Mexico City
Mexico City (
Spanish: Ciudad de México, México D.F. or simply México, pronounced /'mehiko/ in
IPA) is the
capital and largest
city of the nation of
Mexico. The "Distrito Federal" is also commonly just referred to as the "D.F." It is one of the largest cities in the world and is classed as a
megalopolis as it encompasses one large city that has slowly engulfed other, smaller ones. It is located in the
Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high
plateaus (
altiplano) at the center of
Mexico, about 2,240
meters (7,349
feet) above sea-level, surrounded on most sides by volcanoes towering at 4,000 to 5,500 meters (13,000 to 18,000 feet) above sea-level.
Mexico City, as a municipality, was founded in
1521 by
Cortés in the middle of the now drained
Lake Texcoco on the ruins of
Tenochtitlan, the capital of the
Aztec Empire, and of its lesser-known twin city
Tlatelolco. The municipality was abolished in
1928, and the name "Mexico City" can now refer to two things.
Officially, the name Ciudad de México is used by the
Distrito Federal (D.F.). The D.F. is a federal district serving as the
capital of
Mexico and which is administered by the Mexican Federal Government. The D.F. encompasses the historical center of Mexico City, but is much larger than the historical municipality of Mexico City abolished in 1928. The urbanized area of Mexico City covers only the north of the D.F., while the south of the D.F. is made up of rural areas and mountains. Although the D.F. is not a municipality, the name Ciudad de México is used by Mexican authorities as a
synonym for Distrito Federal.
According to the
Constitution of Mexico, Mexico City is the
Federal District,
(Distrito Federal). This is actually a fairly recent reform (dating from 1993) of Article 44 of the Constitution, and it was aimed at ending two centuries of quite sterile discussions (and occasional problems on
jurisdiction) about whether one concept engulfed the other or even if one of the two entities really had any legal existence in lieu of the other. The complete text of the aforementioned reform also states that Mexico City is the seat of the Powers of the Union (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) and capital of the United Mexican States.
In a broader meaning, "Mexico City" refers to the whole
metropolitan area of
Greater Mexico City. The metropolitan area extends beyond the limits of the D.F. and encompasses (as of 2000) 35 independent municipalities located in the
State of México (
Estado de México), to the north, east, and west of the D.F., extending as far north as the
State of Hidalgo. The metropolitan area of Greater Mexico City had 17.8 million inhabitants at the 2000 Mexican census. This means Mexico City is among the five
most populated metropolitan areas in the world on par with
Tokyo,
New York City,
Seoul and
São Paulo.
Mexico City, with its distinct
mestizo culture, blending native Indian (
Nahuatl) and Spanish heritages, has in recent decades become one of the great financial, economic, educational, cultural, and tourist centers of the world.
For the Pre-Columbian detailed history of the city, see: Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco.The original
Aztec city was established on
March 18th
1325 as Tenochtitlan, and immediately became the center of a growing Empire. Located on a small island on the middle of
Lake Texcoco, the layout of the city forced the Aztecs to build artificial islands and create a series of canals to allow the growth of the metropolis. In fact, although the lake was salty, dams built by the Aztecs kept the city surrounded by clear water from the rivers that fed the lake. Two double
aqueducts provided the city with fresh water; this was intended mainly for cleaning and washing.
After centuries of pre-Columbian civilization, the Spanish
conquistador Hernán Cortés first arrived in the area in
1519. He did not succeed in conquering the city until
August 13,
1521, after a
79-day siege that destroyed most of the old Aztec city.
In
1525 the rebuilt city served as the capital of the
viceroyalty of
New Spain and the political and cultural center of Mexico. The importance of the city was such that the
Captaincy General of
Guatemala,
Cuba,
Florida, and the
Philippines were administered from it. This colonial period culminated with the construction of the
baroque Metropolitan Cathedral and the
Basilica of Guadalupe.
The outbreak of the
War of Independence in
1810, and the eventual independence of the country in
1821 were unable to hamper the influence of the city. The capital became host of the first ruler of the Mexican Empire,
Agustin de Iturbide, as well of the republic that replaced it in
1823.
In 1824, the
Mexican Federal District was established by the new government. Before this designation, Mexico City had served as the seat of government for both the
State of Mexico and the nation as a whole.
Toluca is currently the capital of the state of Mexico.
