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Mexico Essay Research Paper MexicoMexico officially United (стр. 1 из 2)

Mexico Essay, Research Paper

Mexico

Mexico, officially United Mexican States, is an important country because is sharing common border throughout its northern extent with the United States. Consequently, we should spend time analyzing and researching its human culture and environment because this culture is influences United States for its relative location to El Paso, Texas. Mexico is bounded on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1.), to the east by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea and on the southeast by Guatemala and Belize. Mexico is roughly triangular in shape and covers and area of 756,066 square miles (1,958,201 square kilometers). It is very interesting that while it is more than 1859 miles across the country from northwest to southeast the width varies from less than 135 miles ant the isthmus to Tehuantepec to more than 1,200 miles in the north (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).

Mexican?s culture has some peculiar characteristic. For example, Mexico is the giant of Middle America, with a 1997 population of 97.8 million, exceeding the others countries of the realm by 27 millions (Blij and Muller 215). Mexico had a series of very sophisticated early civilizations; the Olmecas, Mayas and the Aztecs and their cultural heritage and background is reflected in all the arts, especially their paintings, sculptures, handcrafts and much more. In addition, the Spanish colonial architecture is consider one of the most attractive aspects of the cultural scenery of Mexico, such as the old dwellings, public buildings, and religious structures that remain in the countryside and towns.

The climate has an exceptional characteristic too. It is divide into three climatic zones. First, the cold land (above 6500 ft. to the show line), which includes the high plateau and mountain regions, and has average annual temperatures of 65° to 70° F. Second, the temperature land (2500 to 6500 ft.) where temperatures range between 70° to 75° F.; and third, the warm land, where a very warm to hot climate prevails (Villaca?a 18). Another important aspect is that, this country faces significant environmental challenges affecting almost every section of the country. Vast expanses of southern and southeastern tropical forests have been denuded for cattle raising and agriculture. ?Soil destruction is particularly pronounced in the north and northwest, with more than 60 percent of land considered in a total or accelerated state of erosion? (Merrill and Miro 89).

In this research, of the human culture and environment of Mexico, I would concentrate in some important points that are the following: what makes this area unique? How do people and goods travel through the region and world? What common characteristics are present? And finally how do people interact with their environment?

Social Order

This country has a particular political structure. ?Mexico?s government institutions and political culture bear the imprint of three centuries of Spanish colonial rule? (Merrill and Miro 231). The type of government that prevails in Mexico is a Federal Republic operating under a centralized government. Merrilli and Miro observes, ?the 1917 constitution provides for a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches? (231). In practice, the executive is the dominant branch, with power vested in the president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the Congress. The president also legislates by executive decree in certain economic and financial fields, using powers delegated from the Congress. The president is elected by adult choice for a six-year term and may not remain in the office a second period. There is no vice president; in the event of the removal or death of the president, the Congress elects a temporary president (Merrill and Miro 232). The removal of the constitutional restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church, were one of the biggest achievement of Salinas? administration in 1991, the former administration. They fought for a more realistic church-state relationship and they won it. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, the current President, was sworn in on December 1, 1994 (Fig. 2). President Zedillo is opening Mexico’s political system, reforming the justice system, curtailing corruption, strengthening the fight against narcotics trafficking, and furthering Mexico’s market-oriented economic policies.

Ideology

In order to discuss the Mexican?s ideology, we have to start saying that Mexico has three layers of culture. The Indian is the oldest and actually was composed of a multitude of diverse cultures: The Toltecs, the Mayas, the Olmecs, the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs and the Aztecs. If we visit Mexico we would find that from these cultures great ruins remain, showing the high degree of artistic and social development gain by these peoples (Fig. 3.). The deeply religious feelings of the Indian?s culture were reflected in all areas of activity, agriculture, commerce, architecture, drama, music and science.

The second layers of Mexican?s culture were from Spain, imposed by conquerors and preached by friars and missionaries. Sword and Cross-together laid the foundations of the nation by giving it a common cultural background, European, a common language, Spanish, and a common religion, Roman Catholicism. Villica?a says, ?today, the culture is Mexican. It was born from independence in 1821. Also, agrarian reform and industrial development have now transformed the country into a modern nation, which is neither wholly Spanish nor wholly Indian, but certainly American? (50). As we can notice three races have gone into the creation of Mexican: the Creole, the Indian, and the mestizos. Mestizos is a term used to describe the ethnic blend of people descended from Native Ameridians, the indigenous peoples of the region, and the Spaniards who conquered in the 1500s.

