The United Mexican States, generally known as Mexico is a country located in North America, bordered at the north by the United States, and at the south by Guatemala and Belize, in Central America. It is the northernmost and westernmost country in Latin America, and also the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
The site of advanced Mesoamerican or Amerindian civilizations, the land that currently makes up Mexico existed under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. The first century of independence was tumultuous, culminating in the decade-long Mexican Revolution, followed by roughly seventy years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the opposition defeated the (PRI) and Vicente Fox of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in as President on 1 December 2000.
Mexico is a powerful and influential neighbor of the United States, in terms of trade, culture, diplomacy, with a history of emigration of Mexicans into the U.S. since the early 1900's.
