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Mexico City

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This article is about the capital of Mexico, coterminous with the Federal District. For other
uses, see Mexico City (disambiguation).

Mexico City
Ciudad de Mxico
D. F.
Federal District
Mxico, Distrito Federal
Mexico, D. F.

Coat of arms

Flag

Motto: La Ciudad de los Palacios


(The City of Palaces)

Mxico City within Mexico

Coordinates:
Country
Entity
Subdivisions

Founded

Government
Head of
Government

1926N 998WCoordinates:
998W
Mexico
Federal District
Boroughs[show]

March 13, 1325:


Mexico-Tenochtitlan[1]

August 13, 1521:


Ciudad de Mxico[2]

November 18, 1824:


Distrito Federal[3]

Miguel ngel Mancera

Senators[4]

1926N

Mario Martn
Delgado
Alejandra Barrales
Pablo Escudero
Morales

Deputies[5]
Area[6][b]
Federal District

Federal Deputies[show]
1,485 km2 (573 sq mi)
Ranked 32nd

Elevation
Highest elevation[9]
Population (2010)
Federal District
Rank
Density
Density rank
Urban

Demonym

Time zone
Summer (DST)
Postal code
Area code
ISO 3166 code

2,250 m (7,380 ft)


3,930 m (12,890 ft)
8,851,080
2nd
6,000/km2 (15,000/sq mi)
1st
21.2 million [7][8]

Capitalino (a)

Defeo (a)

Mexiqueo (a)

HDI

CST (UTC6)
CDT (UTC5)
0016
55
MX-DFE
0.8307 Very High Ranked 1st

GDP
Website

$411.4 billion dollars[10]


Official website

of 32

^ b. Area of the Federal District that includes non-urban areas at the


south

See also: History of Mexico City


Mexico City (/mksko sti/; Spanish: Ciudad de Mxico audio (helpinfo) American
Spanish: [sjua de mexiko], officially known as Mxico, D. F. audio (helpinfo), or
simply D. F.) is the federal district (distrito federal), capital of Mexico and seat of the
federal powers of the union.[11] It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any
one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole. Mexico City is the
country's largest city as well as its most important political, cultural, educational and
financial center.
As an "alpha" global city[12] Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in
the Americas.[13] It is located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de Mxico), a large valley in the
high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres (7,350 ft). The city
consists of sixteen boroughs.

The 2009 estimated population for the city proper was around 8.84 million people,[14] with a
land area of 1,485 square kilometres (573 sq mi).[15] According to the most recent definition
agreed upon by the federal and state governments, the Greater Mexico City population is
21.2 million people,[8] making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere,
the tenth largest agglomeration, and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.[16]
The Greater Mexico City has a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$411 billion in 2011,
making Mexico City urban agglomeration one of the richest metropolitan areas in the
world.[17] The city was responsible for generating 15.8% of Mexico's Gross Domestic
Product and the metropolitan area accounted for about 22% of total national GDP.[18] As a
stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin
Americafive times as large as Costa Rica's and about the same size as Peru's.[19]
Mexicos capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by
Amerindians (Native Americans), the other being Quito. The city was originally built on an
island of Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs in 1325 as Tenochtitlan, which was almost
completely destroyed in the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan, and subsequently redesigned and
rebuilt in accordance with the Spanish urban standards. In 1524, the municipality of
Mexico City was established, known as Mxico Tenochtitln,[20] and as of 1585 it was
officially known as Ciudad de Mxico (Mexico City).[20] Mexico City served as the
political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire.
[21]
After independence from Spain was achieved, the Federal District was created in 1824.
After years of demanding greater political autonomy, residents were given the right to
directly elect the Head of Government and the representatives of the unicameral Legislative
Assembly by popular vote in 1997. Ever since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) has controlled both of them.[22] In recent years, the local government has
passed a wave of liberal policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia,
no-fault divorce and same-sex marriage.

Contents

1 History
o 1.1 Aztec Period
o 1.2 Spanish conquest of Tenochtitln
o 1.3 The rebuilding of the city as Mexico City
o 1.4 Growth of Colonial Mexico City
o 1.5 The Battle of Mexico City
o 1.6 Revolution

o 1.7 20th century to present

2 Geography
o 2.1 Climate

3 Environment

4 Politics
o 4.1 Federal District
o 4.2 Political structure
o 4.3 Elections and government
o 4.4 Boroughs and neighborhoods
o 4.5 Metropolitan Area

5 Health

6 Economy

7 Demographics

8 Landmarks

9 Transportation
o 9.1 Public transportation

9.1.1 Metro

9.1.2 Suburban rail

9.1.3 Peseros

9.1.4 Urban buses

9.1.5 Bus rapid transit

9.1.6 Trolleybus, light rail, streetcars

o 9.2 Roads and car transport

9.2.1 Parking

o 9.3 Cycling
o 9.4 Intercity buses
o 9.5 Airports

10 Culture
o 10.1 Art
o 10.2 Museums
o 10.3 Music, theater and entertainment
o 10.4 Cuisine
o 10.5 Sports
o 10.6 Education
o 10.7 Media
o 10.8 Shopping

10.8.1 Traditional markets

10.8.2 Tianguis

10.8.3 Street vendors

10.8.4 Downtown shopping

10.8.5 Supermarkets and neighborhood stores

10.8.6 Department stores and shopping malls

o 10.9 Parks and recreation


o 10.10 Nicknames

11 Law enforcement

12 Gallery

13 Panorama

14 International relations
o 14.1 Twin towns and sister cities

15 See also

16 References

17 External links

History
Main articles: History of Mexico City and Timeline of Mexico City

Aztec Period
Main article: Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan
The city currently known as Mexico City was created by the Mexica people, later known as
the Aztecs, in 1325. The old Mexica city that is now referred to as Tenochtitlan was built on
an island in the center of the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico, which it shared
with a smaller city-state called Tlatelolco. It is sometimes seen in the scholarly literature
written as "Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco".[23] The great Aztec market that conqueror Bernal Daz
del Castillo describes in detailed wonderment in his chronicle The True History of the
Conquest of Mexico is, in fact, describing the market located in Tlatelolco. The Mexica
were one of the last of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples who migrated to this part of the Valley
of Mexico after the fall of the Toltec Empire. Their presence was resisted by the peoples
who were already in the valley, but the Mexica were able to establish a city on a small
island on the western side of Lake Texcoco. The Mexica themselves had a story about how

their city was founded, after being led to the island by their principal god, Huitzilopochtli.
According to the story, the god indicated the site where they were to build their home with
a sign - an eagle perched on a nopal cactus with a snake in its beak. Between 1325 and
1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states
around Lake Texcoco and in the Valley of Mexico. When the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec
Empire reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific
Ocean. The population of Tenochtitlan in 1519 has been estimated as between 150,000 and
200,000; the population of London at that time was approximately 50,000; Paris was
approximately 300,000.[24]

Spanish conquest of Tenochtitln

The storming of the Aztec Teocalli by Corts and his troops, by Emanuel Leutze. Painting,
1848

Ruins of the Templo Mayor


After landing in Veracruz, Hernn Corts heard about the great city and the long-standing
rivalries and grievances against it. Although Corts came to Mexico with a very small army,
he was able to persuade many of the other native peoples to help him destroy Tenochtitlan.
[25]
Corts first saw Tenochtitln on November 8, 1519.[26] Upon viewing it for the first time,
Corts and his men were stunned by its beauty and size. The Spaniards marched along the
causeway leading into the city from Iztapalapa. Although Montezuma came out from the
center of Tenochtitln to greet them and exchange gifts, the camaraderie did not last long.[27]
Corts put Montezuma under house arrest, hoping to rule through him.[28] Tensions
increased until, on the night of June 30, 1520 during a struggle commonly known as "La
Noche Triste" the Aztec revolted against the Spanish intrusion and managed to capture or
drive out the Europeans and their Tlaxcalan allies.[29] Corts regrouped at Tlaxcala. The
Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone. They elected a new king, Cuitlhuac,

but he died after a few months due to smallpox; the next king was Cuauhtmoc.[30] Corts
decided to lay siege to Tenochtitln in May 1521. For three months, the city suffered from
the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans.[25]
Corts and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island and fought their way
through the city, street by street, and house by house.[31] Finally, Cuauhtmoc had to
surrender in August 1521.[25]

The rebuilding of the city as Mexico City

Mexico City painting of 1628


The Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitln during the final siege of the conquest. Corts
first settled in Coyoacn, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old
order.[26] Corts did not establish an independent, conquered territory under his own
personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown. The first viceroy of the new domain
arrived in Mexico City fourteen years later. By that time, the city had again become a citystate, having power that extended far beyond the city's established borders.[32] Although the
Spanish preserved Tenochtitln's basic layout, they built Catholic churches over the old
Aztec temples and claimed the imperial palaces for themselves.[32] Tenochtitln was
renamed "Mexico", its alternative form name, only because the Spanish found this easier to
say.[26]

Growth of Colonial Mexico City

Mexico City (New Spain)


Ciudad de Mexico (Nueva Espaa)
Capital of New Spain
15191821

Flag

Coat of arms
Motto
Plus Ultra

"Further Beyond"

Anthem
Marcha Real
"Royal March"

Menu
0:00

Colonial Mexico City in the 1600s

Capital
Languages
Religion
Government
King
- 15351556
- 18131821
Viceroy
- 15351550
- 1821
Legislature
Historical era
- Established
- Disestablished
Currency

Mexico City
Spanish, Nahuatl,
Mayan, Indigenous
languages, Tagalog
Roman Catholicism
Viceroyalty
Charles I (first)
Ferdinand VII (last)
Antonio de Mendoza
(first)

Juan O'Donoj
Political chief superior
(not viceroy)

Council of the Indies


Colonial era
1519
1821
Spanish colonial real

See also: List of oldest structures in Mexico City

The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral was built by the Spaniards over the ruins of the
main Aztec temple

Colonial style architecture in the historic center of Mexico City


The city had been the capital of the Aztec empire and in the colonial era, Mexico City
became the capital of New Spain. The viceroy of Mexico or vice-king lived in the viceregal
palace on the main square or Zcalo. The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of
the Archbishopric of New Spain was constructed on another side of the Zcalo, as was the
archbishop's palace, and across from it the building housing the City Council or
ayuntamiento of the city. A famous late seventeenth-century painting of the Zcalo by
Cristbal de Villalpando depicts the main square, which had been the old Aztec ceremonial
center. The existing central place of the Aztecs was effectively and permanently
transformed to the ceremonial center and seat of power during the colonial period, and
remains to this day in modern Mexico, the central place of the nation.
The rebuilding of the city after the siege of Tenochtitlan was accomplished by the abundant
indigenous labor in the surrounding area. Franciscan friar Toribio de Benavente Motolinia,
one of the Twelve Apostles of Mexico who arrived in New Spain in 1524, described the
rebuilding of the city as one of the afflictions or plagues of the early period:
The seventh plague was the construction of the great City of Mexico, which, during the
early years. used more people than in the construction of Jerusalem. The crowds of laborers
were so numerous that one could hardly move in the streets and causeways, although they
are very wide. Many died from bein crushed by beams, or falling from high places, or in
tearing down old buildings for new ones.[33]

