Mexico

Chapter 10

Mexico

• What do else you know about Mexico?– Women stepped in as chief of police

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39760545/ns/world_news-americas/

– Man killed by Mexican drug cartel • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKLvu0mnOUY

&feature=channel

– U.S. / Mexico Border • http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/mexico70

4/

Quiz Next Thursday • Mexico• Guatemala • Belize• Honduras• El Salvador • Nicaragua • Panama• Costa Rica• Cuba

• Dominican Republic• Haiti • Jamaica• Puerto Rico• The Bahamas • Tobago and Trinidad• Barbados• St. Lucia• Dominica

Mexico

Sierra Madre O

ccidental

Sierra Madre O

ccidentalSierra M

adre Oriental

Sierra Madre O

riental

Plateau of Mexico

Plateau of Mexico

Baja C

alifornia

Baja C

alifornia

Pacific OceanPacific Ocean

Gulf of C

alifornia

Gulf of C

alifornia

Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico

Bay of Bay of CampecheCampeche

Yucatan Yucatan Peninsula Peninsula

Peninsula• A strip of land that

juts out into an ocean

Irrigation• That artificial watering

of farmland, often by means of canals that draw water from reservoirs or rivers

Sinkhole• A hole formed when

limestone is dissolved causing the land above to collapse

Hacienda• A large Spanish-owned

estate in the Americas, often run as a farm or a cattle ranch

Ejido• A Spanish word

describing farmland owned collectively by members of a rural community Land redistribution

• A policy by which land is expropriated from those who own large amounts and redistributed to those who have a little or none

Latifundio• A Spanish word describing a large commercial

farm owned by a private individual or a farming company

Cash crop• A farm crop grown for sale

and profit.

Migrant worker

• A worker who travels from place to place, working where extra help is needed to cultivate or harvest crops

Mexico – Geological Dangers

• Mexico’s central plateau is geologically unstable – Because it is the intersection of the North

American, Caribbean, Pacific, and Cocos Tectonic Plates

• Some active volcanoes

Mexico – Climate Factors

• Mexico’s climate is a factor making it an attractive place to live

• The Sierra Madres block rainfall in Northern Mexico

• Mexico City’s climate attracts many people.– Many in search of a job – Families in the surrounding area survive on

about $4 a day

Mexico – Northern Pacific Coast

• The Northern Pacific Coast of Mexico is dry and hot

• This area, although arid in climate, has the best farmland in the country – Because of irrigation

• Tijuana is one of Mexico’s fastest-growing cities

Mexico – Southern Pacific Coast

• Little farmland in this area

• The region has a tropical climate that attracts a lot of tourism

• Many resort cities like: Acapulco, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta

Mexico – Gulf Coastal Plain

• An important region to Mexico’s economy

• Large deposits of petroleum and natural gas

• This is a major oil-producing region

Mexico – Yucatan Peninsula

• A flat region• When rain falls in this area, it seeps through the

surface and works into the rock• The limestone is gradually dissolved, and

creates underground caverns • Occasionally, the roof of a cavern collapses and

forms a sinkhole• The area is dotted with sinkholes • Area does attract tourism along the Caribbean

coastline– Mayan ruins attract tourists and archaeologists

Mexico - Aztecs

• One of the earliest civilizations in Mexico were the Aztecs

• They were the most powerful empire

• By the 1400’s the capital city was Tenochtilan (where modern Mexico City is today)

• Around 60,000 Aztecs gathered in the city every day

Mexico – Spanish Conquest

• 1519 – Hernan Cortes march to Tenochtitlan• Within two years, the Spanish had destroyed the

Aztec empire • The area became New Spain • Four social classes emerged when the Spanish

settled – Peninsulares – born in Spain and help high official

positions– Criollos – people of Spanish ancestry born in the

Americas– Mestizos – people of mixed ancestry – Indians were the lowest rank

Mexico – Mexican Revolution

• The Spanish ruled until into the 1800s – Criollos were angry with the peninsulares – In 1810 a criollo priest (Miguel Hidalgo called

for a rebellion against Spain• A war for independence started and by 1821

Mexico was an independent nation

• The country struggled for another hundred years over the political rule of the country

Mexico – Mexican Revolution

• In 1910 – peasants and middle-class rebelled

• By the time the fighting ended in 1920, Mexico had a new president and a new constitution

Mexico – Rural Life

• Most of the people living in the countryside work in agriculture

• After the revolution the government began a program of buying out landowners and breaking up the large haciendas – The land was divided among peasants – Most farmers practice subsistence farming – About 1/3 of farms are huge, commercial farms

• Many rural families have no land or opportunities for work – some travel from place to place looking for work

Mexico – Urban Life

• More than 2/3 of Mexico’s population lives in cities

• Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world

• Cities offer education and more economic opportunities

• Most urban dwellers in Mexico are very poor and struggle to survive

Mexico – Major Industries

• NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement

• Petroleum extraction and tourism are two of Mexico’s largest industries

• Border Industries – along the U.S. and Mexico border are cluster cities – These cities have formed around factories that

assemble products almost exclusively for consumers in the United States

– These factories (maquiladoras) employ more than 450,000 people.

– What about border cities today???