Some customary beliefs of this culture, as Villica?a says, are for example:

it is considered, for the Indian world, a bad thing for a mother to see an eclipse of the sun or the moon, the child always bears the name of his saint?s day, with such other names as the family chooses from its own closest members. Some example relating marital practice is that among the poorer urban classes marriage usually come very early; the girls marry when they are about 14, the boys at about 17. In most cases the marriage has been agreed to by both sets of parents; sometimes the bride and bridegroom have had no part in the arrangement and perhaps have never even met (50).

Most Indian ceremonies in Mexico have been modified by the influence of the Catholic Church; but this has generally not been strong enough to destroy the distinctively Indian character of these ceremonies. Among some tribes such ceremonies are elaborate and complex and require a great deal of time. For Example, ?the Mayas of Cha-Dom continue to worship their ancient tribal gods, giving them the general title of Yuntzilob (the lords)? (Villica?a 61). One thing very significant is that these same people are sincere, even fervent, in their belief in Christianity, but as individuals belonging to essentially unchanged agricultural communities they still recognize the old gods as protectors of the harvests and rulers of the rain. (Villica?a 61)

Touching about holiday, at least one-third of the 365 days in the years are holidays in Mexico and many of these holiday are celebrated with festivals which require long and careful preparation (fig. 4.). Such as, the street has to be decorated, special dishes prepared musicians and singers engaged, costumes renovated, dances practiced. They have two kind of celebration: feasts coming down from pre-Columbian time and feasts of Spanish and Catholic origin (Villica?a 70).

Food

The cooking of Mexico, as much as anything else in this country, is the result of a union of the pre-Columbian past with the Mediterranean tradition. When the Spanish conquered Mexico they provide a link to the foods of France, Italy and, of course, Spain (Villica?a 70). Vallica?a reports that, ?the food of any country is on the one hand deeply rooted in tradition since it is dependent on the available resources and on the other amen-able to change since it is affected by the tastes of conquerors and traders? (70).

Since the foods of Mexico have a very ancient origin I would like to mention three of the long list of contribution Mexico has made to the world?s food. First, chile: includes peppers of many kinds and shapes, both hot and mild. They are used both as an ingredient in cooking and a condiment. Second, Maiz: this is the maize or corn of the New World. Third, Aguacate: the avocado pear, the fruit of the avocado tree; its flesh is thick and buttery with a somewhat nutty flavor. It is widely used in salads and sandwiches (Villica?a 70-71).

A breakfast in Mexico, as elsewhere in the world, is generally served between 7 and 9 in the morning. They usually open with a bowl of fruits such as papaya and pineapple, or fruit juice. Eggs either fried or raw follow this served with bolillos, small Italian or French-type breads, or tortillas (the flat pancakes of ground corn meal). The beverage is coffee, milk or chocolate. The dinner is eaten between 1 and 3 in the afternoon. It may start with one of the much rich and good soups, followed by spaghetti, macaroni or rice, accompanying an entr?e of meat, fish or fowl. A salad and fried beans usually fill out the dish. Fruit or dessert, and coffee or tea ends the meal. Super is a relatively light meal is eaten between 8 and 10 PM. Generally it is only a beverage such as milk or chocolate, serve with pozole (a pork stew), tamales (corn flour shaped like bananas and filled with ground meat, beans and Chile) and sweetbreads. Something to remember is that the Chile is never out of a Mexican?s plate. Villaca?a agree that the most famous of the traditional dishes is mole poblano (mole from Puebla). The dish was developed in the city of Puebla in 1531 at the Santa Rosa House of Lay Sisters (Villica?a 71).

Clothing

The Mexican dress has an important part in their culture. In the rural area most men wear simple cotton shirts and pants of the same color, generally white, though pink, yellow and other bright colors are sometimes seen. Differences occur in the cut of the shirts and pants from region to region. Often the men also wear broad sashes of wool or cotton wrapped several times around the waist. In some villages less traditional garments are worn. For example, (Fig. 8) the typical male Indian?s costume in the state of Chiapas consists of short pants, a decorated shirt and a woolen jacket, which is fastened at the waist with a leather belt. The basic masculine costume is completed by the sarape (literally, cover) and the sombrero (hat). The sarape is a blanket of hand-woven wool, with an opening for the head, which is worn like a sleeveless cloak.

No designer could have created a hat more suited to the climate and terrain of Mexico than the sombrero (hat). Sombreros are made everywhere, and there are many variations in materials, shape and size of crown and brim. (Villaca?a 86).

The national women?s costume is known as the china poblana. The original costume consisted of a full red cotton shirt; a green yoke; a white sleeveless blouse; a dark shawl, worn over the shoulders and crossed on the breast; a string of pearls with several strands; headgear of colored ribbons; and red or green high-heeled boots. The sleeveless, white cotton blouse, sometime embroidered with silk and little pearls, is the most common kind of blouses.

