Country Women's Association

 Country of Study 2008: Mexico

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Mexico- Country of Study 2008

Mexico Information and History
Mexico straddles the southern part of North America, with coastal plains along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts rising to a central plateau. Northern Mexico is desertlike, while the south is a mountainous jungle containing Maya and Aztec ruins. Most people live in the densely populated waist of the country, including the cities of Veracruz, Mexico City, and Guadalajara. Most Mexicans are of mixed Spanish and Indian descent, but about 30 percent are Indian-and millions still speak Indian languages in the southeast.

A 3,115km common border, commerce, and tourism link the world's largest Spanish-speaking country to its northern neighbour. Mexico is one of the world's largest oil producers-oil and gas provide a third of the government's revenue. Mexico exports oil to the US, which returns manufactured goods and foodstuffs. Agriculture remains an important employer. Mexico's system of communal farms, or ejidos, was reformed in the 1990s to promote private investment and large-scale agriculture. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) makes Mexico highly dependent on exports to the US, and the downturn in US business in 2001 resulted in little or no growth in the Mexican economy.

The nation is blessed with abundant minerals-notably silver, copper, sulphur, lead, and zinc-advanced technology, and a huge workforce. It profits from its maquiladora border industry: products are assembled at mostly US-owned plants, then sent to the US and elsewhere. The foreign plant owners gain from the lower cost of doing business in Mexico, and Mexicans gain jobs. However, many poor Mexicans try to cross the border for jobs in the US-an estimated five million Mexican immigrants are in the US illegally.

Mexico's declining birthrate promises some relief from the crushing pressure of its population. In 2000 Mexico became the 11th country in the world to have 100 million people-more than double its 1970 population of 48 million. With more than 19 million people, many living in barrio slums, Greater Mexico City is one of the world's largest urbanised areas. Tough environmental restrictions have been enacted to cope with increasingly dangerous levels of air and water pollution.

Tax reform, privatisation of state-run industries, and more open trade policies have improved competitiveness and boosted exports. Education funding is increasing, and authority is being transferred from the federal to state governments to improve accountability. New four-lane highways provide a network helping business and tourism.

Industry: food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel.
Agriculture: corn, wheat, soybeans, rice; beef; wood products.
Exports: manufactured goods, oil and oil products, silver, fruits, vegetables.
Population: 107,029,000
Capital: Mexico City; 19,013,000
Area: 1,964,375 square kilometres
Language: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other indigenous languages
Religion: Roman Catholic, Protestant
Currency: Mexican peso
Life Expectancy: 75
GDP per Capita: U.S. $8,900
Literacy Percent: 92
Useful Websites:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico
www.visitmexico.com
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html
www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_mexico_cntry.html

The National Flower of Mexico: Dahlia

The mountain regions of Mexico and Guatemala are the birthplace of today's dahlias where they have been grown and used for countless generations from the time they were first cultivated by the ancient Aztecs who ruled this region. During the 16th century the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the scene. In addition to conquering the Aztecs they also brought with them botanists, who's job it was to bring back plants from the New World for Spain.

These botanists discovered what we today call the Tree Dahlia, whose flowers are open centred single blooms. The Tree Dahlia (D. imperialis) has stems that are hollow and can grow to 20 feet or more. Often used for hauling water or as an actual source of water to Aztec hunters, the Aztec name for the dahlia was "Acocotli" or water-cane.

Over time, Dahlia seeds and tubers were distributed throughout Western Europe from stock grown at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Madrid, Spain. In the beginning dahlias were grown for their tubers, which were used as food similar to the potato, but this never quite caught on.
By the beginning of the 18th century, as hybridization work continued, the first fully double forms began to make their appearance, as did many new colour combinations. In 1872 a crate of dahlia tubers was sent from Mexico to Holland, however upon arrival it was discovered that only one tuber had survived the long Atlantic crossing.

This lone tuber of a new variety (D. juarezii) produced a bright red bloom with petals that were rolled back and pointed. Interest in the dahlia by plant breeders was renewed at once and the successful combination of this new variety with earlier varieties served as the parent stock for the current multitude of dahlias variations.

Today, the Dahlia family is a large and varied genus comprised of about 20 different species, with numerous cultivars and varieties, all natives of Mexico and Central America. The family takes its name from Swedish botanist Dr. Anders Dahl.

After 200 years of culture, selective breeding, and hybridizing, today's dahlia has one of the largest arrays of forms, colours, and sizes of any flower grown. In this past century alone nearly 50,000 named dahlia varieties have been developed, listed and registered in more than 570 individual classes!

More Dahlia hybridises are active now than at any other time in history, which means a rapid addition of new forms, sizes and colour combinations each year. That's just part of the reason growing dahlias is such an active and dynamic hobby.

The dahlia also has one of the longest bloom seasons of any garden flower, which means you will be enjoying gorgeous blooms long after your friends and neighbour's flower gardens have ended for the season. Dahlias also last a very long time as cut flowers, making them a great choice for arrangements and bouquets.

Today, this gorgeous flower remains the National Flower of Mexico where it's great beauty was first discovered by the mighty Aztec Indians so long ago.

The Flag

The emblem-shield symbolizes the Aztec heritage. According to a beautiful legend, the gods had advised the Aztecs that the place where they should establish their city was to be identified when they saw an eagle, perched on a prickly pear tree, devouring a serpent. They saw this mythical eagle on a marshy lake that is now the zócalo or main plaza in Mexico City. This flag was created in 1821, when the Independence movement had ended victoriously. El Día de la Bandera or the Fiesta of the Mexican Flag is celebrated on February 24.