos-horarios.htm Time zones in Mexico] (in Spanish)
- [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/MEXICOEXTN/0,,menuPK:338407~pagePK:141132~piPK:141107~theSitePK:338397,00.html World Bank's assessment of the Mexican economy]
- [http://www.portaldeldesarrollo.org/ Mexico Development Gateway]
- [http://texashistory.unt.edu/search.tkl?q=mexico+map&search=Search&fulltext_select=ON&format=&collection=&institution=&document_type=&date1=Anytime&date2=Anytime&type=form Historic Maps of Mexico] hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/northamerica/mexico/map.html Physical map of Mexico]
- [http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/index_kids.html Mexico for kids]
Mexican newspapers and news agencies
- [http://www.reforma.com Reforma]
- [http://www.informador.com.mx El Informador]
- [http://www.eluniversal.com.mx El Universal]
- [http://www.elnorte.com El Norte]
- [http://www.jornada.unam.mx La Jornada]
- [http://www.mural.com Mural]
- [http://www.debate.com.mx El Debate]
- [http://www.imagen.com.mx Imagen Informativa]
- [http://www.milenio.com Milenio]
- [http://www.cronica.com.mx La Crónica]
- [http://www.enmexico.com/noticias.htmMexican Newspapers]
- [http://www.am.com.mx AM Bajío]
- [http://www.notimex.com.mx Notimex]
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zh-min-nan:México
ko:멕시코
ms:Mexico
ja:メキシコ
simple:Mexico
th:ประเทศเม็กซิโก
Pacific Ocean:For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation).
The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the world's largest body of water. It encompasses a third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 179.7 million km² (69.4 million sq miles). Extending approximately 15,500 km (9,600 miles) from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the icy margins of Antarctica's Ross Sea in the south (although the Antarctic regions of the Pacific are sometimes described as part of the circumpolar Southern Ocean)the Pacific reaches its greatest east-west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19,800 km (12,300 miles) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia. The western limit of the ocean is often placed at the Strait of Malacca. The lowest point on earth—the Mariana Trench—lies some 10,911 m (35,797 ft) below sea level.
The Pacific contains about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world's oceans combined), the majority of which are found south of the equator. (See: Pacific Islands.)
Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Sea of Japan, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea. The Straits of Malacca joins the Pacific and the Indian Oceans on the west, and the Straits of Magellan links the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east.
As the Pacific straddles the ±180° longitude where East becomes West, the Asian side of the ocean (where latitudes are E) is correctly referred to as East Pacific and the opposite side (eastwards) where latitudes are W is the West Pacific. To retain the popular "left is western" and "right is eastern" means of reference, the Western Pacific is thus the East Pacific and the Eastern Pacific the West Pacific. The International Date Line follows the ±180° longitude to the greater part of its North-South demarcation but veers far eastwards around Kiribati (Caroline Island, which, not coincidentally, was renamed Millennium Island) and westwards round the Aleutian Islands as can be seen on the map at International Date Line.
For most of Ferdinand Magellan's voyage from the Straits of Magellan to the Philippines, the Portuguese explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful. However, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many typhoons and hurricanes batter the islands of the Pacific and the lands around the Pacific rim are full of volcanoes and often rocked by earthquakes. Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and wiped out whole towns.
Tsunami
Ocean bottom
The ocean floor of the central Pacific basin is relatively uniform, an abyssal plain with a mean depth of about 4270 m (14,000 ft). The major irregularities in the basin are the extremely steep-sided, flat-topped submarine peaks known as seamounts. The western part of the floor consists of mountain arcs that rise above the sea as island groups, such as the Solomon Islands and New Zealand, and deep oceanic trenches, such as the Mariana Trench, the Philippine Trench, and the Tonga Trench. Most of the trenches lie adjacent to the outer margins of the wide western Pacific continental shelf.
Along the eastern margin of the Pacific Basin is the East Pacific Rise, which is a part of the worldwide mid-oceanic ridge. About 3000 km (1800 miles) across, the rise stands about 3 km (2 miles) above the adjacent ocean floor.