Preconquest Tenochtitlan was built in the center of the inland lake system, with the city
reachable by canoe and by wide causeways to the mainland. The causeways were rebuilt
under Spanish rule with indigenous labor.
Colonial Spanish cities were constructed on a grid pattern, if no geographical obstacle
prevented it. In Mexico City, the Zcalo (main square) was the central place from which the
grid was then built outward. The Spanish lived in the area closest to the main square in
what was known as the traza, in orderly, well laid-out streets. Indian residences were
outside that exclusive zone and houses were haphazardly located.[34] Spaniards sought to
keep Indians separate from Spaniards but since the Zcalo was a center of commerce for
Indians, they were a constant presence in the central area, so strict segregation was never
enforced.[35] At intervals Zcalo was where major celebrations took place as well as
executions. It was also the site of two major riots in the seventeenth century, one in 1624
the other in 1692.[36]
The city grew as the population did, coming up against the lake's waters. As the depth of
the lake water fluctuated, Mexico City was subject to periodic flooding. A major labor
draft, the desage compelled thousands of Indians over the colonial period to work on
infrastructure to prevent flooding. Floods were not only an inconvenience but also a health
hazard, since during flood periods human waste polluted the city's streets. By draining the
area, the mosquito population dropped as did the frequency of the diseases they spread.
However, draining the wetlands also changed the habitat for fish and birds and the areas
accessible for Indian cultivation close to the capital.[37]
The 16th century saw a proliferation of churches, many of which can still be seen today in
the historic center.[32] Economically, Mexico City prospered as a result of trade. Unlike
Brazil or Peru, Mexico had easy contact with both the Atlantic and Pacific worlds.
Although the Spanish crown tried to completely regulate all commerce in the city, it had
only partial success.[38]
The concept of nobility flourished in New Spain in a way not seen in other parts of the
Americas. Spaniards encountered a society in which the concept of nobility mirrored that of
their own. Spaniards respected the indigenous order of nobility and added to it. In the
ensuing centuries, a noble title in Mexico did not mean one exercised great political power
as one's power was limited even if the accumulation of wealth was not.[39] The concept of
nobility in Mexico was not political but rather a very conservative Spanish social one,
based on proving the worthiness of the family. Most of these families proved their worth by
making fortunes in New Spain outside of the city itself, then spending the revenues in the
capital, building churches, supporting charities and building extravagant palatial homes.
The craze to build the most opulent residence possible reached its height in the last half of
the 18th century. Many of these palaces can still be seen today, leading to Mexico City's
nickname of "The city of palaces" given by Alexander Von Humboldt.[26][32][39]
The Grito de Dolores ("Cry of Dolores") also known as El Grito de la Independencia ("Cry
of Independence"), uttered from the small town of Dolores near Guanajuato on September
16, 1810, is the event that marks the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence and is
the most important national holiday observed in Mexico. The "Grito" was the battle cry of

the Mexican War of Independence by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest.
Hidalgo and several criollos were involved in a planned revolt against the Spanish colonial
government, and the plotters were betrayed. Fearing his arrest,[1] Hidalgo commanded his
brother Mauricio as well as Ignacio Allende and Mariano Abasolo to go with a number of
other armed men to make the sheriff release the pro-independence inmates there on the
night of September 15. They managed to set eighty free.[2] Around 6:00 am September 16,
1810, Hidalgo ordered the church bells to be rung and gathered his congregation. Flanked
by Allende and Juan Aldama, he addressed the people in front of his church, encouraging
them to revolt. The Battle of Guanajuato, the first major engagement of the insurgency,
occurred four days later. Mexico's independence from Spain was effectively declared in the
Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire on September 27, 1821, after a decade
of war.[40] Unrest followed for the next several decades, as different factions fought for
control of Mexico.[41]
The Mexican Federal District was established by the new government and by the signing of
their new constitution, where the concept of a federal district was adapted from The U.S.
constitution.[42] Before this designation, Mexico City had served as the seat of government
for both the State of Mexico and the nation as a whole. Texcoco and then Toluca became
the capital of the state of Mexico.[43]

The Battle of Mexico City

American occupation of Mexico City in 1847


The MexicanAmerican War came to a close after the United States deployed combat units
deep into Mexico resulting in the capture of Mexico City and Veracruz by the U.S. Army's
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Divisions.[44] The invasion culminated with the storming of
Chapultepec Castle in the city itself.[45] The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in what
is now the far north of the city.[46] Events such as the Reform War left the city relatively
untouched and it continued to grow, especially during the rule of President Porfirio Daz.
During this time, the city developed a modern infrastructure, such as roads, schools,
transportation, and communication systems. However, the regime concentrated resources
and wealth into the city while the rest languished in poverty.

Revolution

Insurgents manning artillery during the Decena Trgica

Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata entering Mexico City (1914)


Under the rule of Porfirio Dazabout 30 years formally as president; about 35 years in all,
1876-1911, in effective controlMexico City experienced a massive transformation. Daz's
goal was to create a city which could rival the great European cities. He and his
government came to the conclusion that they would use Paris as a model, while still
containing remnants of Amerindian and Hispanic elements. This style of Mexican-French
fusion architecture became colloquially known as Porfirian Architecture.
During this era of Porfirian rule, the city underwent an extensive modernization. Many
Spanish Colonial style buildings were destroyed, replaced by new much larger Porfirian
institutions and many outlying rural zones were transformed into urban or industrialized
districts with most having electrical, gas and sewage utilities by 1908. While the initial
focus was on developing modern hospitals, schools, factories and massive public works,
perhaps the most long-lasting effects of the Porfirian modernization were creation of the
Colonia Roma area and the development of Reforma Avenue. Many of Mexico City's major
attractions and landmarks were built during this era in this style.
Diaz's plans called for the entire city to eventually be modernized or rebuilt in the
Porfirian/French style of the Colonia Roma but the Mexican Revolution began soon after
and the plans never came to fruition with many projects being left half completed. One of
the best examples of this is the Monument to the Mexican Revolution. Originally the
monument was to be the main dome of Diaz's new senate hall, but when the revolution
erupted only the dome of the senate hall and its supporting pillars were completed, this was
subsequently seen as a symbol by many Mexicans that the Porfirian era was over once and
for all and as such, it was turned into a monument to victory over Diaz.
Fast modern development eventually led to the Mexican Revolution.[41] The most
significant episode of this period for the city was the La decena trgica ("The Ten Tragic
Days"), a 1913 coup against President Francisco I. Madero and his vice president, Jos

Mara Pino Surez. Victoriano Huerta, chief general of the Federal Army saw a chance to
take power, forcing Madero and Pino Suarez to sign resignations. The two were murdered
later while on their way to prison.[47]

20th century to present

Art Deco influence in Condesa District.

The northern, central, and western areas of the city are marked with hundreds of high rise
buildings

The Angel of Independence, completed in 1910 has become a modern icon of the city

Torre Latinoamericana, Latin America's first skyscraper.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera house in San Angel designed by Juan O'Gorman, an example
of 20th Century Modernist Architecture in Mexico

The rapid growth of the city during the 20th Century exploded in the development of both,
illegal constructions and opulent residences in the periphery.
The history of the rest of the 20th century to the present focuses on the phenomenal growth
of the city and its environmental and political consequences. In 1900, the population of

Mexico City was about 500,000.[48] The city began to grow rapidly westward in the early
part of the 20th century[32] and then began to grow upwards in the 1950s, with the Torre
Latinoamericana becoming the city's first skyscraper.[25] The 1968 Olympic Games brought
about the construction of large sporting facilities.[32] In 1969, the Metro system was
inaugurated.[25] Explosive growth in the population of the city started from the 1960s, with
the population overflowing the boundaries of the Federal District into the neighboring state
of Mexico, especially to the north, northwest and northeast. Between 1960 and 1980 the
city's population more than doubled to nearly 9 million.[32] In 1980, half of all the industrial
jobs in Mexico were located in Mexico City. Under relentless growth, the Mexico City
government could barely keep up with services. Villagers from the countryside who
continued to pour into the city to escape poverty only compounded the city's problems.
With no housing available, they took over lands surrounding the city, creating huge
shantytowns that extended for many miles.[41] This caused serious air pollution in Mexico
City and water pollution problems, as well as a sinking city due to overextraction of
groundwater, groundwater-related subsidence.[49] Air and water pollution has been
contained and improved in several areas due to government programs, the renovation of
vehicles and the modernization of public transportation.
The autocratic government that ruled Mexico City since the Revolution was tolerated,
mostly because of the continued economic expansion since World War II. This was the case
even though this government could not handle the population and pollution problems
adequately. Nevertheless, discontent and protests began in the 1960s leading to the
massacre of an unknown number of protesting students in Tlatelolco.[41]
Three years later, a demonstration in the Maestros avenue, organized by former members of
the 1968 student movement, was violently repressed by a paramilitary group called "Los
Halcones", composed of gang members and teenagers from many sports clubs who
received training in the U.S.
On Thursday, September 19, 1985, at 7:19 am local time, Mexico City was struck by an
earthquake of magnitude 8.1[50] on the Richter scale. Although this earthquake was not as
deadly or destructive as many similar events in Asia and other parts of Latin America,[51] it
proved to be a disaster politically for the one-party government. The government was
paralyzed by its own bureaucracy and corruption, forcing ordinary citizens to create and
direct their own rescue efforts and to reconstruct much of the housing that was lost as well.
[52]
However, the last straw may have been the controverted elections of 1988. That year, the
presidency was set between the P.R.I.'s candidate, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and a coalition
of left-wing parties led by Cuauhtmoc Crdenas, son of the former president Lzaro
Crdenas. The counting system "fell" because coincidentally the light went out and
suddenly, when it returned, the winning candidate was Salinas, even though Crdenas had
the upper hand. As a result of the fraudulent election, Crdenas became a member of the
Party of the Democratic Revolution. Discontent over the election eventually led
Cuauhtmoc Crdenas to become the first elected mayor of Mexico City in 1997. Crdenas
promised a more democratic government, and his party claimed some victories against
crime, pollution, and other major problems. He resigned in 1999 to run for the presidency.

Geography

Satellite view of Mexico City


Mexico City is located in the Valley of Mexico, sometimes called the Basin of Mexico. This
valley is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in the high plateaus of south-central
Mexico.[53][54] It has a minimum altitude of 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) above sea level and is
surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that reach elevations of over 5,000 meters.[55] This
valley has no natural drainage outlet for the waters that flow from the mountainsides,
making the city vulnerable to flooding. Drainage was engineered through the use of canals
and tunnels starting in the 17th century.[53][55] The city primarily rests on what was Lake
Texcoco.[53] Seismic activity is frequent here.[56] Lake Texcoco was drained starting from the
17th century. Although none of the lake waters remain, the city rests on the lake bed's
heavily saturated clay. This soft base is collapsing due to the over-extraction of
groundwater, called groundwater-related subsidence. Since the beginning of the 20th
century, the city has sunk as much as nine meters in some areas. This sinking is causing
problems with runoff and wastewater management, leading to flooding problems,
especially during the rainy season.[55][56] The entire lake bed is now paved over and most of
the city's remaining forested areas lie in the southern boroughs of Milpa Alta, Tlalpan and
Xochimilco.[56]
Geophysical maps of the Federal District

Topography

Climate

Hydrology

Climate patterns

Cumbres del Ajusco National Park


Mexico City has a subtropical highland climate (Kppen climate classification Cwb), due to
its tropical location and high elevation. The lower region of the valley receives less rainfall
than the upper regions of the south; the lower boroughs of Iztapalapa, Iztacalco, Venustiano
Carranza and the west portion of Gustavo A. Madero are usually drier and warmer than the
upper southern boroughs of Tlalpan and Milpa Alta, a mountainous region of pine and oak
trees known as the range of Ajusco.
The average annual temperature varies from 12 to 16 C (54 to 61 F), depending on the
altitude of the borough. The temperature is rarely below 3 C (37 F) or above 30 C
(86 F).[57] The lowest temperature ever registered was 4.4 C (24.1 F), and the highest
temperature on record is 33.9 C (93.0 F).[58] However, many municipalities in the
metropolitan area and southern boroughs do get temperatures below 0 during winter.[citation
needed]

Overall precipitation is heavily concentrated in the summer months, and includes dense
hail. The central valley of Mexico rarely gets precipitation in the form of snow during
winter; the two last recorded instances of such an event were on March 5, 1940 and January
12, 1967.
The region of the Valley of Mexico receives anti-cyclonic systems. The weak winds of
these systems do not allow for the dispersion, outside the basin, of the air pollutants which
are produced by the 50,000 industries and 4 million vehicles operating in and around the
metropolitan area.[59]
The area receives about 820 millimetres (32.3 in) of annual rainfall, which is concentrated
from June through September/October with little or no precipitation the remainder of the
year.[55] The area has two main seasons. The rainy season runs from June to October when
winds bring in tropical moisture from the sea. The dry season runs from November to May,
when the air is relatively drier. This dry season subdivides into a cold period and a warm
period. The cold period spans from November to February when polar air masses push
down from the north and keep the air fairly dry. The warm period extends from March to
May when tropical winds again dominate but do not yet carry enough moisture for rain.[60]
[show]Climate data for Mexico City (Tacubaya) (1981-2000)

