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Zocalo - Main Square in Mexico City
Financial LInk(s) - Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (Mexico Stock Market) - Ministry of Finance (English)
News Link(s) - Mexico Daily (English)
Area:
1,958,200 sq km (758,866 sq mi)
Population: 100,350,000 (growth rate 1.53%)
Capital city: Mexico City (22 million people)
People: Approximately 60% mestizo (mixed European and
Amerindian descent) and 30% Amerindian (indígena -
including Nahua, Maya, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Totonacs, and Tarascos
or Purépecha)
Language: Spanish and 59 indigenous languages
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic, 6% Protestant
Government: Federal republic
Head of state: Vincente Fox Quesada
GDP:
US$915 billion
GDP per head: US$9100
Annual growth: 7%
Inflation: 9%
Major industries: Food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals,
iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor
vehicles, consumer durables, tourism
Major trading partners: USA, Canada, Japan, Germany
A traveler's paradise, crammed with a multitude of opposing identities: desert landscapes, snow-capped volcanoes, ancient ruins, teeming industrialised cities, time-warped colonial towns, glitzy resorts, lonely beaches and a world-beating collection of flora and fauna. The bursting megalopolis of Mexico City is a one-hour flight from the tropical rainforests and Mayan villages of Chiapas. Up along the northern border, Mexico's tumult of heritages merge with the air-conditioned cultures of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The profusion of people and landscapes reflects the country's extraordinary history - part Amerindian, part Spanish. One look at this country is enough to remind visitors that there is nothing new about the so-called New World. Despite the considerable colonial legacy and rampant modernization, almost 60 distinct indigenous peoples survive, largely thanks to their rural isolation. A mixture of modern and traditional, the clichéd and the surreal, is the key to Mexico's immense popularity as a travel destination, whether your passion is throwing back margaritas, listening to howler monkeys, surfing the Mexican Pipeline, scrambling over Mayan ruins or expanding your Day of the Dead collection of posable skeletons.
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Copyright (c) January 2004 - material on this page is not to be reproduced in any manner without the express written permission of Wildfire Asset Management Inc.
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