Mexico City

I

Introduction

Mexico City, city, south-central Mexico, capital and largest city of the country, in the Distrito Federal. Situated in the Valley of Mexico, a highland basin, at an elevation of about 2,350 m (7,710 ft), the city is bounded by mountains on three sides. According to the 1990 census, Mexico City proper had a population of 8,236,960. The metropolitan area had a population of 15,047,685, making it the largest urban area in the world. Traditionally, Mexico City has been populated by mestizos (people of Spanish and Native American descent) and criollos (people of pure Spanish descent). However, migration from other parts of the country has increased the numbers of Native Americans, and immigration from abroad has included non-Spanish Europeans, Arabs, and Asians. Population 14,007,495 (2005 estimate).

II

Economy

More than half of Mexico’s industrial output is produced in or near Mexico City. Manufactures include textiles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, electric and electronic items, steel, and transport equipment; in addition, a variety of foodstuffs and light consumer goods are produced. Mexico City is the centre of an emerging manufacturing belt that stretches from Guadalajara in the west to Veracruz on the Gulf Coast in the east. Industrial development is taking place in the north between Azcaptozalco and Cautitlan and in the north-east at Ecatapec. Major highways and railways radiate from the city to all parts of the country. A large international airport is located east of the city. Transport within Mexico City has been chronically congested, partly because of the narrow old streets and partly because of the large number of motor vehicles. An important improvement was the opening of an underground railway system in 1970, which now links industrial areas north of the city with residential and commercial districts.

III

Places of Interest

For the most part, Mexico City is a low, sprawling mass of grey and brown buildings set along a rectangular pattern of narrow streets. The pattern is broken by several broad boulevards lined with modern high-rise apartment and commercial buildings, by several large open plazas, and by numerous forested parks. The parks are popular with residents, who meet to talk, stroll, and enjoy the city’s dry, spring-like climate.

The centre of the city has historically been the Zócalo, or Plaza of the Constitution, which occupies the site of the central square of the Aztec city Tenochtitlán, flanked by the massive Baroque National Cathedral (begun 1573, completed 1675), the Municipal Palace (1720), and the National Palace (1792), containing the office of the president and the senate. To the south-east the famous floating gardens of Xochimilco are a reminder of the ancient lake system. From the Zócalo the major avenue extends north to the Plaza of the Three Cultures, which has Aztec, Spanish colonial, and modern structures, and south to the sprawling Chapultepec Park, which contains several museums, a zoo, and Chapultepec Castle, the former presidential residence. The city’s outward growth has created numerous suburbs and neighbourhoods of great diversity, ranging from the elegant residential area of Pedregal, with its modernistic architecture, to the crowded squatter settlement of Netzahualcóyotl, located on the dry bed of Lake Texcoco, with more than 1.5 million people. The historic centre of Mexico City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. A second site in the city—the studio and house of Mexican architect Luis Barragán—was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004.

More than two dozen institutions of higher learning are located in or near Mexico City, including nine universities. Education in the city, and in the country as a whole, is dominated by the huge National Autonomous University of Mexico, in the south of the city. The institution’s Central University City campus became a World Heritage Site in 2007. Also located in Mexico City is the country’s new National Centre of the Arts, which was opened in 1994. This architecturally impressive complex has facilities for students of the fine arts, music, film, and drama, and contains a library and a concert hall. Among the city’s numerous museums are the strikingly designed National Museum of Anthropology, with unparalleled exhibits of pre-Columbian artefacts; the Museum of Modern Art; and the National Historical Museum. Other aspects of Mexican cultural life are the vivid Ballet Folklórico performances at the Palace of Fine Arts and the lines of pilgrims converging on the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadelupe, Mexico’s most important religious shrine, located on the outskirts of the city.

IV

History

Aztec records set the founding date of their city at 1325, when a band of nomads from the north settled on an island in Lake Texcoco. The city, called Tenochtitlán, eventually expanded to a population of more than 250,000, and by the 16th century it had become the seat of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés first viewed the city in 1519. In 1521 his forces occupied and systematically levelled the great Aztec metropolis, building their own capital on the ruins. Lake Texcoco was filled in as the city expanded and was rebuilt in the Spanish architectural mode. From this new town, Spanish excursions explored and subdued the Native American inhabitants as far north as the present United States and south into Central America. Mexico City became the capital of all the Spanish provinces in the Western hemisphere north of Costa Rica. It was administered by Spain for three centuries before being won in 1821 by a revolutionary band led by Augustín de Iturbide, later named emperor. During the Mexican-American War, Mexico City was captured by US forces in 1847 and held for five months. It was ruled by Emperor Maximilian and the French army from 1863 to 1867, when it was taken by President Benito Pablo Juárez. During the years of revolution following 1910, the capital was the scene of street fighting.

By the 1920s, plans for the urbanization of Mexico City had been initiated. Industrialization increased as mills and factories spread throughout the city. Slum-clearance and housing-development programmes were initiated. Between 1930 and 1950, the population more than doubled. In 1985 a devastating earthquake caused severe damage, leaving nearly 30,000 homeless and thousands more dead. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Mexico City made efforts to improve air quality and to protect the environment by tightening regulations and closing a large oil refinery. Colonias (new settlements) have been developed on the edges of the city, and now rural migrants move there, with fewer going into slums in the city centre. Natural increase is currently responsible for more of the population growth than migration.

The rapid growth of Mexico City has created several problems, one of which is serious air pollution. In 1994 the World Health Organization declared that air quality was acceptable on only 20 days in the year. This is exacerbated by the local geography—the city’s altitude and the surrounding mountains cause cold air to sink, preventing pollutants from dispersing. Other major problems are an increasingly inadequate water supply and the subsidence, by as much as 6 m (20 ft), of parts of the downtown area into the soft lake deposits that underlie much of the city, damaging buildings and disrupting some water and sewerage lines. Supplemental water is now obtained from distant sources outside the valley, and modern multi-storeyed buildings are built on huge steel and concrete drums to prevent their sinking.