Environment
See also: Water management in Greater Mexico City

Viveros de Coyoacan Park founded by Miguel Angel de Quevedo

The city government has encouraged the preservation of green areas of the City such as
Tezozomoc Park

Situated in a valley, and relying heavily on automobiles, the city suffers from poor air
quality

Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl volcanoes


Originally, much of the valley laid beneath the waters of Lake Texcoco, a system of
interconnected salt and freshwater lakes. The Aztecs built dikes to separate the fresh water

used to raise crops in chinampas and to prevent recurrent floods. These dikes were
destroyed during the siege of Tenochtitlan, and during colonial times the Spanish regularly
drained the lake to prevent floods. Only a small section of the original lake remains, located
outside the Federal District, in the municipality of Atenco, State of Mexico. In recent years,
architects Teodoro Gonzlez de Len and Alberto Kalach, along with a group of Mexican
urbanists, engineers and biologists, have developed the project plan for Recovering the City
of Lakes. The project, if approved by the government, will contribute to the supply of water
from natural sources to the Valley of Mexico, the creation of new natural spaces, a great
improvement in air quality, and greater population establishment planning.
The federal and local governments have implemented numerous plans to alleviate the
problem of air pollution (such as carbon monoxide), including the constant monitoring and
reporting of environmental conditions, such as ozone and nitrogen oxides.[63] If the levels of
these two pollutants reach critical levels, contingency actions are implemented which may
include closing factories, changing school hours, and extending the A day without a car
program to two days of the week.[63] To control air pollution, the government has instituted
industrial technology improvements, a strict biannual vehicle emission inspection and the
reformulation of gasoline and diesel fuels.[63] Data from the city's 36 air-quality monitoring
stations show lead levels down 95 percent since 1990, while sulfur dioxide has fallen 86
percent, carbon monoxide 74 percent, and peak ozone levels 57 percent since 1991.[63] In
1990, Patricia Saad Sotomayor reported in the Mexico City daily Exclsior that "100,000
children die every year as a result of pollution in the Mexico City metropolitan area,
250,000 people suffer from eye diseases...and life expectancy has been reduced by up to ten
years, according to the National Environmentalist Groups." in a report to President Salinas.
At the time, according to the United Nations pollution scale "which set 100 as the
maximum level before grave health problems begin", Mexico City's level was 97.5,
compared to 4.5 for New York City, and 2.5 for Milan, Turin, and Los Angeles.[64]
In 1986, the non-urban forest areas of the southern boroughs were declared National
Ecological Reserves by president Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado. Other areas of the Federal
District became protected over the following years.

Politics
Federal District

National Legislative Assembly building

National Bank Headquarters

Senate Building

Palacio de Minera

Supreme Court of Justice Building

French style row houses built the 1890s in Colonia Roma


The Acta Constitutiva de la Federacin of January 31, 1824 and the Federal Constitution of
October 4, 1824[65] fixed the political and administrative organization of the United
Mexican States after the Mexican War of Independence. In addition, Section XXVIII of
Article 50 gave the new Congress the right to choose where the federal government would
be located. This location would then be appropriated as federal land, with the federal
government acting as the local authority. The two main candidates to become the capital
were Mexico City and Quertaro.[66] However, due in large part to the persuasion of
representative Servando Teresa de Mier, Mexico City was chosen because it was the center
of the country's population and history, even though Quertaro was closer to the center
geographically. The choice was official on November 18, 1824, and Congress delineated a
surface area of two leagues square (8,800 ac) centered on the Zocalo. This area was then
separated from the State of Mexico, forcing that state's government to move from the
Palace of the Inquisition (now Museum of Mexican Medicine) in the city to Texcoco. This
area did not include the population centers of the towns of Coyoacn, Xochimilco,
Mexicaltzingo and Tlalpan, all of which remained as part of the State of Mexico.[67]
In 1854, president Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, enlarged the area of the Federal District
almost eightfold from the original 220 to 1,700 km2 (80 to 660 sq mi), annexing the rural
and mountainous areas to secure the strategic mountain passes to the south and southwest to
protect the city in event of a foreign invasion. (The MexicanAmerican War had just been
fought). The last changes to the limits of the Federal District were made between 1898 and
1902, reducing the area to the current 1,479 km2 (571 sq mi) by adjusting the southern
border with the state of Morelos. By that time, the total number of municipalities within the
Federal District was twenty-two.
While the Federal District was ruled by the federal government through an appointed
governor, the municipalities within it were autonomous, and this duality of powers created
tension between the municipalities and the federal government for more than a century. In
1903, Porfirio Daz largely reduced the powers of the municipalities within the Federal
District. Eventually, in December 1928, the federal government decided to abolish all the

municipalities of the Federal District. In place of the municipalities, the Federal District
was divided into one "Central Department" and 13 delegaciones (boroughs) administered
directly by the government of the Federal District. The Central Department was integrated
by the former municipalities of Mexico City, Tacuba, Tacubaya and Mixcoac.
In 1941, the General Anaya borough was merged to the Central Department, which was
then renamed "Mexico City" (thus reviving the name, but not the autonomous
municipality). From 1941 to 1970, the Federal District was comprised by 12 delegaciones
and Mexico City. In 1970 Mexico City was split into four different delegaciones:
Cuauhtmoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Venustiano Carranza and Benito Jurez, increasing the
number of delegaciones to sixteen. Since then, in a de facto manner, the whole Federal
District, whose delegaciones had by then almost formed a single urban area, began to be
considered a synonym of Mexico City. However, the lack of a de jure stipulation left a legal
vacuum that led to a number of sterile discussions about whether one concept had engulfed
the other or if the latter had ceased to exist altogether. In 1993 this situation was solved by
an amendment to the 44th article of the Constitution whereby Mexico City and the Federal
District were set to be the same entity. This amendment was later introduced into the
second article of the Statute of Government of the Federal District.[68]

Political structure

The National Palace of Mexico

Antiguo Palacio del Ayuntamiento (Mexico City City Hall)

Offices of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs


Mexico City, being the seat of the powers of the Union, did not belong to any particular
state but to all. Therefore, it was the president, representing the federation, who used to
designate the head of government of the Federal District, a position which is sometimes
presented outside Mexico as the "Mayor" of Mexico City.[citation needed] In the 1980s, given the
dramatic increase in population of the previous decades, the inherent political
inconsistencies of the system, as well as the dissatisfaction with the inadequate response of
the federal government after the 1985 earthquake, residents began to request political and
administrative autonomy to manage their local affairs.[citation needed] Some political groups even
proposed that the Federal District be converted into the 32nd state of the federation.
In response to the demands, in 1987 the Federal District received a greater degree of
autonomy, with the elaboration the first Statute of Government (Estatuto de Gobierno), and
the creation of an Assembly of Representatives.[citation needed] In the 1990s, this autonomy was
further expanded and, starting from 1997, residents can directly elect the head of
government of the Federal District and the representatives of a unicameral Legislative
Assembly (which succeeded the previous Assembly) by popular vote. The first elected head
of government was Cuauhtmoc Crdenas. Crdenas resigned in 1999 to run in the 2000
presidential elections and designated Rosario Robles to succeed him, who became the first
woman (elected or otherwise) to govern Mexico City. In 2000 Andrs Manuel Lpez
Obrador was elected, and resigned in 2005 to run in the 2006 presidential elections,
Alejandro Encinas being designated by the Legislative Assembly to finish the term. In
2006, Marcelo Ebrard was elected for the 20062012 period.
The Federal District does not have a constitution, like the states of the Union, but rather a
Statute of Government. As part of its recent changes in autonomy, the budget is
administered locally; it is proposed by the head of government and approved by the
Legislative Assembly. Nonetheless, it is the Congress of the Union that sets the ceiling to
internal and external public debt issued by the Federal District.[69]
According to the 44th article of the Mexican Constitution, in case the powers of the Union
move to another city, the Federal District will be transformed into a new state, which will
be called "State of the Valley of Mexico", with the new limits set by the Congress of the
Union.

Government offices in the Zcalo

Elections and government

Mexico City's Head of Government Miguel ngel Mancera


In 2006, elections were held for the post of head of government and the representatives of
the Legislative Assembly. Heads of government are elected for a 6-year period without the
possibility of reelection. Traditionally, this position has been considered as the second most
important executive office in the country.[70]
The Legislative Assembly of the Federal District is formed, as it is the case in all
legislatures in Mexico, by both single-seat and proportional seats, making it a system of
parallel voting. The Federal District is divided into 40 electoral constituencies of similar
population which elect one representative by first-past-the-post plurality (FPP), locally
called "uninominal deputies". The Federal District as a whole constitutes a single
constituency for the parallel election of 26 representatives by proportionality (PR) with
open-party lists, locally called "plurinominal deputies". Even though proportionality is only
confined to the proportional seats, to prevent a part from being overrepresented, several
restrictions apply in the assignation of the seats; namely, that no party can have more than
63% of all seats, both uninominal and plurinominal. In the 2006 elections leftist PRD got
the absolute majority in the direct uninominal elections, securing 34 of the 40 FPP seats. As
such, the PRD was not assigned any plurinominal seat to comply with the law that prevents
over-representation. The overall composition of the Legislative Assembly is:
Political party
Party of the Democratic Revolution
National Action Party
Institutional Revolutionary Party
Labour Party
Ecologist Green Party of Mexico

FPP
31
9

PR
3
6
8
5
3

Total
34
15
8
5
3

New Alliance Party


Total

40

1
26

1
66

The politics pursued by the administrations of heads of government in Mexico City since
the second half of the 20th century have usually been more liberal than those of the rest of
the country, whether with the support of the federal governmentas was the case with the
approval of several comprehensive environmental laws in the 1980sor through laws
recently approved by the Legislative Assembly. In April of the same year, the Legislative
Assembly expanded provisions on abortions, becoming the first federal entity to expand
abortion in Mexico beyond cases of rape and economic reasons, to permit it regardless of
the reason should the mother request it before the twelfth week of pregnancy.[71] In
December 2009, the Federal District became the first city in Latin America, and one of very
few in the world, to legalize same-sex marriage.

