Introduction

Map of Mexico. (Source: CIA, The World Factbook)

The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. Mexico is located within Middle (that is, Central) America. It borders the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the United States; and it borders the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the United States.

A devaluation of the Mexican peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering its worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states.

Elections held in 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that an opposition candidate—Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN)—defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He was succeeded in 2006 by another PAN candidate Felipe Calderon.

Editor's Notes

• A more detailed country profile on Mexico may be found at: The CIA World Fact Book.
• Website of the Government of Mexico
• Sito Oficial del Gobierno de México