The war with the
United States led to an invasion into Mexico City by U.S. Gen. Winfield Scott on Sept. 14, 1847, and obligated Mexico to cede Northern California and New Mexico to the U.S. and recognize Texas as independent. The invasion culminated at the Castillo de Chapultepec[
3] (Chapultepec Palace) where young Mexican cadets wrapped themselves in the Mexican flag and jumped to their deaths to keep the Americans from taking the flags themselves. This event is remembered by a series of monolithic columns that bear their names at the base of the Castle. The short lived monarchy in 1864, led by
Maximilian of Habsburg left its mark on the reconstruction of
Chapultepec castle and other urban planning that was said to have been modeled after the
Champs Elysee to help his wife Carlotta adjust to the city.
A three decade long "dictatorship" under
Porfirio Diaz left a French influence upon Mexico City. The stunning, gold
Angel of Independence was built under his administration to celebrate the first centenary of the beginning of the War of Independence. Other urban highlights built at the time were the
Palacio de Bellas Artes and the expansion of
Paseo de la Reforma a la Champs-Élysées.
Mexico City suffered of the Decena Trágica in February
1913. The Decena Trágica was a battle between
Francisco I. Madero forces versus
Felix Diaz's. The result was a massacre of civilians and a destroyed city.
The post-revolutionary government of Mexico following the
Mexican Revolution of 1910 reinforced the importance of the city which saw an important influx of immigrants during the rest of the 20th century. Most of the growth of Mexico City in population occurred in the late
20th century. In
1950 the city had about 3 million inhabitants. By
2000 the estimated population for the metropolitan area was around 18 million.
Recent history
In
1968 the city was host of the
Olympic Games, but it was also stained with the massacre of students by federal troops during the
Tlatelolco Massacre. Another sport event carried in part by the city was the
1970 FIFA World Cup that the country hosted, which had its grand finale in Mexico City's
Estadio Azteca.
At 07:19 on
September 19,
1985, the city was struck by an
earthquake of magnitude 8.1 on the
Richter scale which resulted in the deaths of between 5,000 (government estimate) to 20,000 people and rendered 50,000-90,000 people homeless. One hundred thousand housing units were destroyed, together with many government buildings. Up to
USD $4 billion of damage was caused in three minutes. Most of the epicenter was in the city center. There was an additional
magnitude 7.5
aftershock 36 hours later.
USGS Earthquake Report Ironically, many of the historical buildings resisted the earthquake, whereas the newer ones did not.
The recovery of the city was seen on the evidence that it hosted its second
FIFA World Cup in
1986.
During the 1990s Mexico City continued its growth as an economic and cultural center of importance not only in Latin America , but also in the rest of the world. The construction of new skyscrapers (
Torre Mayor) and the World Trade Center - Mexico, and the never ending influx of immigrants have made such development possible.
Mexico City, as a municipality, had mayors (
alcaldes, later known as
presidentes municipales) until
1928 when the municipality (officially known as
municipalidad de México) was abolished and its
ayuntamiento (city hall corporation) disbanded. The municipality has never been recreated but in
1987 and
1993 local powers were devolved by the federal government of Mexico to the inhabitants of the
Mexican Federal District (
Distrito Federal or D.F., within which lies the former municipality of Mexico City), and in
1997 the inhabitants of the D.F. were allowed for the first time to elect a
Head of Government of the Federal District (
Jefe de Gobierno del D.F.), who was previously appointed by the president of Mexico. Leftist leader
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas was the first elected Head of Government of the D.F. in 1997. The current (and fourth) Head of Government of the D.F. is
Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez. The Head of Government of the D.F. is often presented to people outside of Mexico as the "mayor of Mexico City".
Mexico City is the financial center of
Latin America and virtually every foreign and domestic corporation has operations in the city. It produces an amazing 25% of Mexico's $815 billion
Nominal GDP ($1.1 trillion in
PPP GDP) making Mexico City alone the
30th largest economy in the world In addition, it is one of the most important cultural centers in the world boasting more museums than any other city. It is also the fourth city in number of theaters just behind
New York,
London and
Toronto.
In general,
colonias are a recurrent feature in Mexican cities and larger towns. They are the basic geographical unit in Mexico city and in contrast to the
delegaciones (the
boroughs of the Mexican Federal District) they are always included in a persons address. However
colonias do not have any administrative attributions, and as with most of the city's organization, there is no standard for the size, population or basic infrastructure to qualify as a
colonia. To complicate things further, Mexico City inhabitants may sometimes call a colonia what is actually a collection of official colonias.
Apparently the name, which literally means colony, arose in the late 19th, early 20th century, when one of the first urban developments outside the city's core was inhabited by a French colony in the city.Some notable
colonias are:
*
Centro - Covers the historic downtown of Mexico City (
centro histórico).