Boroughs and neighborhoods


See also: Mexico City's boroughs and Neighborhoods in Mexico City

The 16 boroughs of Mexico City


For administrative purposes, the Federal District is divided into 16 "delegaciones" or
boroughs. While not fully equivalent to a municipality, the 16 boroughs have gained
significant autonomy, and since 2000 their heads of government are elected directly by
plurality (they were previously appointed by the head of government of the Federal
District). Given that Mexico City is organized entirely as a Federal District, most of the city
services are provided or organized by the Government of the Federal District and not by the
boroughs themselves, while in the constituent states these services would be provided by
the municipalities. The 16 boroughs of the Federal District with their 2010 populations are:
[72]

1. lvaro Obregn (pop. 727,034)


2. Azcapotzalco (pop. 414,711)
3. Benito Jurez (pop. 385,439)
4. Coyoacn (pop. 620,416)

5. Cuajimalpa (pop. 186,391)


6. Cuauhtmoc (pop. 531,831)
7. Gustavo A. Madero (pop. 1,185,772)
8. Iztacalco (pop. 384,326)

Insurgentes Avenue crosses from north to south the boroughs of Gustavo A. Madero,
Cuauhtmoc, Benito Jurez, Coyoacn and Tlalpan

19th Century Porfirian architecture in the Centro Histrico, Cuauhtmoc

Santa Catarina hill seen from Xochimilco Ecological Park and Plant Market in Xochimilco

Iztapalapa is the most populated borough as well as the poorest in the city

Miguel Hidalgo is home to some of the central upscale districts in the city such as Polanco

A traditional street in Coyoacan

Art Nouveau house in the Middle-Class district of Clavera in Azcapotzalco

World Trade Center and the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros in the limits Colonia Del Valle
and Colonia Napoles in Benito Jurez
The boroughs are composed by hundreds of colonias or neighborhoods, which have no
jurisdictional autonomy or representation. The Historic Center is the oldest part of the city
(along with some other, formerly separate colonial towns such as Coyoacn and San
ngel), some of the buildings dating back to the 16th century. Other well-known central
neighborhoods include Condesa is known for its Art Deco architecture and its restaurant
scene; Colonia Roma, a beaux arts neighborhood and artistic and culinary hot-spot, the
Zona Rosa, formerly the center of nightlife and restaurants, now reborn as the center of the
LGBT and Korean-Mexican communities; and Tepito and La Lagunilla, known for their
local working-class foklore and large flea markets. Santa Mara la Ribera and San Rafael
are the latest neighborhoods of magnificent Porfiriato architecture seeing the first signs of
gentrification.
West of the Historic Center (Centro Histrico) along Paseo de la Reforma are many of the
city's wealthiest neighborhoods such as Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, Bosques de las
Lomas, Santa Fe, and (in the State of Mexico) Interlomas, which are also the city's most
important areas of class A office space, corporate headquarters, skyscrapers and shopping
malls. Nevertheless, areas of lower income colonias exist in some cases cheek-by-jowl with
rich neighborhoods, particularly in the case of Santa Fe.
The south of the city is home to some other high-income neighborhoods such as Colonia
del Valle and Jardines del Pedregal, and the formerly separate colonial towns of Coyoacn,
San ngel, and San Jernimo. Along Avenida Insurgentes from Paseo de la Reforma, near
the center, south past the World Trade Center and UNAM university towards the Perifrico
ring road, is another important corridor of corporate office space. The far southern
boroughs of Xochimilco and Tlhuac have a significant rural population with Milpa Alta
being entirely rural.

East of the center are mostly lower income areas with some middle-class neighborhoods
such as Jardn Balbuena. Urban sprawl continues further east for many miles into the State
of Mexico, including Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, now increasingly middle-class, but once full
of informal settlements. These kind of slums are now found on the eastern edges of the
metropolitan area in the Chalco area.
North of the Historic Center, Azcapotzalco and Gustavo A. Madero have important
industrial centers and neighborhoods that range from established middle-class colonias
such as Claveria and Lindavista to huge low-income housing areas that share hillsides with
adjacent municipalities in the State of Mexico. In recent years much of northern Mexico
City's industry has moved to nearby municipalities in the State of Mexico. Northwest of
Mexico City itself is Ciudad Satlite, a vast middle to upper-middle-class residential and
business area.
The Human Development Index report of 2005 [73] shows that there were three boroughs
with a very high Human Development Index, 12 with a high HDI value (9 above .85) and
one with a medium HDI value (almost high). Benito Jurez borough had the highest HDI of
the country (.9510) similar to those in Germany and New Zealand followed by Miguel
Hidalgo which came up 4th nationally with a HDI of (.9189) and Coyoacn (5th nationally)
with a HDI value of (.9169). Cuajimalpa, Cuauhtmoc and Azcapotzalco had very high
values; respectively .8994 (15th nationally),.8922 (23rd) and .8915 (25th). In contrast, the
boroughs of Xochimilco (172th), Tlhuac (177th) and Iztapalapa (183th) presented the
lowest HDI values of the Federal District with values of .8481, .8473 and .8464
respectivelyvalues still in the global high-HDI range, near those of Costa Rica and
Croatia and Mexicos mean. The only borough that did not present a high HDI was that of
rural Milpa Alta which presented a "medium" HDI of .7984, similar to that of Dominica
and Iran, far below all other boroughs (627 nationally while the rest stood in the top 200).
Mexico City's HDI for the 2005 report was of .9012 (very high), similar to South Korea's
2005 rating, and its 2010 value of .9225 (very high) or (by newer methodology) .8307, was
similar to those of Qatar and Malta, and Mexico's highest.

Metropolitan Area
Main article: Greater Mexico City

Modern high rises in Huixquilucan

Torres de Satlite, the main landmark of middle-class suburban district of Ciudad Satelite,
in Naucalpan

Teotihuacn archaeological site in the outskirts of the city


Greater Mexico City is formed by the Federal District, 60 municipalities from the State of
Mexico and one from the state of Hidalgo. Greater Mexico City is the largest metropolitan
area in Mexico and the area with the highest population density. As of 2009, 21,163,226
persons live in this urban agglomeration, of which 8,841,916 live in Mexico City proper.[14]
In terms of population, the biggest municipalities that are part of Greater Mexico City
(excluding Mexico City proper) are:[74]

Ecatepec de Morelos (pop. 1,658,806).

Nezahualcyotl (pop. 1,109,363).

Naucalpan (pop. 833,782).

Tlalnepantla de Baz (pop. 664,160).

Chimalhuacn (pop. 602,079).

Ixtapaluca (pop. 467,630).

Cuautitln Izcalli (pop. 532,973).

Atizapan de Zaragoza (pop. 489,775)

The above municipalities are located in the state of Mexico but are part of the Greater
Mexico City area. Approximately 75% (10 million) of the state of Mxico's population live
in municipalities that are part of Greater Mexico City's conurbation.
Greater Mexico City was the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country until the late
1980s. Since then, and through a policy of decentralization in order to reduce the
environmental pollutants of the growing conurbation, the annual rate of growth of the
agglomeration has decreased, and it is lower than that of the other four largest metropolitan
areas (namely Greater Guadalajara, Greater Monterrey, Greater Puebla and Greater Toluca)
even though it is still positive.[75] The net migration rate of Mexico City proper from 1995
to 2000, however, was negative,[76] which implies that residents are moving to the suburbs
of the metropolitan area, or to other states of Mexico. In addition, some inner city suburbs
are losing population to outer city suburbs, indicating continual expansion of Greater
Mexico City.
According to the Human Development Report of 2005 [77] most metropolitan municipalities
had a high human development index. Coacalco de Berriozbal had the highest value in the
State of Mexico metropolitan area (.9045), the second highest in the whole state after
Metepec (Greater Toluca) and the fourth in Greater Mexico City after the boroughs of
Benito Juarez, Miguel Hidalgo and Coyoacn making it the 10th nationally. Coacalco was
followed by Cuautitln Izcalli (.9023) which had a very high HDI as well, Cuautitln
(.8919), Atizapn de Zaragoza (.8858) Tlalnepantla de Baz (.8854), Huixquilucan de
Degollado (.8843), Jaltenco (.8772), Naucalpan de Jurez (.8754), Tultitln de Mariano
Escobedo (.8700) and Tecmac (.8669). Even though some of these municipalities have
some of the wealthier neighborhoods of the city, they often contrast with peripheric low
income suburbs known as zonas marginales or ciudades perdidas. This is the case of the
wealthy suburb of Tecamachalco contrasting with El Molinito shanty town, both in
Naucalpan, Chamapa in Naucalpan next to Bosque Real Country Club in Huixquilucan and
Zona Esmeralda residential area in Atizapn with Atizapn de Zaragoza seat and Ciudad
Nicols Romero which also contrasts with the residential area of Bosques del Lago in
Cuautitln Izcalli. Marginal municipalities in the east such as Ciudad Nezahualcyotl
(.8621), Ecatepec de Morelos (.8597), Valle de Chalco (52nd in the state and 452nd
nationally) with .8128 and Chimalhuacn with .8086 (56th in the state and 508 nationally)
also presented high HDI values, nevertheless the last two fell among the lowest of Greater
Mexico City. Municipalities with a Medium HDI were Ozumba (.7983 61st), Temascalapa
(.7982 62nd), Otumba (.7932 66th), Jilotzingo (.7908 68th), Juchitepec (.7874 72nd), Isidro
Fabela (.7791 78th), Axapusco (.7768 80th), Hueypoxtla(.7666 82nd), Nopaltepec (.7661
83rd), Atlautla (.7624 86th), Ecatzingo (.7291 99th) and Villa del Carbn (.7172 104th).
However, all of these municipalities are still out of Mexico City's main urban area and are
considered rural.

Health

Health Secretary
Mexico City is home to some of the best private hospitals in the country; Hospital ngeles,
Hospital ABC and Mdica Sur to name a few. The national public healthcare institution for
private-sector employees IMSS, has its largest facilities in Mexico City, including the
National Medical Center and the La Raza Medical Center, and has an annual budget of over
6 billion pesos. The IMSS and other public health institutions, including the ISSSTE
(Public Sector Employees' Social Security Institute) and the National Health Ministry
(SSA) maintain large specialty facilities in the city. These include the National Institutes of
Cardiology, Nutrition, Psychiatry, Oncology, Pediatrics, Rehabilitation, among others.
The World Bank has sponsored a project to curb air pollution through public transport
improvements and the Mexican government has started shutting down polluting factories.
They have phased out diesel buses and mandated new emission controls on new cars; since
1993 all new cars must be fitted with a catalytic converter, which reduces the emissions
released. Trucks must use only liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Also construction of an
underground rail system was begun in 1968 order to help curb air pollution problems and
alleviate traffic congestion. Today it has over 201 km (125 mi) of track and carries over 5
million people every day. Fees are kept low to encourage use of the system and during rush
hours the crush is so great, that authorities have reserved a special carriage specifically for
women. Due to these initiatives and others, the air quality in Mexico City has begun to
improve, with the air becoming cleaner since 1991, when the air quality was declared to be
a public health risk for 355 days of the year.[citation needed]

Economy

Expensive homes and apartments surrounding a poor dilapidated neighborhood, an example


of the stark difference in incomes amongst Mexico City inhabitants

Mexican Stock Exchange in Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City


Mexico City is one of the most important economic hubs in Latin America. The city proper
(Federal District) produces 15.8% of the country's gross domestic product.[78] According to
a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mexico City had a GDP of $390 billion,
ranking as the eighth richest city in the world after the greater areas of Tokyo, New York,
Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London and Osaka/Kobe, and the richest in the whole of Latin
America, as measured by the GDP of the entire Metropolitan area.[79] making Mexico City
alone the 30th largest economy in the world.[80] Mexico City is the greatest contributor to
the country's industrial GDP (15.8%) and also the greatest contributor to the country's GDP
in the service sector (25.3%). Due to the limited non-urbanized space at the southmost of
which is protected through environmental lawsthe contribution of the Federal District in
agriculture is the smallest of all federal entities in the country.[78] Mexico City has one of the
world's fastest-growing economies and its GDP is set to double by 2020.[81]
In 2002, Mexico City had an HDI index of 0.915[82] identical to that of the Republic of
Korea.
The top twelve percent of GDP per capita holders in the city had a mean disposable income
of US $98,517 in 2007. The high spending power of Mexico City inhabitants makes the
city attractive for companies offering prestige and luxury goods.
The economic reforms of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari had a tremendous effect on
the city, as a number of businesses, including banks and airlines, were privatized. He also
signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This led to the
decentralization[81] and a shift in Mexico City's economic base, from manufacturing to
services, as most factories moved away to either the State of Mexico, or more commonly to
the northern border. By contrast, corporate office buildings set their base in the city.