Because a relatively small land area drains into the Pacific, and because of the ocean's immense size, most sediments are authigenic or pelagic in origin. Authigenic sediments include montmorillonite and phillipsite. Pelagic sediments derived from seawater include pelagic red clays and the skeletal remains of sea life. Terrigenous sediments eroded from land masses are confined to narrow marginal bands close to land.
Elevation extremes
- lowest point: -10,924 m (-35,840 ft). at the bottom of the Mariana Trench
- highest point: 0 m (0 ft), sea level.
Water characteristics
Water temperatures in the Pacific vary from freezing in the poleward areas to about 29°C (84°F) near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally. Water near the equator is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. Poleward of the temperate latitudes salinity is also low, because little evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas.
The surface circulation of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific Gyre) and anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current. Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some waters move northward as the Aleutian Current, while the rest turn southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current. The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of an anti-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current.
The South Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the Southern Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current.
Climate
Only the interiors of the large land masses of Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand escape the pervasive climatic influence of the Pacific. Within the area of the Pacific, five distinctively different climatic regions exist: the mid-latitude westerlies, the trades, the monsoon region, the typhoon region, and the doldrums.
Mid-latitude westerly air streams occur in both northerly and southerly latitudes, bringing marked seasonal differences in temperature.
Closer to the equator, where most of the islands lie, steadily blowing trade winds allow for relatively constant temperatures throughout the year of 21-27°C (70-81°F).
The monsoon region lies in the far western Pacific between Japan and Australia. Characteristic of this climatic region are winds that blow from the continental interior to the ocean in winter and in the opposite direction in summer. Consequently, a marked seasonality of cloudiness and rainfall occurs. Typhoons often cause extensive damage in the west and southwest Pacific. The greatest typhoon frequency exists within the triangle from southern Japan to the central Philippines to eastern Micronesia.
Although more poorly defined than the other climatic regions, two major doldrum areas lie within the ocean, one located off the western shores of Central America and the other within the equatorial waters of the western Pacific. Both areas are noted for their high humidity, considerable cloudiness, light fluctuating winds, and frequent calms.
Geology
The Andesite Line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. It separates the deeper, basic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of acidic igneous rock on its margins. The Andesite Line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the Aleutian arc, along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand. The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Albatross Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand—all eastward extensions of the continental blocks of Australia and Asia—lie outside the Andesite Line.
Within the closed loop of the Andesite Line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Central Pacific Basin. It is here that basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the Andesite Line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and the Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's foremost belt of explosive volcanism.
Landmasses
The largest landmass entirely within the Pacific Ocean is the island of New Guinea— the second largest in the world. Almost all of the smaller islands of the Pacific lie between 30°N and 30°S, extending from South-east Asia to Easter Island; the rest of the Pacific Basin is almost entirely submerged. The great triangle of Polynesia, connecting Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand, encompasses the island arcs and clusters of the Cook, Marquesas, Samoa, Society, Tokelau, Tonga, and Tuamotu islands. North of the equator and west of the international date line are the numerous small islands of Micronesia, including the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Mariana Islands. In the southwestern corner of the Pacific lie the islands of Melanesia, dominated by New Guinea. Other important island groups of Melanesia include the Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs, and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the Andesite Line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. These islands are structurally associated with the nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands.
The third and fourth types of islands are both the result of coralline island building. Coral reefs are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.
History and economy
See the Oceania article for information on one set of the Pacific Island states listed below here.
Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times, most notably those of Polynesians from Tahiti to Hawaii and New Zealand. The ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1513) and then by Ferdinand Magellan, who crossed the Pacific during his circumnavigation (1519-1522). In 1564 conquistadors crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi who sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. For the remainder of the 16th century Spanish influence was paramount, with ships sailing from Spain to the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Solomons. The Manila Galleons linked Manila and Acapulco. During the 17th century the Dutch, sailing around southern Africa, dominated discovery and trade; Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered (1642) Tasmania and New Zealand. The 18th century marked a burst of exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, the French in Polynesia, and the British in the three voyages of James Cook (to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest).
Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by Great Britain and France, followed by the United States. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of the HMS Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard; the HMS Challenger during the 1870s; the U.S.S. Tuscarora (1873-76); and the German Gazelle (1874-1876). Although the United States took the Philippines in 1898, Japan controlled the western Pacific by 1914, and occupied many other islands during World War II. By the end of that war the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean.
