Mexico

Relief, lakes and Mexican rivers:

Mexico has the most Spanish speakers in the world, a country with a mostly mountainous relief and its aspect is getting narrower as long as we go from north to south. The country has two different peninsulas with the well known Yucatan peninsula in south-east that has a low relief and Californian peninsula in north-west that has a mountainous aspect with peaks over 3.000 m height.

The central part of the country has a high aspect with the big Mexican platform in the middle, bordered by the mountain chains of East Sierra Madre and West Sierra Madre. The plains are present only on the coast sides, especially in Yucatan peninsula at the Gulf of Mexico where are also moorlands, lagoons and sandy beaches. The biggest lake in the Mexican area is Lake Chapala with its 1.080 km² in surface and the longest river is Rio Grande flowing more than 2.000 km on the border with United States of America.

Climate, fauna and flora of Mexico:

The climate is varied because of the diverse relief. The north part of the country is very hot and dry with temperatures over 40º C, comparative with the capital with its 12 to 17º C. The rainfall is very low, except the southern part where the climate is subtropical and wet and it has over 3.000 mm rainfall annually in Yucatan peninsula. In the northern part of the country is a desert and semi-desert area and here you can see many different types of cactus but also insects, lizards and animals like coyotes and tatou. The forests cover almost a quarter from Mexico’s surface and those tropical ones from the south are home for monkeys, jaguars, lizards, many species of birds, but also ant eaters. In the central mountainous area live bears, wild boars and ocelots. Unfortunately, massive deforestation destroyed the habitat for many species of fauna and flora.

Resources, industry, capital, population and name of Mexico:

The 3rd country as surface in North America is an important producer of coffee and sugar, but also of silver, plumb and zinc. (Find more journeys on blog.worldlifetimejourneys.com) Also, huge resources of oil make from this country to be the 7th in the world as oil reserves. The Spanish country is the 10th in the world in engineering and they are great producers of confections, computers, shoes and many others. Tenochtitlan the Aztec capital is now the place for the actual capital Mexico City. The Spanish country was under Spanish domination till 1821 when obtained its independence. It’s also called the New Spain. The official name of the country is the United States of Mexico because of its 31 states plus the capital, one of the most busiest cities in the world. Unfortunately the air pollution in the capital is a real problem. The first inhabitants of the country were the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Olmecs. Visit Mexico!

Ancient Mayan ruins in Tulum from Mexico