Visit numerous other Parks and Cities by World from the Web.
Renowned for being a financial, cultural, historical and tourism center, it is a world class city being one of the most significant and important cities in the world. Mexico City's population is over 8.6 million people and has 17.8 million people in the metropolitan area. It is spread over 625 square miles. The predominant language spoken here is Spanish.
Although huge in size, much of the interest to tourists comes in the central city, from districts Zócalo, Alameda, Paseo de la Reforma, Chapultepec Park and Zona Rosa.
Mexico City has many tourist attractions. These attractions are also of cultural and historical significance. Numerous museums, many of which are in Chapultepec Park, feature National Museum of Anthropology, the National Museum of History (Chapultepec Castle), Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Natural History. Additional museums in Chapultepec Park include the Rufino Tamayo Museum, Papalote Children’s Museum. Other musuems include the Museum of Mexico City, the home of Frida Kahlo (Coyoacán neighborhood) and the Templo Mayor museum, Mexico City's outstanding theater is the Palace of Fine Arts. Among the most important sites are the National Palace, the secretariat of public education, the Chapultepec Castle, the Palace of Justice, and the National Museum of History.
Mexico City contains major highways and railroads. Benito Juárez International Airport is located just east of the center of the city. It offers direct flights to many world capitals. Bus terminals in the city serve the needs of cross-country travelers and have largely replaced passenger service by rail. Mexico City's motor vehicles produce serious traffic and pollution problems. Many Commuters are served by a fleet of local buses and a the Metro subway system. It opened in 1969 and continues to expand during the 1970s. The number of riders has also dramatically increased and is fully used and crowded most hours of the day.
Mexico City dominates the nation’s economy. The Federal District produces a significant portion of Mexico's gross domestic product, or GDP. The federal district area accounted for 12 percent of GDP in 1998. Mexico City is the center of a manufacturing belt that stretches from Guadalajara in the west to Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico in the east. Manufactures include textiles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronic items, steel, and transportation equipment. Foodstuffs and light consumer goods are also produced. The city plays is dominant in Mexico's banking and finance industries. It is home to Banco de México, the Bolsa (stock exchange) and every major banking chain in the country. All major financial services are centered in Mexico City. Agriculture, mining, and trade dominated Mexico City’s economy for most of its history. An industrial economy began to take root in the early 1900s. However, industry did not become the leading economic activity until government investment programs encouraged large-scale growth of manufacturing and other industrial production in the city in the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1980s the government began to encourage industrial and manufacturing development in other areas of the country in an attempt to reduce pollution and overcrowding in the city. These attempts led to the decline of industrial production and employment in the city. From 1980 to 1988, Mexico City lost almost 100,000 (about 25 percent) of its industrial jobs. Although the city has lost industrial and manufacturing jobs, other sectors of its economy, notably services and commerce, have grown. The concentration of economic activity in the city attracted people from rural areas in search of employment. People moved to the city faster than new jobs were created. Many of these new residents of Mexico City were unskilled workers. They were unable to find employment in the city, contributing to problems of unemployment and underemployment.
Founded in 1325, the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán was built on an island in Lake Texcoco, the site of present-day Mexico City. The city was the military and administrative center of the Aztec Empire including large parts of Mexico and Central America. Tenochtitlán is estimated to have had a population of about 200,000 people. It was one of the world's largest settlements when Europeans arrived in the Americas in the early 16th century. Tenochtitlán was built around a series of temples and pyramids. It was organized into a series of calpulli (clans), each forming a loose neighborhood of the city. The calpulli fulfilled different economic roles acting also as an army battalion. The Aztec developed an advanced civilization and dominated most of Mexico during the 15th and early 16th centuries. In the early 16th century Spanish explorers landed in Mexico and conquered the Aztec. The Spaniards founded Mexico City on the ruins of the Aztec capital, and it soon became the leading urban center in Spain’s American colonies. In 1519 a group of Spaniards under the leadership of explorer Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico. In 1521 Cortés conquered the city in an 85-day siege when most of Tenochtitlán was destroyed. After the conquest was complete, the population of the city dwindled to about 30,000 people. People died as a result of war and the epidemics of unfamiliar European diseases. The Spaniards reconstructed the city after they conquered it. Like most Spanish colonial cities, Mexico City was laid out on a grid pattern. The cathedral and the principal administrative buildings were built around a central plaza, known today as the Zócalo. The mansions and palaces of the elite were located in the streets running off the plaza. The poor lived farther away or slept in the streets, while Native Americans lived in jacales (villages of huts) at the city margins. The new European-style city, renamed Mexico City, became the most important settlement in Spain's American colonies. It served as an administrative center, a major military outpost, and a base for exporting the mineral and agricultural wealth of the Americas to Spain. It reigned over Mexico, most of Central America, and large sections of what is today the southwestern United States. The city's upper class grew rich on the profits from Mexican gold and silver mines. In the 17th century the Spaniards built massive canals to drain Lake Texcoco. The canals reclaimed land and alleviated chronic flooding. The city's population rose gradually, reaching 60,000 by 1600, 105,000 by 1700, and 137,000 by 1800. Mexico won its independence in the 1820s, and Mexico City became the capital of the new nation. In 1821 Agustín de Iturbide of the independence forces, triumphantly entered Mexico City. Iturbide declared Mexico an independent nation and proclaimed himself emperor. His rule soon became despotic and wasteful, and in less than a year the military forced him to resign. Mexicans adopted a republican constitution in 1824, in which powers were shared between the states and the federal government. Mexico City was selected as the national capital and created the initial boundaries of the Federal District.
Mexico City’s climate is fairly consistent and steady, a product of both the city's latitude, which is south of the Tropic of Cancer, and its elevation of 2,239 m (7,347 ft). Although the city is located in a tropical climatic zone, the city's extremely high elevation produces a moderate climate with a narrow range of temperatures. The average annual temperature is 16°C (61°F). The coolest season runs from November to February; the coolest month is January, with average temperatures ranging from a high of 21°C (70°F) to a low of 7°C (44°F). The warmest period is from April to June; the average temperatures in May range from a high of 26°C (78°F) to a low of 12°C (54°F). Mexico City has a distinct rainy season from June through October, during which four-fifths of its annual 850 mm (33 in) of rainfall occurs.
All pictures on this page are from Mexico City, using various film and digital pictures. Pictures on this page are from the Zocolo (Central Square) and Paseo de la Reforma. Subsequent pages are found directly below. A total of 3 pages make up this Mexico City site.
Visit numerous other Parks and Cities by World from the Web.
The Metropolitan Cathedral in the Zocolo (central square), built beginning in 1573.
Enlarge this Picture.
The Metropolitan Cathedral in the Zocolo (central square), built beginning in 1573.
Enlarge this Picture.
The National Palace, built by Cortes on the site of Montezuma's castle.
Enlarge this Picture.
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Polanco, Palace of Fine Arts.
Enlarge this Picture.
National Art Museum in the Palace of Communications.
Enlarge this Picture.
Museo Franz Mayer San Juan de Dios.
Enlarge this Picture.
Mexican Stock Exchange on Avenida Reforma.
Enlarge this Picture.
Archeress of the North Star, Diana the Huntress.
Enlarge this Picture.
From the Polanco neighborhood.
Enlarge this Picture.
Paseo de la Reforma, Monumento a la Independencia Norte (the Angel).
Enlarge this Picture.
Paseo de la Reforma, Monumento a la Independencia Norte (the Angel).
Enlarge this Picture.
Further information can be found at the Mexico City Lonely Planet page
or Mexico City Virtual Guide page.