Demographics

Lebanese Embassy in Mexico City

A German-style home, now a restaurant, in the San Angel neighborhood

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

Monument to the indigenous peoples of Mexico City. The Nahua peoples form the largest
group of indigenous peoples in the city

La Villa de Guadalupe

A Synagogue in Downtown Mexico City

Lower-Middle income units in Eastern Mexico City


Historically, and since pre-Hispanic times, the Valley of Anahuac has been one of the most
densely populated areas in Mexico. When the Federal District was created in 1824, the
urban area of Mexico City extended approximately to the area of today's Cuauhtmoc
borough. At the beginning of the 20th century, the elites began migrating to the south and
west and soon the small towns of Mixcoac and San ngel were incorporated by the
growing conurbation. According to the 1921 census, 54.78% of the city's population was
considered Mestizo (Indigenous mixed with European), 22.79% considered European, and
18.74% considered Indigenous.[83] This was the last Mexican Census which asked people to
self-identify themselves with an heritage other than Amerindian. However, the census had
the particularity that, unlike racial/ethnic census in other countries, it was focussed in the
perception of cultural heritage rather than in a racial perception, leading to a good number
of white people to identify with "Mixed heritage" due cultural influence.[84] In 1921,
Mexico City had less than one million inhabitants.
Up to the 1990s, the Federal District was the most populous federal entity in Mexico, but
since then its population has remained stable at around 8.7 million. The growth of the city
has extended beyond the limits of the Federal District to 59 municipalities of the state of
Mexico and 1 in the state of Hidalgo.[85] With a population of approximately 19.8 million
inhabitants (2008),[86] it is one of the most populous conurbations in the world. Nonetheless,
the annual rate of growth of the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City is much lower than that
of other large urban agglomerations in Mexico,[75] a phenomenon most likely attributable to

the environmental policy of decentralization. The net migration rate of the Federal District
from 1995 to 2000 was negative.[87]
While they represented around 18.74% of the city's population, indigenous peoples from
different regions of Mexico have migrated to the capital in search of better economic
opportunities. Nahuatl, Otomi, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Mazahua are the indigenous languages
with the greatest number of speakers in Mexico City.[88]
On the other hand, Mexico City is home to large communities of expatriates and
immigrants, most notably from the rest of North America (U.S. and Canada), from South
America (mainly from Argentina and Colombia, but also from Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and
Venezuela), from Central America and the Caribbean (mainly from Cuba, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Haiti and Honduras); from Europe (mainly from Spain, Germany and
Switzerland, but also from Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Italy, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Poland and Romania),[89][90] from the Middle East (mainly from Egypt,
Lebanon and Syria);[91] and recently from Asia-Pacific (mainly from China and South
Korea).[92] Historically since the era of New Spain, many Filipinos settled in the city and
have become integrated in Mexican society. While no official figures have been reported,
population estimates of each of these communities are quite significant. Mexico City is
home to the largest population of U.S. Americans living outside the United States. Current
estimates are as high as 700,000 U.S. Americans living in Mexico City, while in 1999 the
U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs estimated over 440,000 Americans lived in the Mexico
City Metropolitan Area.[93][94]
The majority (82%) of the residents in Mexico City are Roman Catholic, higher than the
national percentage, though it has been decreasing over the last decades.[95] Many other
religions and philosophies are also practiced in the city: many different types of Protestant
groups, different types of Jewish communities, Buddhist, Islamic and other spiritual and
philosophical groups. There are also growing numbers of irreligious people, whether
agnostic or atheist.

Landmarks

Paseo de la Reforma

Trajineras at Xochimilco

Monument to the Mexican Revolution

Chapultepec Castle
The Historic center of Mexico City (Centro Histrico) and the "floating gardens" of
Xochimilco in the southern borough have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Famous landmarks in the Historic Center include the Plaza de la Constitucin (Zcalo), the
main central square with its epoch-contrasting Spanish-era Metropolitan Cathedral and
National Palace, ancient Aztec temple ruins Templo Mayor ("Major Temple") and modern
structures, all within a few steps of one another. (The Templo Mayor was discovered in
1978 while workers were digging to place underground electric cables).
The most recognizable icon of Mexico City is the golden Angel of Independence, found on
the wide, elegant avenue Paseo de la Reforma, modeled by the order of the Emperor
Maximilian of Mexico after the Champs-lyses in Paris. This avenue was designed over
the Americas' oldest known major roadway in the 19th century to connect the National
Palace (seat of government) with the Castle of Chapultepec, the imperial residence. Today,
this avenue is an important financial district in which the Mexican Stock Exchange and
several corporate headquarters are located. Another important avenue is the Avenida de los
Insurgentes, which extends 28.8 km (17.9 mi) and is one of the longest single avenues in
the world.
Chapultepec Park houses the Chapultepec Castle, now a museum on a hill that overlooks
the park and its numerous museums, monuments and the national zoo and the National
Museum of Anthropology (which houses the Aztec Calendar Stone). Another piece of
architecture is the Fine Arts Palace, a white marble theatre/museum whose weight is such
that it has gradually been sinking into the soft ground below. Its construction began during
the presidency of Porfirio Daz and ended in 1934, after being interrupted by the Mexican
Revolution in the 1920s. The Plaza of the Three Cultures in the Tlatelolco neighbourhood,
and the shrine and Basilicas of Our Lady of Guadalupe are also important sites. There is a
double-decker bus, known as the "Turibus", that circles most of these sites, and has timed
audio describing the sites in multiple languages as they are passed.
In addition, the city has about 160 museumsthe world's greatest single metropolitan
concentration [96]over 100 art galleries, and some 30 concert halls, all of which maintain a
constant cultural activity during the whole year. It has either the third or fourth-highest
number of theatres in the world after New York, London and perhaps Toronto. In many
locales (e.g. Palacio Nacional and the Instituto Nacional de Cardiologa are murals painted
by Diego Rivera. He and his wife Frida Kahlo lived in Coyoacn, where several of their
homes, studios, and art collections are open to the public. The house where Leon Trotsky
was initially granted asylum and finally murdered in 1940 is also in Coyoacn.
In addition, there are several restored haciendas that are now restaurants, such as the San
ngel Inn, the Hacienda de Tlalpan and the Hacienda de los Morales, all of which embody
Mexican history and boast some of the world's best food.

Transportation

Public transportation

Tlahuac Station and the iconography outside Metro Barranca del Muerto.

Mexico City Metro, Calle 11 Station

Buenavista Suburban Rail station

Tourbus in Downtown Mexico City

A pesero a.k.a. microbs


Metro
Mexico City is served by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo, a 225.9 km (140 mi) metro
system, which is the largest in Latin America. The first portions were opened in 1969 and it
has expanded to 12 lines with 195 stations. The metro is one of the busiest in the world
transporting approximately 4.5 million people every day, surpassed only by subway lines in
Moscow (7.5 million), Tokyo (5.9 million), and New York City (5.1 million).[97] It is heavily
subsidized, and has some of the lowest fares in the world, each trip costing 5.00 pesos from
05:00 am to midnight. Several stations display pre-Columbian artifacts and architecture that
were discovered during the metro's construction.[citation needed] However, the metro covers less
than half of the total urban area. The Metro stations are also differentiated by the use of
icons and glyphs which were proposed for people who could not read. The specific icons
were developed based on historical (characters, sites, pre-Hispanic motifs), linguistic,
symbolic (glyphs) or location references and has being emulated in further transportations
alternatives in the City and in other Mexican cities. Mexico City is the only city in the
world to use the icon reference and has become a popular culture trademark for the city.
Suburban rail
A suburban rail system, the Tren Suburbano serves the metropolitan area, beyond the city
limits of the metro, to municipalities such as Tlalnepantla and Cuautitln Izcalli, with future
extensions to Chalco and La Paz.
Peseros
Peseros are typically half-length passenger buses (known as microbs) that sit 22
passengers and stand up to 28. As of 2007, the approximately 28,000 peseros carried up to
60% of the city's passengers.[98][99]
Urban buses
City agency Red de Transporte de Pasajeros operates a network of large buses. Suburban
buses also leave from the city's main intercity bus stations.

Metrobs rapid transit bus stop in its intersection between Hamburgo Street and Insurgentes
in Zona Rosa
Bus rapid transit
The city's first bus rapid transit line, the Metrobs, began operation in June 2005, along
Avenida Insurgentes. Line 2 opened in December 2008, serving Eje 4 Sur,[100] line 3 opened
in February 2011, serving Eje 1 Poniente,[101] and line 4 opened in April 2012 connecting
the airport with San Lzaro and Buenavista Station at Insurgentes.[102] As the microbuses
were removed from its route, it was hoped that the Metrobs could reduce pollution and
decrease transit time for passengers. In June 2013, Mexico City's mayor announced two
more lines to come: Line 5 serving Eje 3 Oriente and Line 6 serving Eje 5 Norte.[103] As of
June 2013, 367 Metrobs buses transported 850,000 passengers daily.[103]
Mexibs bus rapid transit lines serve suburban areas in the State of Mexico and connect to
the Mexico City metro.

Light rail, Estadio Azteca station


Trolleybus, light rail, streetcars

Electric transport other than the metro also exists, in the form of several Mexico City
trolleybus routes and the Xochimilco Light Rail line, both of which are operated by
Servicio de Transportes Elctricos. The central area's last streetcar line (tramway, or
tranva) closed in 1979.

Roads and car transport

Eje 3 Poniente Avenida Coyoacn, near Colonia Del Valle and Tlacoquemecatl at the
southern portion of the Axis, the other portions of Eje 3 Poniente which connects Polanco
to Coyoacn are Thiers (Polanco), Rio Mississippi (Colonia Cuauhtmoc), Sevilla and
Salamanca (Zona Rosa), Yucatn and Medelln (Colonia Roma) and Amores (Colonia del
Valle)

View of the Anillo Perifrico and Paseo de la Reforma near Chapultepec

Circuito Interior Rio Churubusco, its southern ring


In the late 1970s many arterial roads were redesigned as ejes viales; high-volume one-way
roads that cross, in theory, Mexico City proper from side to side. The eje vial network is
based on a quasi-Cartesian grid, with the ejes themselves being called Eje 1 Poniente, Eje
Central, and Eje 1 Oriente, for example, for the north-south roads, and Eje 2 Sur and Eje 3
Norte, for example, for east-west roads. Ring roads are the Circuito Interior (inner ring),

Anillo Perifrico; the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense ("State of Mexico outer loop") toll road
skirting the northeastern and eastern edges of the metropolitan area,[104] the Chamapa-La
Venta toll road skirting the northwestern edge, and the Arco Norte completely bypassing
the metropolitan area in an arc from northwest (Atlacomulco) to north (Tula, Hidalgo) to
east (Puebla). A second level (where tolls are charged) of the Perifrico, colloquially called
the segundo piso ("second floor"), was officially opened in 2012, with sections still being
completed.[105] The Viaducto Miguel Alemn crosses the city east-west from Observatorio
to the airport. In 2013 the Superva Poniente opened, a toll road linking the new Santa Fe
business district with southwestern Mexico City.
There is an environmental program, called Hoy No Circula ("Today Does Not Run", or
"One Day without a Car"), whereby vehicles that have not passed emissions testing are
restricted from circulating on certain days according to the ending digit of their license
plates; this in an attempt to cut down on pollution and traffic congestion. While in 2003, the
program still restricted 40% of vehicles in the metropolitan area,[106] with the adoption of
stricter emissions standards in 2001 and 2006,[107] in practice, these days most vehicles are
exempt from the circulation restrictions as long as they pass regular emissions tests.[108]
Parking
Main article: Parking in Mexico City
Street parking in urban neighborhoods is mostly controlled by the franeleros a.k.a. "viene
vienes" (lit. "come on, come on"), who ask drivers for a fee to park, in theory to guard the
car, but with the implicit threat that the franelero will damage the car if the fee is not paid.
Double parking is common (with franeleros moving the cars as required), impeding on the
available lanes for traffic to pass. In order to mitigate that and other problems and to raise
revenue,[109] 721 parking meters (as of October 2013), have been installed in the westcentral neighborhoods Lomas de Chapultepec, Condesa, Roma, Polanco and Anzures, in
operation from 8 AM to 8 PM on weekdays and charging a rate of 2 pesos per 15 minutes,
with offenders' cars booted, costing about 500 pesos to remove. 30 percent of the monthly
16 million-peso (as of October 2013) income from the parking-meter system (named
"ecoParq") is earmarked for neighborhood improvements. The granting of the license for all
zones exclusively to a new company without experience in operating parking meters,
Operadora de Estacionamientos Bicentenario, has generated controversy.[110]

Cycling
Main article: EcoBici

Play media

Biking in Paseo de la Reforma

Bicycles available for rental in Zona Rosa


The local government continuously strives for a reduction of massive traffic congestion,
and has increased incentives for making a bicycle-friendly city. This includes North
America's second-largest bicycle sharing system, EcoBici, launched in 2010, in which
registered residents can get bicycles for 45 minutes with a pre-paid subscription of 300
pesos a year. There are, as of September 2013, 276 stations with 4,000 bicycles across an
area stretching from the Historic center to Polanco.[111] within 300 meters of one another
and are fully automatic using a transponder based card. Bicycle-service users have access to
several permanent Ciclovas (dedicated bike paths/lanes/streets), including ones along
Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida Chapultepec as well as one running 59 kilometers from
Polanco to Fierro del Toro, which is located south of Cumbres del Ajusco National Park,
near the Morelos state line.[112][113] The city's initiative is inspired by forward thinking
examples, such as Denmark's Copenhagenization.

