Mexico is the usual name in the world for the country officially called the United Mexican States [1] , it is a federal republic made up of 31 states and a Federal District [2] that according to the current Constitution is the seat of the powers of the federation, also the federal capital is known as Mexico City.
It limits the north with the United States of America ; to the east, with the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea ; to the southeast, with Belize and Guatemala, and to the west with the Pacific Ocean. The Mexican area occupies an area of close to 2 million km², which places it in the fourteenth position among the list of countries ordered by area. Its population is over 112 million people (2010 data), making it the most populous Spanish-speaking nation in the world. On the other hand, the Spanish language coexists in Mexico with numerous indigenous languages.
Geography
Located in the south of the North American subcontinent, Mexico shares a border to the north with the United States and to the southeast with Central America, particularly with Guatemala and Belize. Its surface area is 1,964,375 km² [12] , with a continental surface area of 1,959,248 km² [12] and an insular area of 5,127 km² [12] . Spread over its territorial sea are numerous islands, among which the Revillagigedo archipelagos (Socorro, Clarión, San Benedicto, Roca Partida), and the Marías islands, in the Pacific; those of Guadalupe, Cedros, Ángel de la Guarda, Coronado, Rocas Alijos, Isla del Tiburon, Isla del Carmen, off the Baja California peninsula and the coast of Sonora; and those of Ciudad del Carmen, Cozumel, Mujeres, and the Alacranes reef, in the Atlantic basin. Together they have a surface area of 5,127 km².
Mexico is the only country that contains two gulfs in two oceans, from the Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez within the Pacific Ocean, and to the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hydrography
The rivers of Mexico are grouped into three slopes. The Pacific slope, the Gulf slope and the interior slope. The longest of the Mexican rivers is the Bravo, on the Gulf side. It has a length of 3,034 km, and serves as the border with the United States. Other important rivers are: the Usumacinta, which is the largest in Mexico and serves as the international boundary with Guatemala; the Grijalva River, the second largest in the country, both rivers join in the Tabasco plain, forming the largest hydraulic basin in Mexico; and the Pánuco River, to whose basin the Valley of Mexico belongs.
The Lerma and Balsas rivers flow into the Pacific, which are of vital importance for the cities of the highlands of Mexico; the Sonora, Fuerte, Mayo and Yaqui rivers, which support the prosperous agriculture of the northwest of the country, and the Colorado River, shared with the United States. Inland rivers, that is, those that do not flow into the sea, are usually short and with little flow. The Casas Grandes river in Chihuahua and the Nazas river in Durango stand out. Most of Mexico’s rivers have little flow, and almost none of them are navigable.
Mexico is home to numerous lakes and lagoons in its territory, but of modest size. The most important inland body of water is Lake Chapala, in the state of Jalisco, and due to overexploitation is at risk of disappearing. Other important lakes are Lake Pátzcuaro, Zirahuén and Cuitzeo, all of them in Michoacán. In addition, the construction of dams has led to the formation of artificial lakes, such as the Thousand Islands, in Oaxaca.
Political-administrative division
The territory of the United Mexican States, according to the 1917 Constitution, is divided into 31 states and a Federal District [12] [16] , which houses the seat of federal powers.
State governments are divided into three powers: The Executive Power is exercised by the State Governor, elected every six years without the possibility of reelection. It can be removed only at the request of the Senate or the State Congress. The Legislative Power is deposited in the Congress of each state; It is made up of deputies elected for a period of three years. The Judicial Power is embodied by the Superior Court of Justice of each entity [17] . The states are as follows:
- Aguascalientes
- Baja California
- Baja California Sur
- Campeche
- Coahuila
- Colima
- Chiapas
- Chihuahua
- Durango
- Guanajuato
- Warrior
- gentleman
- Jalisco
- Mexico
- Michoacan
- Morelos
- Nayarit
- New Lion
- Oaxaca
- Puebla
- Queretaro
- Quintana Roo
- San Luis Potosi
- Sinaloa
- Sonora
- Tabasco
- Tamaulipas
- Tlaxcala
- Veracruz
- Yucatan
- Zacatecas
- federal District
States of Mexico and its federal district.
Sports
According to Zipcodesexplorer, Mexico is a highly sporting country where soccer and baseball predominate. The governing body of this discipline is the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports (http://www.conade.gob.mx/).
The Ministry of Public Education includes the teaching of physical education in the schools under its charge, as do the state agencies in charge of instruction, in the country organized sport is not a common activity among the people.
The most widespread sport is perhaps soccer, although in the north of the country basketball, baseball and softball have a greater presence, the latter two, also with very good acceptance in the south of the country; In the south of the Federal District, the amateur practice of fronton and Basque pelota is very important, and has given luster to Mexican sport at an international level. With the growing market of both children and youth players, the extreme racket sport, racketball, enjoys constant development.
Soccer in Mexico is a popular sport, attracting thousands of fans, making it the most followed professional sport in the country. It is divided into First Division, Promotion League, Second Division, Third Division and Amateur Sector, the latter being non-professional.
The figure skating and ice hockey are sports practiced by the wealthy Mexican youth. Other sports that are very popular in Mexico are volleyball, which is practiced as one of the basic sports at the school level, as well as American football, which is practiced in an organized way in various leagues that are members of ONEFA.