Shelter

I consider that one of the most attractive aspects of the cultural scenery of Mexico is the Spanish colonial architecture, such as the old dwellings, public buildings, and religious structures that remain in the countryside and towns. In the sixteenth century Spaniards introduced two main types of rural house, both from southern Spain. One was the one-story, rectangular dwelling of whitewashed stone or adobe walls, with a gabled roof of hollow tile or straw thatch. The other type was the squat, flat-roofed adobe house, often windowless, but frequently having a built-in hearth with a chimney (Whetten 285).

Most of public building and many of the private houses of the rich were more pretentious and durable than the small rural and town dwellings. This public building was usually of stone and mortar; each building was normally constructed around a courtyard or patio, with colonnaded porticoes or arcades facing outward on the plaza. Today, arcade buildings of colonial style still grace the plazas of many old Mexican towns, such as Oaxaca, Morelia, and Puebla. According to Whettem, in the rural population, a housing census conducted on a national scale in 1940 classifies 45 percent of all dwellings in Mexico as huts and hovels. The huts consist in a single room, which serves as a kitchen also. Often the cooking is done over an open fire outside the hut (285).

In the presence, a lack of adequate housing is one of Mexico’s most serious problems. Although substandard housing is more visible in urban areas, living conditions are probably worse in rural areas. Within the cities, the federal government has built multiunit housing projects. The Mexican Economic Report in October of 1999 reports that:

in the past five years, an additional 8.3 million Mexicans have been provided with drinking water services and 10.5 million with drainage and sewer systems. Electric power now reaches 95% of Mexico’s homes. Half a million families in low-income neighborhoods have received regularized deeds to their lots, and 2.1 million have obtained financing to purchase or improve a house or apartment. Last November, INFONAVIT made a commitment to finance the construction of 200,000 housing units in 18 months, the most ambitious objective the institute has ever set (Mexico Connect).

Systems of Livelihood

Mexican society is clearly divided by income and educational level. Although a middle class is developing in the cities, the principal division is between the wealthy, well-educated elite and the urban and rural poor.

Generalized rural poverty is a serious problem. Agrarian reform in the central and southern parts of the country has decrease the opportunities for economic or social advancement. As a result of an increasing proportion of the rural population, most of them are landless and depends on day labor, often at less than minimum wages, for survival.

The Encyclopedia Britannica agree that the largest segment of the urban population is in the lowest socioeconomic class. They estimated that at least 40 percent of city

dwellers have incomes below the official poverty level, including a significant percentage of workers who are government employees. Extensive squatter settlements, often lacking basic services, are a common element of all Mexican cities. (Encyclopedia)

Merril and Miro in their book Mexico a Country Study observe that,

in 1988 employers and the self-employed constituted 29 percent of the labor force, employees 56 percent, and unpaid family workers 15 percent. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing employed some 24 percent; trade, hotels, and restaurant employed 19 percent; construction employed 5 percent; finance and real estate employed 5 percent; transportation and communications employed 4 percent; and 21 percent were engaged in other service work. They continued saying that about half of all manufacturing workers were employed in small and medium size enterprise (298).

The principal industrial centers of Mexico include the Mexico City metropolitan area, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. ?In the early 1990s, the capital area alone accounted for about half of the country?s employment, and almost one-third of all manufacturing enterprises. Manufacturers likes Mexico City because they can find large and highly

skilled work force, large consumer market, low distribution costs and proximity to government decision makers and nation?s communication system? (Merrillo and Miro 301). By the 1980s, more than two-thirds of all foreign investment in Mexico was concentrated in maquiladora zones near the United States border because offered foreign investors both proximity to the United States market and low labor costs. This new economic source is as a result of NAFTA, which is a government program between Mexico, United States and Canada to expand their role in international trade and rise their economic Merrillo and Miro 302).

Transportation

Mexico’s land transportation network is one of the most extensive in Latin America.

More than 4,000 kilometers (2,400 miles) of four-lane highway have been built through government concessions to private sector contractors since 1989. The 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) of government-owned railroads in Mexico are currently being privatized through sale of 50-year operating concessions. The Northeast railroad, Mexico’s primary freight carrier, was privatized early in 1997 for $1.4 billion. Another significant section, the Northwest railroad, was privatized in June 1997 for $400 million (Merrillo and Miro 205).

The most heavily traveled highway routes is linking Mexico City with the large population and industrial centers of Guadalajara and Monterrey, as well with the main port city of Veracruz. In spite of the fact that, much of Mexico?s public highway system is in poor condition as a result of insufficient investment in road maintenance. According to the World Bank, ?in 1994, 61 percent of Mexican public roads were in poor condition, 29 percent were in fair condition, and only 10 percent were in good condition. They added that, in 1995 there were 12.1 million registered vehicles in Mexico? (Merillo and Miro 207).