Intercity buses

Retail center in the waiting area of the TAPO bus terminal


The city has four major bus stations (North, South, Observatorio, TAPO), which comprise
one of the world's largest transportation agglomerations, with bus service to many cities
across the country and international connections.

Airports

Terminal 2 of the Mexico City airport


Mexico City is served by Mexico City International Airport (IATA Airport Code: MEX).
This airport is Latin America's second busiest and one of the largests in traffic, with daily
flights to United States and Canada, mainland Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean,
South America, Europe and Asia. Aeromxico (Skyteam) is based at this airport, and
provide codeshare agreements with non-Mexican airlines that span the entire globe. It is
used by over 26 million passengers per year.[114] This traffic exceeds the current capacity of
the airport, which has historically centralized the majority of air traffic in the country. An
alternate option is Lic. Adolfo Lpez Mateos International Airport (IATA Airport Code:
TLC) in nearby Toluca, State of Mexico, with about 4.5 million passengers transported last
year. The government engaged in an extensive restructuring program that includes the new
second adjacent terminal, which began operations in 2007, and the enlargement of four
other airports (at the nearby cities of Toluca, Quertaro, Puebla and Cuernavaca) that, along
with Mexico City's airport, comprise the Grupo Aeroportuario del Valle de Mxico,
distributing traffic to different regions in Mexico. The city of Pachuca will also provide
additional expansion to central Mexico's airport network. Mexico City's airport is the main
hub for 11 of the 21 national airline companies.

During his annual state-of-the-nation address on September 2, 2014, President of Mexico


Enrique Pea Nieto unveiled plans for a new international airport to ease the city's
notorious air traffic congestion, tentatively slated for a 2018 opening. The new airport,
which would have six runways, will cost $9.15 billion and would be built on vacant federal
land east of Mexico City International Airport. Goals are to eventually handle 120 million
passengers a year, which would make it the busiest airport in the world.[115][116]

Culture
Art

Palacio de Bellas Artes

Mural in the Palacio de Bellas Artes by David Alfaro Siqueiros

Receptions hall at the Museo Nacional de Arte

Jade mask of the Aztec god Chalchiuhtlicue recovered from the main temple at Tenochtitlan
Mexico City is an important cultural center. Having been capital of a vast pre-Hispanic
empire, and also the capital of richest viceroyalty within the Spanish Empire (ruling over a
vast territory in the Americas and Spanish West Indies), and, finally, the capital of the
United Mexican States, Mexico City has a rich history of artistic expression. Since the
mesoamerican pre-Classical period the inhabitants of the settlements around Lake Texcoco
produced many works of art and complex craftsmanship, some of which are today
displayed at the world-renowned National Museum of Anthropology and the Templo Mayor
museum. While many pieces of pottery and stone-engraving have survived, the great
majority of the Amerindian iconography was destroyed during the Conquest of Mexico.

Much of the early colonial art stemmed from the codices (Aztec illustrated books), aiming
to recover and preserve some Aztec and other Amerindian iconography and history. From
then, artistic expressions in Mexico were mostly religious in theme. The Metropolitan
Cathedral still displays works by Juan de Rojas, Juan Correa and an oil painting whose
authorship has been attributed to Murillo. Secular works of art of this period include the
equestrian sculpture of Charles IV of Spain, locally known as El Caballito ("The little
horse"). This piece, in bronze, was the work of Manuel Tols and it has been placed at the
Plaza Tols, in front of the Palacio de Minera (Mining Palace). Directly in front of this
building is the beautiful Museo Nacional de Arte (Munal) (the National Museum of Art).
During the 19th century, an important producer of art was the Academia de San Carlos (San
Carlos Art Academy), founded during colonial times, and which later became the Escuela
Nacional de Artes Plsticas (the National School of Arts) including painting, sculpture and
graphic design, one of UNAM's art schools. Many of the works produced by the students
and faculty of that time are now displayed in the Museo Nacional de San Carlos (National
Museum of San Carlos). One of the students, Jos Mara Velasco, is considered one of the
greatest Mexican landscape painters of the 19th century. Porfirio Daz's regime sponsored
arts, especially those that followed the French school. Popular arts in the form of cartoons
and illustrations flourished, e.g. those of Jos Guadalupe Posada and Manuel Manilla. The
permanent collection of the San Carlos Museum also includes paintings by European
masters such as Rembrandt, Velzquez, Murillo, and Rubens.
After the Mexican Revolution, an avant-garde artistic movement originated in Mexico City:
muralism. Many of the works of muralists Jos Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros
and Diego Rivera are displayed in numerous buildings in the city, most notably at the
National Palace and the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Frida Kahlo, wife of Rivera, with a strong
nationalist expression, was also one of the most renowned of Mexican painters. Her house
has become a museum that displays many of her works.
The former home of Rivera muse Dolores Olmedo houses the namesake museum. The
facility is in Xochimilco borough in southern Mexico City and includes several buildings
surrounded by sprawling manicured lawns. It houses a large collection of Rivera and Kahlo
paintings and drawings, as well as living Xoloizcuintles (Mexican Hairless Dog). It also
regularly hosts small but important temporary exhibits of classical and modern art (e.g.
Venetian Masters and Contemporary New York artists).
During the 20th century, many artists immigrated to Mexico City from different regions of
Mexico, such as Leopoldo Mndez, an engraver from Veracruz, who supported the creation
of the socialist Taller de la Grfica Popular (Popular Graphics Workshop), designed to help
blue-collar workers find a venue to express their art. Other painters came from abroad, such
as Catalan painter Remedios Varo and other Spanish and Jewish exiles. It was in the second
half of the 20th century that the artistic movement began to drift apart from the
Revolutionary theme. Jos Luis Cuevas opted for a modernist style in contrast to the
muralist movement associated with social politics.

Museums

Museo Soumaya in the Nuevo Polanco district

Museo Frida Kahlo

Reconstruction of the entrance to the Hochob temple in the National Museum of


Anthropology

MUAC in Ciudad Universitaria


Mexico City has numerous museums dedicated to art, including Mexican colonial, modern
and contemporary art, and international art. The Museo Tamayo was opened in the mid1980s to house the collection of international contemporary art donated by famed Mexican
(born in the state of Oaxaca) painter Rufino Tamayo. The collection includes pieces by
Picasso, Klee, Kandinsky, Warhol and many others, though most of the collection is stored
while visiting exhibits are shown. The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) is
a repository of Mexican artists from the 20th century, including Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros,
Kahlo, Gerzso, Carrington, Tamayo, among others, and also regularly hosts temporary
exhibits of international modern art. In southern Mexico City, the Museo Carrillo Gil
(Carrillo Gil Museum) showcases avant-garde artists, as does the University
Museum/Contemporary Art (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporneo or MUAC),
designed by famed Mexican architect Teodoro Gonzlez de Len, inaugurated in late 2008.
The Museo Soumaya, named after the wife of Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, has the
largest private collection of original Rodin sculptures outside Paris. It also has a large
collection of Dal sculptures, and recently began showing pieces in its masters collection
including El Greco, Velzquez, Picasso and Canaletto. The museum inaugurated a new
futuristic-design facility in 2011 just north of Polanco, while maintaining a smaller facility
in Plaza Loreto in southern Mexico City. The Coleccin Jmex is a contemporary art
museum located on the sprawling grounds of the Jumex juice company in the northern
industrial suburb of Ecatepec. It is said to have the largest private contemporary art
collection in Latin America and hosts pieces from its permanent collection as well as
traveling exhibits by leading contemporary artists. The new Museo Jmex in Nuevo
Polanco was slated to open in November 2013. The Museo de San Ildefonso, housed in the
Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City's historic downtown district is a 17thcentury colonnaded palace housing an art museum that regularly hosts world-class exhibits
of Mexican and international art. Recent exhibits have included those on David LaChapelle,
Antony Gormley and Ron Mueck. The National Museum of Art (Museo Nacional de Arte)
is also located in a former palace in the historic center. It houses a large collection of pieces
by all major Mexican artists of the last 400 years and also hosts visiting exhibits.
Jack Kerouac, the noted American author, spent extended periods of time in the city, and
wrote his masterpiece volume of poetry Mexico City Blues here. Another American author,
William S. Burroughs, also lived in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of the city for some
time. It was here that he accidentally shot his wife.
Most of Mexico City's more than 150 museums can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday
from 10 am to 5 pm, although some of them have extended schedules, such as the Museum

of Anthropology and History, which is open to 7 pm. In addition to this, entrance to most
museums is free on Sunday. In some cases a modest fee may be charged.[117]
Another major addition to the city's museum scene is the Museum of Remembrance and
Tolerance (Museo de la Memoria y Tolerancia), inaugurated in early 2011. The brainchild
of two young Mexican women as a Holocaust museum, the idea morphed into a unique
museum dedicated to showcasing all major historical events of discrimination and
genocide. Permanent exhibits include those on the Holocaust and other large-scale
atrocities. It also houses temporary exhibits; one on Tibet was inaugurated by the Dalai
Lama in September 2011.

Music, theater and entertainment

Auditorio Nacional

The City Theatre

Mexico City Arena

Cineteca Nacional
Mexico City is home to a number of orchestras offering season programs. These include the
Mexico City Philharmonic,[118] which performs at the Sala Ollin Yoliztli; the National
Symphony Orchestra, whose home base is the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of the Fine
Arts), a masterpiece of art nouveau and art dec styles; the Philharmonic Orchestra of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (OFUNAM),[119] and the Minera Symphony
Orchestra,[120] both of which perform at the Sala Nezahualcyotl, which was the first wraparound concert hall in the Western Hemisphere when inaugurated in 1976. There are also
many smaller ensembles that enrich the city's musical scene, including the Carlos Chvez
Youth Symphony, the New World Orchestra (Orquesta del Nuevo Mundo), the National
Polytechnical Symphony and the Bellas Artes Chamber Orchestra (Orquesta de Cmara de
Bellas Artes).
The city is also a leading center of popular culture and music. There are a multitude of
venues hosting Spanish and foreign-language performers. These include the 10,000-seat
National Auditorium that regularly schedules the Spanish and English-language pop and
rock artists, as well as many of the world's leading performing arts ensembles, the
auditorium also broadcasts Grand Opera performances from New York's Metropolitan
Opera on giant, high definition screens. In 2007 National Auditorium was selected world's
best venue by multiple genre media.
Other popular sites for pop-artist performances include the 3,000-seat Teatro Metropolitan,
the 15,000-seat Palacio de los Deportes, and the larger 50,000-seat Foro Sol Stadium,
where popular international artists perform on a regular basis. The Cirque du Soleil has
held several seasons at the Carpa Santa Fe, in the Santa Fe district in the western part of the
city. There are numerous venues for smaller musical ensembles and solo performers. These
include the Hard Rock Live, Batacln, Foro Scotiabank, Lunario, Circo Volador and Voil

Acoustique. Recent additions include the 20,000-seat Arena Ciudad de Mxico, the 3,000seat Pepsi Center World Trade Center, and the 2,500-seat Auditorio Blackberry.
The Centro Nacional de las Artes (National Center for the Arts has several venues for
music, theatre, dance. UNAM's main campus, also in the southern part of the city, is home
to the Centro Cultural Universitario (the University Culture Center) (CCU). The CCU also
houses the National Library, the interactive Universum, Museo de las Ciencias,[121] the Sala
Nezahualcyotl concert hall, several theatres and cinemas, and the new University Museum
of Contemporary Art (MUAC).[122] A branch of the National University's CCU cultural
center was inaugurated in 2007 in the facilities of the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
known as Tlatelolco, in north-central Mexico City.
The Jos Vasconcelos Library, a national library, is located on the grounds of the former
Buenavista railroad station in the northern part of the city.
The Papalote children's museum, which houses the world's largest dome screen, is located
in the wooded park of Chapultepec, near the Museo Tecnolgico, and La Feria amusement
park. The theme park Six Flags Mxico (the largest amusement park in Latin America) is
located in the Ajusco neighborhood, in Tlalpan borough, southern Mexico City. During the
winter, the main square of the Zcalo is transformed into a gigantic ice skating rink, which
is said to be the largest in the world behind that of Moscow's Red Square.
The Cineteca Nacional (the Mexican Film Library), near the Coyoacn suburb, shows a
variety of films, and stages many film festivals, including the annual International
Showcase, and many smaller ones ranging from Scandinavian and Uruguayan cinema, to
Jewish and LGBT-themed films. Cinpolis and Cinemex, the two biggest film business
chains, also have several film festivals throughout the year, with both national and
international movies. Mexico City tops the world in number of IMAX theatres,[citation needed]
providing residents and visitors access to films ranging from documentaries to popular
blockbusters on these especially large, dramatic screens.