Seventeen independent states are located in the Pacific: Australia, Fiji, Japan, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Republic of China (Taiwan), Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Eleven of these nations have achieved full independence since 1960. The Northern Mariana Islands are self-governing with external affairs handled by the United States, and Cook Islands and Niue are in similar relationships with New Zealand. Also within the Pacific are the U.S. state of Hawaii and several island territories and possessions of Australia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, petroleum and natural gas are extracted, and pearls are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume. The Pacific's greatest asset is its fish. The shoreline waters of the continents and the more temperate islands yield herring, salmon, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and tuna, as well as shellfish. In 1986, the member nations of the South Pacific Forum declared the area a nuclear-free zone in an effort to halt nuclear testing and prevent the dumping of nuclear waste there.
Ports and harbours
- Acapulco (Mexico)
- Anchorage (United States)
- Auckland (New Zealand)
- Brisbane (Australia)
- Callao (Peru)
- Hong Kong (Hong Kong (China (PRC)))
- Honolulu (United States)
- Kobe (Japan)
- Long Beach (United States)
- Los Angeles (United States)
- Panama City (Panama)
- Portland (Oregon) (United States)
- Prince Rupert (Canada)
- San Diego (United States)
- San Francisco (United States)
- Sapporo (Japan)
- Seattle (United States)
- Shanghai (China (PRC))
- Sydney (Australia)
- Taipei (China (ROC))
- Vancouver (Canada)
- Victoria (Canada)
- Vladivostok (Russia)
- Yokohama (Japan)
Bibliography
- Barkley, R.A., Oceanographic Atlas of the Pacific Ocean (1969)
- Cameron, I., Lost Paradise (1987)
- Couper, A., Development in the Pacific Islands (1988)
- Crump, D.J., ed., Blue Horizons (1980)
- Gilbert, John, Charting the Vast Pacific (1971)
- Lower, J. Arthur, Ocean of Destiny: A Concise History of the North Pacific, 1500-1978 (1978)
- Oliver, D.L., The Pacific Islands, 3nd ed. (1989)
- Ridgell, R., Pacific Nations and Territories, 2nd ed. (1988)
- Soule, Gardner, The Greatest Depths (1970)
- Spate, O.H., Paradise Found and Lost (1988)
- Terrell, J.E., Prehistory in the Pacific Islands (1986).
:Based on public domain text from US Naval Oceanographer
External links
- [http://www.epic.noaa.gov/epic/ewb/ EPIC Pacific Ocean Data Collection] Viewable on-line collection of observational data
- [http://dapper.pmel.noaa.gov/dchart/ NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer] Plot and download ocean observations
- [http://www.mapsouthpacific.com/ Map South Pacific]
- [http://www.oscar.noaa.gov/datadisplay/ NOAA Ocean Surface Current Analyses - Realtime (OSCAR)] Near-realtime Pacific Ocean Surface Currents derived from satellite altimeter and scatterometer data
- [http://floats.pmel.noaa.gov/floats/ NOAA PMEL Argo profiling floats] Realtime Pacific Ocean data
- [http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/jsdisplay/ NOAA TAO El Nino data] Realtime Pacific Ocean El NIno buoy data
- [http://www.southpacific.org/ South Pacific Organizer]
Category:Oceans
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zh-min-nan:Thài-pêng-iûⁿ
ko:태평양
ja:太平洋
simple:Pacific Ocean
th:มหาสมุทรแปซิฟิก
TehuantepecTehuantepec is a town in Mexico. The town's name comes from the Nahuatl tecuani-tepec", meaning "jaguar hill".
The town gives its name to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, gulf and railway, stands on the Tehuantepec river about 15 m. from its mouth and 13 m. by rail from Salina Cruz. Pop. (1904, estimated) 10,000. It is a typical, straggling Indian town, occupying the slope of a hill on the Pacific side of the divide, with a beautiful view of the river valley and the distant sierras to the N. The streets are little more than crooked paths up the hillside, and the habitations are for the most part thatched, mud-walled huts. The population of the town and of the surrounding district is composed almost wholly of Indians of the great Zapoteca family. The Tehuanas of Tehuantepec are noted for the beauty and graceful carriage of their women, who are reputed to be the finest-looking among the native races of Mexico. The women are the traders in Tehuantepec and do little menial work as a result, apparently, of the influence of beauty. The local industries include the making of " cana," a cane spirit, and the weaving of cotton fabrics,-dyed with the juice of a marine shell-fish (Purpura patula) found on the neighboring coast. Indigo was formerly grown in the vicinity and cochineal gathered for export, but both of these industries have declined.
