New Durham
Baptist Church

• Background:

  The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. 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 party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1 December 2000 as the first chief executive elected in free and fair elections.

• Location:

  Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, between Belize and the US and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and the US.

• Natural Resources:

  petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber

• Natural Hazards:

  Tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts.

• Area - comparative:

  Slightly less than three times the size of Texas

• Government Type; Capital; & Population:

  Federal republic — Mexico (Distrito Federal) — 107,449,525 (July 2006 est.)

• Independence:

  16 September 1810 (from Spain)

• Ethnic groups:

  Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish) 60%, Amerindian or predominantly Amerindian 30%, white 9%, other 1%

• Religions:

  Nominally Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 6%, other 5%

• Disputes - International:

  Prolonged drought, population growth, and outmoded practices and infrastructure in the border region have strained water-sharing arrangements with the US; the US has stepped up efforts to stem nationals from Mexico, Central America, and other parts of the world from illegally crossing the border with Mexico.

* Based on CIA-The World Factbook