*
Condesa - Artistic district notable by its
Art Deco architecture.
*
Roma - Beaux Arts neighbourhood next to Condesa, one of the oldest in Mexico City.
*
Del Carmen - Historic, countercultural neighborhood in downtown
Coyoacán.
*
del Valle - Cradle of many important people in México history like
José López Portillo*
Las Lomas - Upscale residential neighbourhood.
*
Nápoles - Next to colonia del Valle, on both sides of Insurgentes avenue.
*
San Ángel - Historic residential and shopping area.
*
Santa Fe - Financial and business district.
*
Jardines del Pedregal Upscale residential neighborhood next to
UNAM.
*
Polanco - Shopping, business and tourist area.
*
Tepito - Popular
flea market.
*
Tlatelolco - Site of the
Plaza de las Tres Culturas and the
Tlatelolco massacre. High-density residential neighborhood.
*
Zona Rosa - Shopping district and tourist area.
Famous landmarks in Mexico City include the
Zócalo (officially Constitution Square), the main central square with its time clashing Spanish-era
Metropolitan Cathedral and Palacio Nacional, and ancient Aztec temple ruins
Templo Mayor are all within a few steps of one another. (The
Templo Mayor was found in the early 1900s while digging to place underground electric cables.) The trademark golden
Angel of Independence found on the wide, elegant avenue
Paseo de la Reforma, modeled by the order of the Emperor
Maximilian of Mexico after the
Champs-Élysées in
Paris. The
Avenida de los Insurgentes, locally said to be the longest street in the world, goes 28.8
km (18
miles) from end to end of the city.
|
The Torre Mayor, seen from the Chapultepec Castle |
The
Chapultepec park houses the
Chapultepec Palace museum on a hill that overlooks the park and its numerous museums, monuments and the national zoo; the
National Museum of Anthropology (which houses the
Aztec Calendar Stone), the
Bellas Artes Fine Arts Palace which is a stunning white marble theater/museum whose weight is such that it has gradually been sinking into the soft ground below, the
Plaza of the Three Cultures in the
Tlatelolco neighborhood, and the shrine and Basilicas of
Our Lady of Guadalupe. There is a double decker bus known as the "Turibus" that circles most of these sites, and has timed audio describing the sites in multiple languages as they are passed.
In addition, the city has around 160 museums, over 100 art galleries, and some 30 concert halls. In many locales (The Palacio Nacional and the Instituto Nacional de Cardiología to name a few), there are murals by Diego Rivera. He and his wife Frida Kahlo lived in the southern suburb of Coyoacán, where several of their homes, studios, and collections are open to the public. Nearby is the house of
Leon Trotsky, where he was murdered in
1940. In
1983 the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the scenic
Mexico City Mexico Temple here because of the large number of members in the area.
In addition there are several restored Haciendas that are now restaurants such as the San Angel Inn, Hacienda de Tlalpan and the Hacienda de los Morales, all of which are stunning remnants of Mexican glory and house some of the best food in the world.
|
Aerial view of Azteca Stadium |
"Fútbol" (
soccer) is Mexico's most popular sport and has a wide following in Mexico City. Three very well known teams,
Club América,
Cruz Azul and
Pumas, are based in Mexico City. The
Aztec Stadium (Estadio Azteca), home of Club America is one of the world's largest stadiums with capacity to seat approximately 110,000 fans.
Atlante, the city's fourth club, also plays there. Mexico City also has an
Olympic Stadium in
Ciudad Universitaria, which is home of the
Pumas soccer team.
Mexico hosted the
Football World Cup in
1970 and
1986. Azteca is the only stadium in the world to host the final match of the
Football World Cup twice. The Estadio Azteca was witness to a slew of spectacular games from all the sides involved. The excitement of Mexican fans was evident through their overwhelming attendance and emotional support of the games.
Baseball is also another popular sport with a growing fan base. Mexico City is home to the
Diablos Rojos de Mexico (Red Devils) of the
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, with the team playing their home games at the Foro Sol Stadium. The Red Devils used to share the stadium with the baseball club "Tigres" until the club moved to nearby Puebla.
Mexico City hosted the
1968 Olympic Games, winning bids against
Buenos Aires,
Lyon and
Detroit.
Mexico City hosted the
1955 Pan American Games and then the
1975 Pan American Games after
Santiago and
São Paulo withdrew.