References
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Nahuatl language
Nahuatl (pronounced in two syllables, NA-watl ) is a term applied to some members of the Aztecan or Nahuan sub-branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, indigenous to central Mexico.
Often the term Nahuatl is used specifically with reference to the language called Classical Nahuatl, which was the language of the Aztec empire and therefore used as a lingua franca in much of Mesoamerica from the 7th century AD until the late 16th century, at which time its prominence and influence was interrupted by the Spanish conquest of the New World.
However, it also serves to identify a number of modern Nahuatl dialects (linguistic variants, some of them mutually unintelligible) that are still spoken by at least 1.5 million people in what is now Mexico. All of these dialects show influence from the Spanish language to various degrees, some of them much more than others. No modern dialects are identical with that of Classical Nahuatl, but those spoken in and around the Valley of Mexico are more closely related to it than are peripheral ones.
Overview
Nahuatl is the most widely spoken group of Native American languages in Mexico. As is the case with most other Mexican indigenous languages, many of the speakers of Nahuatl are bilingual, having a working knowledge of the Spanish language. In the past, a significant number of the Nahuatl speakers outside the Valley of Mexico were bilingual in languages other than Spanish, speaking both Nahuatl and, as their mother tongue, some other indigenous language. A famous example of bilingualism was Malintzin ("La Malinche"), the native woman who translated between Nahuatl and a Mayan language (and who later learned Spanish as well) for Hernán Cortés.
Classification
Sometimes a distinction is made among Nahuan languages between Nahuatl (variants with the characteristic tl phoneme), Nahuat (variants which have t in its place), and Nahual (variants which have l instead). Although the classification implied by emphasizing these differences is currently not given as much weight as in the past, the terms are still used. Sometimes Nahuan is used for the family as a whole; others use the term Aztecan for the family, or Nahua for the family and in any context where one does not want to specify the tl/t/l differences. Most commonly, however, Nahuatl is used as a generic name for the family or any variant of it.
Nahuatl is related to the languages spoken by the Hopi, Comanche, Paiute or Ute, Pima, Shoshone, Tarahumara, Yaqui, Tepehuán, Huichol and other peoples of western North America, as they all belong to the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock or language family consisting of 61 individual languages. This is a grouping on the same order as Indo-European, including a number of language families such as the Aztecan or Nahuatl family.
Genealogy
- Uto-Aztecan 5000 BP
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- Shoshonean (Northern Uto-Aztecan)
- Sonoran
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- Aztecan 2000 BP (a.k.a. Nahuan)
- Pochutec — Coast of Oaxaca
- General Aztec
- Pipil (a.k.a Nawat, Southern Nahuan) — Pacific coast of Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador
- Nahuatl
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- Central dialects
-
- Peripheral dialects
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- La Huasteca
:
- Estimated split date by glottochronology (BP = Before the Present).
:
- Some scholars continue to classify Aztecan and Sonoran together under a separate group (called variously "Sonoran", "Mexican", or "Southern Uto-Aztecan"). There is increasing evidence that whatever degree of additional resemblance that might be present between Aztecan and Sonoran when compared with Shoshonean is probably due to proximity contact, rather than to a common immediate parent stock other than Uto-Aztecan.
Geographic distribution
glottochronology
A range of Nahuatl lects are currently spoken in an area stretching from the northern Mexican state of Durango to Tabasco in the south. Pipil, a language closely related to the Nahuatl lects, is spoken as far south as El Salvador.
Phonology of Nahuan languages
The phonemic inventories of the different Nahua dialects and languages do not vary greatly. The table below shows a standardised phonemic inventory based on the inventory of Classical Nahuatl. Many modern dialects lack some of these or include others.
