 The United Mexican States (Mexico), population 103,088,021 2005 est. is the northernmost and westernmost country in Latin America. Also the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. It is bordered by the United States to the north, and Belize and Guatemala to the southeast. Baja California in the west is a 1,250-km peninsula and forms the Gulf of California. In the east are the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, which is formed by its other peninsula, the Yucatán. The center is a great, high plateau, open to the north, with mountain chains on the east and west and with ocean-front lowlands lying outside of them. The terrain and climate vary from rocky deserts in the north to tropical rain forest in the south. |
 | Hunter-Gatherer peoples are thought to have discovered and habitated its territory more than 28,000 years ago. For more than 3,000 years, Mexico was the site of several Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec, the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and the Mayan. These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions: pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly-accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus, a complex theology, and the wheel.
The arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century and their defeat of the Mexica in 1521 marked the beginning of the 300 year-long colonial period of Mexico as New Spain. Spanish settlers brought with them smallpox, typhus, and other diseases. There were three separate epidemics that decimated the population. Of the estimated 15 to 20 million of the original prehispanic population, less than two million survived. |