Starting with the 2005 season,
NASCAR will hold annual
Busch Series races at
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Drivers
Carlos Contreras,
Michel Jourdain Jr.,
Jose Luis Ramírez, and
Adrian Fernandez enjoy a homecoming with the race; all are from Mexico City originally.
In
2005, Mexico City became the first city to host a
NFL regular season game outside of the
United States, and has also hosted several
NBA pre-season exhibition games along with exhibition matches among MLB teams at the Foro Sol.
Other sports facilities in Mexico City are the
Palacio de los Deportes indoor arena and
Francisco Márquez Olympic Swimming Pool.
|
Map of Mexico City Metro Network |
Mexico City is served by the
Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metro, an extensive
metro system (207 km), the largest in the western hemisphere, the first portions of which were opened in
1969. One of the busiest in the world, the metro transports more than 4 million people every day, surpassed only by Moscow's (7.5 million), Tokyo's (5.9 million), New York City's (4.8 million) and Seoul's (4.4 million). It is heavily subsidized, and it is the cheapest in the world, each trip currently costing
MXN $2 (around
EUR 0.13 or
USD 0.19). A number of stations display Pre-Columbian artifacts and architecture that was discovered during the metro's construction. However, the
Metro reaches only a fraction of the total inhabited area of the city, and therefore an extensive network of bus routes has been implemented. These are mostly managed by private companies which are allowed to operate buses as long as they adhere to certain minimal service quality standards.
The city government also operates a network of large buses, in contrast with the privately operated
microbuses, with fares barely exceeding that of the Metro. Electric transport other than the metro also exists, in the form of
trolleybuses and the
Xochimilco Light Rail line. The city's first
bus rapid transit line, the
Metrobús, began operation in June 2005 on Avenida Insurgentes. As the microbuses were removed from its route, it was hoped that the Metrobús could reduce pollution and decrease transit time for passengers.
There are plenty of lime-green colored taxi cabs, which, while occasionally unsafe if taken randomly from the street instead of designated locales, are undeniably economical. Since late 2002, they have been joined by red and white taxis as part of a program to replace older vehicles with new ones. The freeway system is so dense that there is an ongoing project to complete a second level to the main ring road (the
Periférico) that is currently already partially operational.
Mexico City is served by
Mexico City International Airport (
IATA Airport Code: MEX). The city has four major bus stations (North, South, Observatorio, TAPO), with bus service to cities across the country, and one train station, used for commercial purposes (intercity passenger trains are now virtually non-existent in Mexico). Though recently, the
Tren Suburbano (suburban rail) will be built to serve metropolitan area. There are also several toll
expressways which connect it with several other major cities. The city does not have an expressway network that connects points
within the city; all cross-city trips must be done on
arterial roads. This is one reason why the city's streets are so congested.
There is also a scheme, called
Hoy No Circula, whereby only vehicles with a certain numbers on their number plates are allowed to travel into the city center on certain days in an attempt to cut down on traffic congestion. There are two types of number plates in Mexico City (which are separated by two ending numbers),and each day they alternate to allow the other number plate into the city. A result of this is that many middle-class and wealthy Mexico City residents have two cars, one odd and one even.
Mexico City is home to a large community of immigrants - especially
Europeans (5 million), largest European group are
Spaniards that consist in (2.5 million),
Jews (50,000),
East Asian (600,000),
Americans (500,000),
Central American and
Caribbean (1 million), and
South American (800,000), especially
Argentines (470,000).
There's also a large community of
Arabs (especially from
Lebanon).
|
Extent of Mexico City within the Federal District as of 1994. |
As one of the largest urban areas in the world, Mexico City suffers from no shortage of the problems common to many large cities, including traffic,
poverty, and pollution. This is perhaps exacerbated by Mexico's developing country status. This city has a high number of
street children; some estimate as many as 50,000. The mountains and volcanoes surrounding the city trap polluted air in the city and contribute to the city's serious problem with
poor air quality, although major strides have been made to improve the pollution situation in the past 20 years.
Violent crime is also a major concern; in 2003, Mexico had the second-highest number of kidnappings in the world, with some 3,000 reported cases. In taxis, a particular problem has arisen; individuals are sometimes kidnapped by unauthorized taxi drivers, in order to empty their bank accounts at ATMs. Victims are sometimes kept overnight in order to bypass daily withdrawal limits. Inside other transportation, mostly microbuses, pickpocketing is still a common activity, and Mexico City inhabitants take various levels of precaution to avoid being victims of this. As a general rule, if you are unaware of the route you are to take then you should only use official taxis from stands ("sitios") as these are closely regulated.