Consonants
Table of Nahuatl consonants
Vowels
Table of Nahuatl vowels
Grammar
The Nahuatl languages are agglutinative, polysynthetic languages that make extensive use of compounding, incorporation and derivation. That is, it can add many differentprefixes and suffixes to a root until very long words are formed. Very long verbal forms or nouns created through incorporation and accumulation of prefixes are not uncommon in literary works. This also means that new words can be created at a moment's notice.
The typology of Nahuatl has, by a minority of linguists, been regarded as oligosynthetic. This was first proposed in the early 20th Century by Benjamin Whorf, but was largely dismissed by the linguistic community by the mid-1950s.
Vocabulary
:See the list of Nahuatl words and list of words of Nahuatl origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia’s sibling project.
Simple Greetings
- Tlanextili --- Good morning
- Chotlakili --- Good evening
- Kinejki tinemi? --- How are you?
- Qualtzin ninemi --- I am fine.
- Tlaxtlaui --- Thank you
Words loaned to other languages
:Main article: words of Nahuatl origin
Nahuatl has provided the English language with some words for indigenous animals, fruits, vegetables, and tools. The two most prominent are undoubtedly chocolate and tomato, but there are others, such as coyote and avocado and chile or chili. The brand name Chiclets is also derived from Nahuatl. Most of these borrowings are second-hand, coming first through Spanish.
Due to extensive Mexican-Philippine contacts, there are an estimated 250 words of Nahuatl origin in the Tagalog language. Some of them are: kamote (sweet potato), sayote (chayote), tiyangge (seasonal market), tatay (tatli, father), nanay (nantli, mother), guava (guayaba), tsokolate (chocolate), tsonggo (monkey), and the village of Zapote in Las Piñas City, Philippines.
Nahuatl has been an exceedingly rich source of words for the Spanish language, as the following samples show. Some of them are restricted to Mesoamerica, but others are common to all the Spanish-speaking regions in the world and some have made their way in to the English language via Spanish language:
:achiote, acocil, aguacate, ajolote, amate, atole, axolotl, ayate, cacahuate, camote, capulín, chamagoso, chapopote, chayote, chicle, chile, chipotle, chocolate, cuate, comal, copal, coyote, ejote, elote, epazote, escuincle, guacamole, guachinango, guajolote, huipil, huitlacoche, hule, jacal, jicama, jícara, jitomate, malacate, mecate, mezcal, mezquite, milpa, mitote, mole, nopal, ocelote, ocote, olote, paliacate, papalote, pepenar, petaca, petate, peyote, pinole, piocha, popote, pozole, pulque, quetzal, tamal, tianguis, tiza, tomate, tule, zacate, zapote, zopilote.
More Nahuatl words found in the English vocabulary include: avocado: from ahuacatl (fruit); aztec: from azteca(tl) (race, sing.); cacao: from cacahuatl (fruit/nut); chilli: from chilli (vegetable); chocolate: from xocolatl (drink); coyote: from coyotl (dog, mammal); tomato: from (xi)tomatl (fruit/berry); mesquite: from mizquitl (tree); ocelot: from ocelotl (mammal).
Many well-known toponyms also come from Nahuatl, including Mexico (mëxihco) and Guatemala (cuauhtëmallan). |
Writing system
At the time of the Spanish conquest, Aztec writing used mostly pictographs supplemented by a few ideograms. When needed, it also used syllabic equivalences; Father Durán recorded how the tlacuilos (codex painters) could render a prayer in Latin using this system, but it was difficult to use. This writing system was adequate for keeping such records as genealogies, astronomical information, and tribute lists, but could not represent a full vocabulary of spoken language in the way that the writing systems of the old world or of the Maya civilization could.
The Spanish introduced the Roman script, which was then utilized to record a large body of Aztec prose and poetry, a fact which somewhat mitigated the devastating loss of the thousands of Aztec manuscripts which were burned by the Spanish. (See Nahuatl transcription.) Important lexical works (e.g. Molina's classic Vocabulario of 1571) and grammatical descriptions (of which Carochi's 1645 Arte is generally acknowledged the best) were produced using variations of this orthography.