Cuisine

The now globally popular taco originated in pre-Hispanic Mexico City. It was first eaten by
indigenous Nahua people living near the lakes of the Mexico City region who ate tacos
filled with seafood and avocado

Mexico City offers a variety of cuisines. Restaurants specializing in the regional cuisines of
Mexico's 31 states are available in the city. Also available are restaurants representing a
spectrum of international cuisines, including French, Italian, Croatian, Spanish (including
many regional variations), Jewish, Lebanese, Chinese (again with regional variations),
Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese; and of course fellow Latin American cuisines
such as Argentine, Brazilian, and Peruvian. Haute, fusion, kosher, vegetarian and vegan
cuisines are also available, as are restaurants solely based on the concepts of local food and
slow Food.
Mexico City is known for having some of the freshest fish and seafood in Mexico's interior.
La Nueva Viga Market is the second largest seafood market in the world after the Tsukiji
fish market in Japan.
The city also has several branches of renowned international restaurants and chefs. These
include Paris' Au Pied de Cochon and Brasserie Lipp, Philippe (by Philippe Chow); Nobu,
Morimoto; Pmpano, owned by Mexican-raised opera legend Plcido Domingo. There are
branches of the exclusive Japanese restaurant Suntory, Rome's famed Alfredo, as well as
New York steakhouses Morton's and The Palm, and Monte Carlo's BeefBar. Three of the
most famous Lima-based Haute Peruvian restaurants, La Mar, Segundo Muelle and Astrid y
Gastn have locations in Mexico City.
For the 2014 list of World's 50 Best Restaurants as named by the British magazine
Restaurant, Mexico City ranked with the Mexican avant-garde restaurant Pujol (owned by
Mexican chef Enrique Olvera) at 20th best. Also notable is the Basque-Mexican fusion
restaurant Biko (run and co-owned by Bruno Oteiza and Mikel Alonso), which placed
outside the list at 59th, but in previous years has ranked within the top 50.[123]
Mexico's award-winning wines are offered at many restaurants, and the city offers unique
experiences for tasting the regional spirits, with broad selections of tequila and mezcal.
At the other end of the scale are working class pulque bars known as pulqueras, a
challenge for tourists to locate and experience.

Sports
Team
Amrica
Universidad Nacional
Cruz Azul
Diablos Rojos del Mxico

Stadium
Azteca Stadium
University Olympic Stadium
Azul Stadium
Foro Sol

League
Liga MX
Liga MX
Liga MX
Mexican League

Estadio Olmpico Universitario, considered as the most important building in modern


America by Frank Lloyd Wright

Azteca Stadium, the sixth largest stadium in the world


Association football is the country's most popular and most televised franchised sport. Its
important venues in Mexico City include the Azteca Stadium, home to the Mexico national
football team and giants Amrica, which can seat 105,000 fans, making it the biggest
stadium in Latin America. The Olympic Stadium in Ciudad Universitaria is home to the
football club giants Universidad Nacional, with a seating capacity of over 63,000. The
Estadio Azul, which seats 35,000 fans, is near the World Trade Center Mexico City in the
Nochebuena neighborhood, and is home to the giants Cruz Azul. The three teams are based
in Mexico City and play in the First Division; they are also part, with Guadalajara-based
giants Club Deportivo Guadalajara, of Mexico's traditional "Big Four" (though recent years
have tended to erode the teams' leading status at least in standings). The country hosted the
FIFA World Cup in 1970 and 1986, and Azteca Stadium is the first stadium in World Cup
history to host the final twice.
Mexico City remains the only Latin American city to host the Olympic Games, having held
the Summer Olympics in 1968, winning bids against Buenos Aires, Lyon and Detroit. (This
too will change thanks to Rio, 2016 Summer Games host). The city hosted the 1955 and
1975 Pan American Games, the last after Santiago and So Paulo withdrew. The ICF
Flatwater Racing World Championships were hosted here in 1974 and 1994. Lucha libre is
a Mexican style of wrestling, and is one of the more popular sports throughout the country.
The main venues in the city are Arena Mxico and Arena Coliseo.
From 1962 to 1970 and again from 1986 to 1992, the track hosted the Formula 1 Mexican
Grand Prix. From 1980 to 1981 and again from 2002 to 2007, it hosted the Champ Car
World Series Gran Premio de Mxico. Beginning in 2005, the NASCAR Nationwide Series
ran the Telcel-Motorola Mxico 200. 2005 also marked the first running of the Mexico City

250 by the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. Both races were removed from their series'
schedules for 2009. Baseball is another sport played professionally in the city. Mexico City
is currently home to Mexican League baseball's Mexico Red Devils, considered Triple-A by
U.S/Canadian Major League Baseball. The Devils play their home games at the Foro Sol
sports and concert venue, adjacent to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Mexico City has
some 10 Little Leagues for young baseball players.
In 2005, Mexico City became the first city to host an NFL regular season game outside of
the United States, at the Azteca Stadium. To date, the crowd of 103,467 people attending
this game is the largest ever for a regular season game in NFL history. The city has also
hosted several NBA pre-season games and has hosted international basketball's FIBA
Americas Championship, along with north-of-the-border Major League Baseball exhibition
games at Foro Sol.
Other sports facilities in Mexico City are the Palacio de los Deportes indoor arena,
Francisco Mrquez Olympic Swimming Pool, the Hipdromo de Las Amricas, the Agustin
Melgar Olympic Velodrome, and venues for equestrianism and horse racing, ice hockey,
rugby, American-style football, baseball, and basketball.
Bullfighting takes place every Sunday during bullfighting season at the 50,000-seat Plaza
Mxico, the world's largest bullring.
Mexico City's golf courses have hosted Women's LPGA action, and two Men's Golf World
Cups. Courses throughout the city are available as private as well as public venues.

Education

Universidad Iberoamericana Private University

National Polytechnic Institute

National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico's biggest Public Institution

Headquarters of the Mexican Secretary of Education


The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), located in Mexico City, is the
largest university on the continent, with more than 300,000 students from all backgrounds.
Three Nobel laureates, several Mexican entrepreneurs and most of Mexico's modern-day
presidents are among its former students. UNAM conducts 50% of Mexico's scientific
research and has presence all across the country with satellite campuses, observatories and
research centres. UNAM ranked 74th in the Top 200 World University Ranking published
by Times Higher Education (then called Times Higher Education Supplement) in 2006,[124]
making it the highest ranked Spanish-speaking university in the world. The sprawling main
campus of the university, known as Ciudad Universitaria, was named a World Heritage Site
by UNESCO in 2007.
The second largest higher-education institution is the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN),
which includes among many other relevant centers the Centro de Investigacin y de
Estudios Avanzados (Cinvestav), where varied high-level scientific and technological
research is done. Other major higher-education institutions in the city include the
Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM), the National School of Anthropology and
History (ENAH), the Instituto Tecnolgico Autnomo de Mxico, the Monterrey Institute
of Technology and Higher Education (3 campuses), the Universidad Panamericana (UP),
the Universidad La Salle, the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM), the Universidad
Anhuac, the Alliant International University, the Universidad Iberoamericana, El Colegio

de Mxico (Colmex), Escuela Libre de Derecho and the Centro de Investigacin y


Docencia Econmica, (CIDE). In addition, the prestigious University of California
maintains a campus known as "Casa de California" in the city.[125] The Universidad
Tecnolgica de Mxico is also in Mexico City.
Unlike those of Mexican states' schools, curricula of Mexico City's public schools is
managed by the federal Secretary of Public Education. The whole funding is allocated by
the government of Mexico City (in some specific cases, such as El Colegio de Mxico,
funding comes from both the city's government and other public and private national and
international entities).[citation needed] The city's public high school system is the Instituto de
Educacin Media Superior del Distrito Federal (IEMS-DF).
A special case is that of El Colegio Nacional, created during the district's governmental
period of Miguel Alemn Valds to have, in Mexico, an institution similar to the College of
France. The select and privileged group of Mexican scientists and artists belonging to this
institutionmembership is for lifeinclude, among many, Mario Lavista, Ruy Prez
Tamayo, Jos Emilio Pacheco, Marcos Moshinsky (d.2009), Guillermo Sobern Acevedo.
Members are obligated to publicly disclose their works through conferences and public
events such as concerts and recitals.
Among its many public and private schools (K-13), the city offers multi-cultural, multilingual and international schools attended by Mexican and foreign students. Best known are
the Colegio Alemn (German school with 3 main campuses), the Liceo Mexicano Japons
(Japanese), the Centro Cultural Coreano en Mxico (Korean), the Lyce Franco-Mexicain
(French), the American School, The Westhill Institute (American School), the Edron
Academy and the Greengates School (British).

Media
Mexico City is Latin America's leading center for the television, music and film industries.
It is also Mexico's most important for the printed media and book publishing industries.
Dozens of daily newspapers are published, including El Universal, Exclsior, Reforma and
La Jornada. Other major papers include Milenio, Crnica, El Economista and El
Financiero. Leading magazines include Expansin, Proceso, Poder, as well as dozens of
entertainment publications such as Vanidades, Quin, Chilango, TV Notas, and local
editions of Vogue, GQ, and Architectural Digest.
It is also a leading center of the advertising industry. Most international ad firms have
offices in the city, including Grey, JWT, Leo Burnett, Euro RSCG, BBDO, Ogilvy, Saatchi
& Saatchi, and McCann Erickson. Many local firms also compete in the sector, including
Alazraki, Olabuenaga/Chemistri, Tern, Augusto Elas, and Clemente Cmara, among
others. There are 60 radio stations operating in the city and many local community radio
transmission networks.
The two largest media companies in the Spanish-speaking world, Televisa and Azteca, are
headquartered in Mexico City. Other local television channels include: XEW-TV 2 XHTV-

TV 4 XHGC-TV 5 XHIMT-TV 7 XEQ-TV 9 XEIPN-TV 11 XHDF-TV 13 XHUNAM-TV


20 XEIMT-TV 22 XHRAE-TV 28 XHTVM-TV 40 XHCDM-DT 21

Shopping
Mexico City offers an immense and varied consumer retail market, with thousands of
options for everything from the very basic foods to ultra high-end luxury goods. Consumers
may buy in fixed indoor markets, mobile markets (tianguis), from street vendors, from
downtown shops in a street dedicated to a certain type of good, in convenience stores and
traditional neighborhood stores, in modern supermarkets, in warehouse and membership
stores and the shopping centers that they anchor, in department stores, big-box stores and in
modern shopping malls.
Traditional markets
See also: Traditional fixed markets in Mexico