Police reform has also been a focus of the government for the past decade; there is a general sense of distrust against the authorities, as conventional wisdom holds that all Mexico's police forces are corrupt one way or another. This issue came to a head in
November 2004, when an angry crowd in
Tláhuac was whipped up into a frenzy and burned two undercover federal police officers alive [
4] and seriously injured another, on rumors that they were kidnappers.
Universities
Mexico City is the location of
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). UNAM is North America's oldest university (established in
1551) and for many years was the source of many presidents of the country. According to
The Times Higher Education Supplement 2005 edition, it is the best university of the Spanish speaking world.
Other universities in the city include the
Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), the
National Polytechnic Institute (IPN),
ITAM,
ITESM (3 campi),
Universidad La Salle, the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM),
Universidad Anáhuac and
Universidad Iberoamericana. Furthermore, the Mexico City campus of
Alliant International University .
Public schools
The curriculum of Mexico City's public schools is managed by the federal level
Secretariat of Public Education. However funding is allocated by the Mexico City government.
Due to its special situation as the home of the federal government, the local government of Mexico City has gone through several incarnations. Since independence, the city sometimes had an independent local government and other times (the greater part of the 20th century) was administered directly by the
President of the Republic, who delegated his authority to a "
Head of the Federal District Department", known more tersely as the regent.
This kind of political organization caused much resentment among the inhabitants of the city because for many years they were deprived of a government that properly represented them. The most serious situation arose in
1988 when, despite having clearly voted for opposition candidates, the people of Mexico City were governed for six years by the party that won the federal presidency.
Under these circumstances, political reform became inevitable. First a local legislative assembly was established, and people were able to elect their
Head of Government (
jefe de gobierno) for the first time (both institutions still had limited powers dependent on the federal congress and president).
The first elected head of government was
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a former presidential candidate (who was, according to many, cheated out of victory in the closely fought 1988 presidential election). Cárdenas resigned later to compete in the 2000 presidential campaign and left in his place
Rosario Robles, who became the first woman to govern Mexico City.
A measure of the democratic development in Mexico is that the current (2000-06) chief of government in the Federal District is
Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the
PRD, which has a left-leaning ideology (and even has some former members of the Communist Party among its numbers), while at the same time, the federal government has a conservative president,
Vicente Fox Quesada.
López Obrador was deprived of his constitutional immunity as
Head of Government in the Federal District on
April 7,
2005. With 360 votes (489 total) from the
Chamber of Deputies, he was impeached because he failed to obey a judge's order to stop a road from being built. This event is popularly called the "desafuero". This issue created a political crisis, which was resolved by the judiciary's ultimate decision to refrain from prosecuting López Obrador.
On
July 29, 2005 López Obrador resigned and left office to be able to run for the Presidency in 2006.
Alejandro Encinas was appointed López Obrador's substitute as
Head of Government.
Mexico City was traditionally known as
la Ciudad de los Palacios ("the City of Palaces"), a nickname attributed to baron
Alexander von Humboldt when visiting the city in the
18th Century. Since
2000 the newly democratically elected local administrations of the
PRD have introduced a new nickname:
la Ciudad de la Esperanza, or "The City of Hope". Acceptance or rejection of this new sobriquet is largely determined by one's political preferences.
The city is colloquially known as
Chilangolandia after the locals' nickname (
chilangos). Natives of Mexico City dislike the nickname, as it is often used by those who live outside of the city as an insult. The origin of the term is nebulous, but is used by non-residents of Mexico City to distinguish the busy-body, selfish, big-city people from the rest of the country, which generally believes it is more relaxed and respectful of others. Some argue that the term "chilango" refers to workers who have come to Mexico City looking for employment. Some others that it cames from the world "chile" (
chili) that was cultivated by the Mexicas. Ironically, it has been fully adopted by the hippest young urban classes of the city. There's even a magazine with that name (
Chilango, containing the English publication
Time Out, México D.F.) which deals with the numerous entertainment possibilities of the megalopolis among other subjects related to the city. The natives who avoid the term
chilango use "defeños", from the Spanish pronunciation of "D.F.".
*
Large Cities Climate Leadership Group*
Federal District Government*
Office of the President*
Chilango magazine website*
Chilangolandia " Informal guide to restaurants, bars and nightclubs
*
Federal District Tourism Department*
El Metro de la Ciudad de México " Mexico City Metro
*
Mexico City boroughs*
Mexico City Seen from a Helicopter