The classical orthography was not perfect, and in fact there were many variations in how it was applied, due in part to dialectal differences and in part to differing traditions and preferences that developed. (The writing of Spanish itself was far from totally standardized at the time.) Today, although almost all written Nahuatl uses some form of Latin-based orthography, there continue to be strong dialectal differences, and considerable debate and differing practices regarding how to write sounds even when they are the same. Major issues are whether to follow Spanish in writing the [k] sound sometimes as c and sometimes as qu or just to use k, how to write [kw], and what to do about the [w] sound, which varies considerably from place to place and even within a single dialect. There are a number of other issues as well, such as whether and how to represent vowel length, or to what extent writing in one variant should be adapted towards what is used in other variants.
The Secretaría de Educación Pública (Ministry of Public Education) has adopted an alphabet for its bilingual education programs in rural communities in Mexico in which k is used and [w] is written as u, and this decision has been influential. The recently established (2004) "Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas" (INALI) will also be involved in these issues.
History
Also known as Mexican language, or the language of the Mexica (ie. Aztecs), it was not only spoken by the Aztecs but also their predecessors (the Colhua, Tecpanec, Acolhua, and the famous Toltecs in one interpretation of the term). Recently, there have begun to appear more and more suggestions, from several diverse fields of Mesoamerican research, that Nahuatl might have been one of the languages spoken at the legendary Teotihuacan.
Literature
Nahuatl literature is extensive (probably the most extensive of all Amerindian languages), including a relatively large corpus of poetry (see also Nezahualcoyotl); the Nican Mopohua is an excellent early sample of transcribed Nahuatl.
Bibliography
- de Arenas, Pedro: Vocabulario manual de las lenguas castellana y mexicana. [1611] Reprint: México 1982
- Campbell, Joe and Frances Karttunen, Foundation course in Nahuatl grammar. Austin 1989
- Carochi, Horacio: Arte de la lengua mexicana: con la declaración de los adverbios della. [1645] Reprint: Porrúa México 1983
- Canger, Una, 1980. "Five Studies inspired by Nahuatl Verbs in -oa." Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague
- Dakin, Karen, 1982. "Evolución Fonológica del Protonáhuatl." UNAM, Mexico
- Garibay, Angel María : Llave de Náhuatl. México 19??
- Garibay, Angel María, Historia de la literatura náhuatl. México 1953
- Garibay, Angel María, Poesía náhuatl. vol 1-3 México 1964
- Hill, Jane and Kenneth Hill, Speaking Mexicano: dynamics of syncretic language in Central Mexico. Tucson 1986
- Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91274
- von Humboldt, Wilhelm (1767–1835): Mexicanische Grammatik. Paderborn/München 1994
- Jiménez, Doña Luz (?–1965): Life and Death in Milpa Alta. Norman 1972
- Karttunen, Frances, An analytical dictionary of Nahuatl. Norman 1992
- Karttunen, Frances, Between worlds: interpreters, guides, and survivors. New Brunswick 1994
- Karttunen, Frances, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period. Los Angeles 1976
- Launey, Michel : Introduction à la langue et à la littérature aztèques. Paris 1980
- Launey, Michel : Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura Náhuatl. UNAM, México 1992
- de León-Portilla, Ascensión H.: Tepuztlahcuilolli, Impresos en Nahuatl: Historia y Bibliografia. Vol. 1-2. México 1988
- León-Portilla, Miguel : Literaturas Indígenas de México. Madrid 1992
- Lockhart, James (ed): We people here. Nahuatl Accounts of the conquest of Mexico. Los Angeles 1993
- de Molina, Fray Alonso: Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana y Mexicana y Castellana. [1555] Reprint: Porrúa México 1992
- de Olmos, Fray Andrés: Arte de la lengua mexicana concluído en el convento de San Andrés de Ueytlalpan, en la provincia de Totonacapan que es en la Nueva España. [1547] Reprint: México 1993
- del Rincón, Antonio: Arte mexicana compuesta por el padre Antonio del Rincón. [1595] Reprint: México 1885
