Green Sea Turtle grazing seagrass at Akumal bay.
Photo: P.Lindgren, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Like bats out of hell, bats coming out of a cave for evening dinner in El Maviri, near Los Mochis, in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico.
Photo: Tomascastelazo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Chicken meat displayed for sale at public food market in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Photo: Tomás Castelazo, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Did you know?
Human presence in Mexico dates back to at least 11,500 BC, although dates as old as 28,000 BC have been proposed for less securely dated sites. Mesoamerica, considered a cradle of civilization, was home to numerous advanced societies, including the Olmecs, Maya, Zapotecs, Teotihuacan civilization, and Purépecha. Spanish colonization began in 1521 with an indigenous alliance that defeated the Aztec Empire, establishing the colony of New Spain with its capital at Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0
Ceramic calaveras, at Tonalá's tianguis (market), State of Jalisco, Mexico, before the Day of the Dead.
Photo: Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
El Castillo (pyramid of Kukulcán) in Chichén Itzá
Photo: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Green Abalone; Length 13 cm; Originating from Baja California, Mexico; Shell of own collection, therefore not geocoded
Photo: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Etymology
The precise origin of the name is unknown and is heavily debated. Mēxihko is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely the Valley of Mexico and surrounding territories, with its people being known as the Mexica. It is generally believed that the toponym for the valley was the origin of the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance, but it may have been the other way around. In the colonial era (1521–1821) when Mexico was known as New Spain, this central region became the Intendency of Mexico.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0
Catrinas , traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico.
Photo: Tomascastelazo, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Calaveras - skulls typical of Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico. Photograph taken Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
Photo: Tomas Castelazo, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
History
The earliest human artifacts in what is now Mexico are chips of stone tools found in the Valley of Mexico, dated to circa 10,000 years ago. Mexico is the site of the domestication of maize, tomato, and beans, which produced an agricultural surplus. This enabled the transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherers to sedentary agricultural villages beginning around 5000 BC.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0
A catch of White seabass at Ensenada fish market, Baja California, Mexico
Photo: Tomascastelazo, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
American crocodiles basking at a swamp in La Manzanilla, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The swamp is about 180 hectares and has a population of approximately 300…
Photo: Tomas Castelazo, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Geography
Mexico is located between latitudes 14° and 33°N, and longitudes 86° and 119°W in the southern portion of North America, with a total area of 1,972,550 km2 (761,606 sq mi), is the 13th largest country by total area. It has coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, the latter two forming part of the Atlantic Ocean. Within these seas are about 6,000 km2 (2,317 sq mi) of islands. Almost all of Mexico lies in the North American plate, with small parts of the Baja California peninsula on the Pacific and Cocos plates.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0
Government and politics
The United Mexican States is a federation whose government is representative, democratic, and republican based on a presidential system according to the 1917 Constitution. The Constitution establishes three levels of government: the federal Union, the state governments, and the municipal governments.
The federal legislature is the bicameral Congress of the Union, composed of the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies. The Congress makes federal law, declares war, imposes taxes, approves the national budget and international treaties, and ratifies diplomatic appointments.
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Economy
As of April 2026, Mexico has the 13th largest economy by purchasing power parity (PPP) (US$3.5 trillion), and a GDP per capita of US$26,643. The World Bank reported in 2026 that the country's gross national income was the second highest in Latin America after Brazil at US$1.8 trillion.
Mexico has the sixth largest electronics industry after China, the US, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Mexico is the second-largest exporter of electronics to the US where it exported $71 billion worth of electronics in 2011. Electronics exports grew 73% between 2002 and 2012. The manufactured value-added sector, which electronics is part of, accounted for 18% of GDP.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0
Demographics
As of 2026, Mexico's estimated population was 134,407,258 people, per the National Population Council. Since at least the 1970s, Mexico has been the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
Throughout the 19th century, the population of Mexico barely doubled. This trend continued in the first two decades of the 20th century. In 1900, the Mexican population was a little more than 13 million. The Mexican Revolution (c. 1910–1920) greatly impacted population growth, with the 1921 census reporting a loss of about 1 million inhabitants.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0
Culture
Mexican culture reflects a long and complex history of interactions between various peoples through migration, conquest, and trade. Three centuries of Spanish rule resulted in the blending of Spanish culture with those of different indigenous groups.
Wikipedia: Mexico – read more, CC BY-SA 4.0