Mexico features volcanic peaks, snow-capped mountains, tropical rain forests, and internationally famous beaches. Mexico City is an enormous metropolitan area and dominates the rest of the country’s culture, economy, and politics. Nearly one-fifth of the nation’s population lives in the immediate vicinity of the capital. Mexico City is also a central hub for Mexico’s transportation network—including railroads, highways, and airlines.

Mexico and the United States share a border that is 3,100 km (1,900 mi) long, much of which is formed by the Río Grande, a major river known as the Río Bravo in Mexico. This international border is the longest in the world between an economically developing country and one with a highly developed, industrialized economy. This proximity has influenced Mexico’s internal and external migration patterns, prompting several million Mexicans to move north to the border region or to the United States itself. It has also affected the culture of both Mexico and the United States, fostering the development of a number of communities along the border that mix the cultures of both nations. Mexico covers an area of 1,964,382 sq km (758,452 sq mi).

The people of Mexico reflect the country’s rich history. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early 16th century soon led to widespread intermarriage and racial mixing between Spaniards and Native Americans. As late as the early 19th century, Native Americans accounted for nearly two-thirds of the population in the region. During that century, however, the racial composition of the country began to change from one that featured distinct European (Spanish) and indigenous populations, to one made up largely of mestizos—people of mixed Spanish and Native American descent. By the end of the 19th century, mestizos, who were discriminated against during three centuries of Spanish colonization, had become the largest population group in Mexico. Mestizos now account for about 60 percent of Mexicans.

During the colonial era, many Native Americans and mestizos adopted the Spanish language and were converted to Roman Catholicism, the religion of the Spanish colonizers. This has provided the country with a greater religious and cultural homogeneity than might have been present otherwise. The vast majority of Mexicans, about 90 percent, are Catholic and speak Spanish.

Nearly 8 percent of Mexicans continue to speak one of many Native American languages, the most common of which is Nahuatl. In recent years, Mexicans have moved in large numbers from rural to urban settings; in 2001, 75 percent of Mexicans resided in urban areas, with half of those citizens living in cities of 100,000 or more.

Mexico has a rich heritage in art and architecture and is recognized internationally for the contributions of its 20th-century mural artists, who created murals that reflected not only Mexico’s history and culture, but also its current social issues. Mexico’s blend of indigenous and European influences has affected many of its traditions and much of its culture. This ethnic heritage has contributed to the development of notable musical styles, folk art, and cuisine, all of which are also now found throughout the United States.

Mexico’s economic achievements are many, but the country continues to face many obstacles as it tries to further develop its economy. Political instability prevented significant economic growth for much of the 19th century. The Mexican Revolution, a major social upheaval in the second decade of the 20th century, further delayed Mexico’s economic expansion.

Since World War II (1939-1945), the country has moved away from an agrarian-based economy; its economy now relies heavily on light manufacturing and exports. The country’s enormous petroleum reserves rank it among the top ten countries in the world. Mexico is a major exporter of crude oil and remains one of the top producers and exporters of silver, a mineral resource that has been important since colonial times. Although petroleum dominated the economy in the 1960s and 1970s, recent governments have encouraged economic diversification. Manufacturing, tourism, and assembly industries in northern Mexico are now important sectors of the economy.

Mexico’s economy is also of major importance to the United States, not only because of formal links through economic agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but also because Mexico is the third largest trading partner of the United States (after Canada and Japan). In turn, Mexico’s largest trading partner is the United States.

The history of Mexico revolves around the mixing of numerous cultural, ethnic, and political influences. These include contributions from several major indigenous civilizations, Spanish influences from the period of colonial rule, and a significant African heritage resulting from the slave trade of the early colonial era. Mexico’s postindependence period was characterized by violence and civil war, including European intervention and a long domestic dictatorship.

The latter led to the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)—the most important event in 20th-century Mexican history. This revolution would influence Mexican culture and politics for decades to come. Mexico’s political system emerged from this era and has provided political continuity from 1929 to the present, a record achieved by few other governments. Its political system is dominated by a strong president and executive branch, to the detriment of the judicial and legislative arms of government.

The government is controlled by a single party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which dominated national elective offices in Mexico for most of the 20th century. While providing considerable stability, this political system has delayed Mexico from moving toward greater democracy, a pattern that most other Latin American nations followed in the 1980s and early 1990s.