Informal markets are found in public spaces throughout the city

Multi-storey Sanborns department store with the faade of a 19th-century home being used
as an entrance area

Decorated faade of the Portal de Mercaderes market building


The city's main source of fresh produce is the Central de Abasto. This in itself is a selfcontained mini-city in Iztapalapa borough covering an area equivalent to several dozen city
blocks. The wholesale market supplies most of the city's "mercados", supermarkets and
restaurants, as well as people who come to buy the freshest produce for themselves. Tons of
fresh produce are trucked in from all over Mexico every day.
The principal fish market is known as La Nueva Viga, in the same complex as the Central
de Abastos. Fresh fish from all around the country is available, mainly from the central
Pacific coast and Veracruz. The world-renowned market of Tepito occupies 25 blocks, and
is known to sell a great variety of products.
A staple for consumers in the city is the omnipresent "mercado". Every major neighborhood
in the city has its own borough-regulated market, often more than one. These are large wellestablished facilities offering most basic products, such as fresh produce and meat/poultry,
dry goods, tortilleras, and many other services such as locksmiths, herbal medicine,
hardware goods, sewing implements; and a multitude of stands offering freshly made,
home-style cooking and drinks in the tradition of aguas frescas and atole.
Tianguis
In addition, "tianguis" or mobile markets set up shop on streets in many neighborhoods,
depending on day of week. Sundays see the largest number of these markets. The stalls
generally use awnings of a single color or shade (pink and red, for example), making them
easily identifiable from several blocks away.
Street vendors
Main article: Street vendors in Mexico City
Street vendors play their trade from stalls in the tianguis as well as at non-officially
controlled concentrations around metro stations and hospitals; at plazas comerciales, where
vendors of a certain "theme" (e.g. stationery) are housed; originally these were organized to
accommodate vendors formerly selling on the street; or simply from improvised stalls on a
city sidewalk.[126] In addition, food and goods are sold from people walking with baskets,
pushing carts, from bicycles or the backs of trucks, or simply from a tarp or cloth laid on
the ground.[127]

Downtown shopping

Sears store in Downtown Mexico City


The Historic Center of Mexico City is widely known for specialized, often low-cost
retailers. Certain blocks or streets are dedicated to shops selling a certain type of
merchandise, with areas dedicated to over 40 categories such as home appliances, lamps
and electricals, closets and bathrooms, housewares, wedding dresses, jukeboxes, printing,
office furniture and safes, books, photography, jewelry, and opticians.[128] The main
department stores are also represented downtown.
Traditional markets downtown include the La Merced Market; the Mercado de Jamaica
specializes in fresh flowers, the Mercado de Sonora in the occult, and La Lagunilla in
furniture.
Ethnic shopping areas are located in Chinatown, downtown along Calle Dolores, but
Mexico City's Koreatown, or Pequeo Sel, is located in the Zona Rosa.
Supermarkets and neighborhood stores
Large, modern chain supermarkets, hypermarkets and warehouse clubs including Soriana,
Comercial Mexicana, Chedraui, Bodega Aurrer, Walmart and Costco, are located across
the city. Many anchor shopping centers that contain smaller shops, services, a food court
and sometimes cinemas.
Small "mom-and-pop" corner stores ("abarroteras" or more colloquially as "changarros")
abound in all neighborhoods, rich and poor. These are small shops offering basics such as
soft drinks, packaged snacks, canned goods and dairy products. Thousands of C-stores or
corner stores, such as Oxxo, 7-Eleven and Extra are located throughout the city.
Department stores and shopping malls
Major department stores include El Palacio de Hierro, Liverpool, Sanborn's, Sears,
Suburbia, Viana, and Fbricas de Francia. Most anchor large modern shopping malls.

Avenida Presidente Masaryk, in Polanco, home of many luxury boutiques and stores

Centro Santa Fe during 2012 expansion


Luxury goods retailers are concentrated on Avenida Presidente Masaryk in Polanco; the
Centro Santa Fe mall with its Saks Fifth Avenue branch and numerous luxury boutiques;
Paseo Interlomas in Interlomas; Arcos Bosques, a speciality center in Bosques de las
Lomas; Antara Polanco, a high-end mall in Polanco; Avenida Altavista in the southern
neighborhood of San ngel, including a small shopping center on the street; Altavista 147
in the Colonia del Valle district with its malls Galeras Insurgentes and Centro Coyoacn.
Branches of department store El Palacio de Hierro and to a lesser extent Liverpool contain
luxury boutiques. Punta Norte Outlet Mall in the city's north has luxury-good outlets.
For a more bohemian ambiance, the neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Coyoacn and San
ngel emphasize outdoor shopping and dining.

Parks and recreation

Office buildings in Polanco seen from Chapultepec Lake

Infinitum roller coaster at La Feria Chapultepec Mgico

Convent at the Desierto de los Leones National Park


Chapultepec Park, the city's most iconic public park, has history back to the Aztec emperors
who used the area as a retreat. It is south of Polanco district, and houses the city's zoo,
several ponds, seven museums including the National Museum of Anthropology, and the
oldest and most traditional amusement park, La Feria de Chapultepec Mgico, with its
vintage Montaa Rusa rollercoaster.
Other iconic city parks include the Alameda Central, Mexico City historic center, a city
park since colonial times and renovated in 2013; Parque Mxico and Parque Espaa in the
hip Condesa district; Parque de los Venados in Colonia del Valle, and Parque Lincoln in
Polanco.[129] There are many smaller parks throughout the city. Most are small "squares"
occupying two or three square blocks amid residential or commercial districts.
Several other larger parks such as the Bosque de Tlalpan and Viveros de Coyoacn, and in
the east Alameda Oriente, offer many recreational activities. Northwest of the city is a large
ecological reserve, the Bosque de Aragn, which is also an amusement park with a fine
lake, aquarium, watering place, zoo, theater and other attractions. In the southeast is the
Xochimilco Ecological Park and Plant Market, a World Heritage site. West of Santa Fe
district are the pine forests of the Desierto de los Leones National Park.
Besides La Fera Chapultepec Mgico, other amusement parks include Six Flags Mxico
(the largest in Latin America), in Ajusco neighborhood, known across Latin America for its
thrilling roller coasters. There are numerous seasonal fairs; the main one is held in winter
on the main square of the Zcalo, which is transformed into an arctic getaway with ice
igloos, slides and a gigantic ice skating rink said to be the world's largest of its kind. This
event is free to the public and includes special events such as stage performances and
concerts. Additionally there are many temporary fairs with rides throughout the city's
neighborhoods.

Nicknames
Mexico City was traditionally known as La Ciudad de los Palacios ("the City of the
Palaces"), a nickname attributed to Baron Alexander von Humboldt when visiting the city
in the 19th century, who, sending a letter back to Europe, said Mexico City could rival any
major city in Europe.
During Andrs Lpez Obrador's administration a political slogan was introduced: la
Ciudad de la Esperanza ("The City of Hope"). This motto was quickly adopted as a city
nickname, but has faded since the new motto Capital en Movimiento ("Capital in
Movement") was adopted by the administration headed by Marcelo Ebrard, though the
latter is not treated as often as a nickname in media. Since 2013, to refer to the City
particularly in relation to government campaigns, the abbreviation CDMX has been used
(from Ciudad de Mxico).
The city is colloquially known as Chilangolandia after the locals' nickname chilangos.[130]
Chilango is used pejoratively by people living outside Mexico City to "connote a loud,
arrogant, ill-mannered, loutish person".[131] For their part those living in Mexico City
designate insultingly those who live elsewhere as living in la provincia ("the provinces",
the periphery) and many proudly embrace the term chilango.[132] Residents of Mexico City
are more recently called defeos (deriving from the postal abbreviation of the Federal
District in Spanish: D.F., which is read "De-Efe"). They are formally called capitalinos (in
reference to the city being the capital of the country), but "[p]erhaps because capitalino is
the more polite, specific, and correct word, it is almost never utilized".[133]

Law enforcement
Main article: Federal District Police

Officers of the SSP

Headquarters of the Mexican Federal Police


The Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District (Secretara de Seguridad Pblica
del Distrito Federal SSP) manages a combined force of over 90,000 officers in the
Federal District (DF). The SSP is charged with maintaining public order and safety in the
heart of Mexico City. The historic district is also roamed by tourist police, aiming to orient
and serve tourists. These horse-mounted agents dress in traditional uniforms.
The investigative Judicial Police of the Federal District (Polica Judicial del Distrito Federal
PJDF) is organized under the Office of the Attorney General of the DF (the Procuradura
General de Justicia del Distrito Federal). The PGJDF maintains 16 precincts (delegaciones)
with an estimated 3,500 judicial police, 1,100 investigating agents for prosecuting attorneys
(agentes del ministerio pblico), and nearly 1,000 criminology experts or specialists
(peritos).
Between 2000 and 2004 an average of 478 crimes were reported each day in Mexico City;
however, the actual crime rate is thought to be much higher "since most people are reluctant
to report crime".[134] Under policies enacted by Mayor Marcelo Ebrard between 2009 and
2011, Mexico City underwent a major security upgrade with violent and petty crime rates
both falling significantly despite the rise in violent crime in other parts of the country. Some
of the policies enacted included the installation of 11,000 security cameras around the city
and a very large expansion of the police force. Mexico City currently has one of the world's
highest police officer-to-resident ratios, with one uniformed officer per 100 citizens.[135]

Gallery


View of Central Mexico City

View of Mexico City from Chapultepec Castle

Polanco

Plaza Garibaldi.


Southern edge of the city.

Downtown Mexico City

Downtown Mexico City at night

Camara de los Secretos in Chimalistac


House of Leon Trotsky

Casa Carranza

Acueducto de Chapultepec

Kiosco Morisco


Herico Colegio Militar

Casa de los Azulejos, Centro Histrico de la Ciudad de Mxico

Domes of El Carmen Church in San Angel

western Mexico City


Bosques district in Cuajimalpa

Correos de Mxico

Casa Lamm in Colonia Roma

Hemiciclo a Jurez

Panorama
360 panorama of the city, made from Torre Latinoamericana in May 2014.

360 Panorama of Mexico City from Torre Latinoamericana, May 2014

International relations
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed. (April 2015)
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Mexico

Twin towns and sister cities


Mexico City is part of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities[136] and twinned with:

Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Andorra la Vella,
Andorra
Arequipa, Peru
Astana,
Kazakhstan [137]
Asuncin,
Paraguay

Athens, Greece

Beijing, China

Doha, Qatar

Panama City,
Panama

Guatemala City,
Guatemala

Paris, France

Havana, Cuba[140]

Quito, Ecuador[147]

Istanbul, Turkey[141]

Ranchi, India

[142]

Jakarta, Indonesia

Kaliningrad, Russia

Kiev, Ukraine[143]

Beirut, Lebanon
Berlin,

Kuwait City,
Kuwait[144]
La Paz, Bolivia

Reykjavk,
Iceland[148]

Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil

Rome, Italy

Santiago, Chile

So Paulo, Brazil

Germany[138]

Bogot, Colombia

Brussels, Belgium

Buenos Aires,
Argentina

San Juan, Puerto


Rico

Cairo, Egypt

Lima, Peru

Lisbon, Portugal

Chicago, United
States
Ciudad Jurez,
Mexico

Cusco, Peru[139]

Los Angeles,
United States

Madrid, Spain

Malm, Sweden

Manila, Philippines

Caracas,
Venezuela

San Jos, Costa


Rica

San Salvador, El
Salvador

Seoul, South
Korea[149][150]

Stockholm,
Sweden

[145]

Montevideo,
Uruguay

Stuttgart, Germany

Sydney, Australia

Nagoya, Japan

Tel Aviv, Israel

Nairobi, Kenya[146]

Toronto, Canada

Nicosia, Cyprus

Dolores Hidalgo,
Mexico

See also
Mexico portal
Latin America portal
North America portal
New Spain portal

Large Cities Climate Leadership Group

Largest cities in the Americas

Metropolitan areas of Mexico

Outline of Mexico

World's largest cities

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