- de Sahagún, Fray Bernardino (1499–1590): Florentine Codex. General History of the Things of New Spain (Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España). Eds Charles Dibble/Arthr Anderson, vol I-XII Santa Fe 1950–71
- Siméon, Rémi: Dictionnaire de la Langue Nahuatl ou Mexicaine. [Paris 1885] Reprint: Graz 1963
- Siméon, Rémi: Diccionario de la Lengua Nahuatl o Mexicana. [Paris 1885] Reprint: México 2001
- Sullivan, Thelma D.: Compendium of Nahuatl Grammar. Salt Lake City 1988
- The Nahua Newsletter: edited by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies of the University of Indiana (Chief Editor Alan Sandstrom)
- Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl: special interest-yearbook of the Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas (IIH) of the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ed.: Miguel Leon Portilla
See also
- Nahuatl dictionary
External links
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_iso639.asp?code=nah Ethnologue reports on Nahuatl]
- [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjsalvad/scmfaq/nahuatl.html Nahuatl Learning Resource List, by Ricardo J. Salvador]
- [http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/nahuatl/nahuatl.html Brief Notes on Classical Nahuatl, by David K. Jordan]
- [http://www.sil.org/americas/mexico/nahuatl/00i-nahuatl.htm Nahuatl (Aztec) family, SIL-Mexico, with subsites on some specific variants]
- [http://www.yale.edu/nahuatl/ Nahuatl Summer Language Institute, Yale University]
- [http://www.acoyauh.com/nahuatl.html Basic Introductory Grammar, by Acoyauh]
- [http://www.mrs.umn.edu/academic/history/Nahuatl/engl-nah.txt English → Nahuatl], [http://www.mrs.umn.edu/academic/history/Nahuatl/florent.txt Nahuatl → English] (Florentine Codex Vocabulary 1997, by R. Joe Campbell)
- [http://web.archive.org/web/20030605090411/http://www.acoyauh.com/naheng.html Nahuatl → English] (Basic Dictionary, by Acoyauh)
- [http://ohui.net/aulex/es-nah/?idioma=en Spanish → Nahuatl], [http://ohui.net/aulex/nah-es/?idioma=en Nahuatl → Spanish] (Ohui.net)
- [http://www.ifrance.com/nahuatl/nahuatl.page.html Nahuatl-French dictionary] Includes basic grammar
Category:Agglutinative languages
Category:Languages of Mexico
Category:Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica
Category:Uto-Aztecan languages
Category:Nahuatl
Category:Indigenous languages of Mesoamerica
Category:Indigenous peoples of Mexico
ja:ナワトル語
simple:Nahuatl language
Hill
For the landform that extends less than 600 metres above the surrounding terrain and that is smaller than a mountain, see the mountain article. Many hills are taller than 600 metres, but hills are generally small.
See also The Hill (disambiguation).
Other uses
People
- People whose surname is or was Hill include
- Albert Hill, British athlete and Victoria Cross recipient
- Ambrose Powell Hill, General of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War
- Anita Hill, U.S. lawyer, alleged victim of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas
- Archibald Vivian Hill, Nobel laureate
- Benny Hill, prolific U.K. comic
- Brian Hill, NBA basketball coach
- Bobby Hill, baseball player
- Bobby Hill, fictional character on the animated series King of the Hill
- Damon Hill, British motor racing champion
- Daniel Harvey Hill, General of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War
- Ernestine Hill, Australian author
- Faith Hill, American country singer
- Fanny Hill, fictional Woman of Pleasure
- Graham Hill, British motor racing champion
- Grant Hill, Canadian politician
- Grant Hill, professional NBA basketball player
- James J. Hill, U.S. railroad tycoon
- Jordan Hill, American singer
- Julia Butterfly Hill, tree activist and environmentalist.
- Hank Hill, fictional character on the animated series King of the Hill
- Kim Hill, Christian singer
- Lauren Michelle Hill, Playboy Playmate
- Lauryn Hill, American hip hop singer
- Mildred and Patty Hill, writers of the song "Happy Birthday to You"
- Paul Hill, of the Guildford Four
- Paul Jennings Hill, U.S. anti-abortion activist who murdered abortion providers
- Reginald Hill, British crime novelist
- Rina Hill, Australian triathlete
- Robert Hill, a.k.a. Robin Hill, biochemist
- Robert Murray Hill, Australian politician
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