Interesting facts about Mexico - Mexico Facts

Interesting facts about Mexico - Mexico FACTS

Mexico Facts you will read in this article will certainly blow your mind like they do with me. If your more for a video than reading facts : Here is a video assembling all these crazy facts about Mexico. Details and sources are in this article.

Here are some interesting Facts about Mexico which were chosen and researched especially for you.

Mexico's official name is United Mexican States.

#11 Mexico is the 11th most populous country in the world with 121 million people.

Mexico has 68 official languages.

Several different languages are spoken in Mexico, with a large majority of the population fluent in Spanish while some indigenous Mexicans are monolingual in indigenous languages. Most Mexicans are monolingual Spanish-speakers.
The government of Mexico uses Spanish for most official purposes, but in terms of legislation its status is not that of an official language. The Law of Linguistic Rights establishes Spanish as one of the country's national languages, along with 68 distinct indigenous languages (from seven different families, and other four isolated languages). The law, promulgated in 2003, requires the state to offer all of its services to its indigenous citizens in their mother tongues, but in practice this is not yet the case. Due to the long history of marginalization of indigenous groups, most indigenous languages are endangered, with some languages expected to become extinct within years or decades, and others simply having populations that grow slower than the national average. According to the Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) and National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INALI), while 10–14% of the population identifies as belonging to an indigenous group, around 6% speak an indigenous language.
There are other languages not native to Mexico that are spoken in the country, the most common being English.

In Mexico, artists can pay their taxes with artwork.

Can't afford to pay your income taxes? Paint a picture instead.
That's the deal Mexico has offered to artists since 1957, quietly amassing a modern art collection that would make most museum curators swoon. As the 2009 tax deadline approaches, tax collectors are getting ready to receive a whole new crop of masterworks.
"It's really an amazing concept," says José San Cristóbal Larrea, director of the program. "We're helping out artists while building a cultural inheritance for the country."

The world's largest pyramid is not in Egypt but in Mexico.

The largest pyramid, and the largest monument ever constructed, is the Quetzalcóatl Pyramid at Cholula de Rivadavia, 101 km (63 miles) south-east of Mexico City. It is 54 m (177 ft) tall, and its base covers an area of nearly 18.2 ha (45 acres). Its total volume has been estimated at 3.3 million m³ (166,538,400 ft³)compared with the current volume of 2.4 million m³ (84,755,200 ft³) for the Pyramid of Khufu or Cheops.

Mexican General Santa Anna had an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg.

In 1838, Santa Anna had a chance for redemption from the loss of Texas. After Mexico rejected French demands for financial compensation for losses suffered by French citizens, France sent forces that landed in Veracruz in the Pastry War. The Mexican government gave Santa Anna control of the army and ordered him to defend the nation by any means necessary. He engaged the French at Veracruz. During the Mexican retreat after a failed assault, Santa Anna was hit in the left leg and hand by cannon fire. His shattered ankle required amputation of much of his leg, which he ordered buried with full military honors. Despite Mexico's final capitulation to French demands, Santa Anna used his war service to re-enter Mexican politics as a hero. He never allowed Mexico to forget him and his sacrifice in defending the fatherland.

The Aztecs used Cacao seeds as a form of currency.

The history of chocolate begins in Mesoamerica. Chocolate, the fermented, beverages dating back to 1900 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the God of wisdom, and the seeds had so much value they were used as a form of currency. Originally prepared only as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter, frothy liquid, mixed with spices, wine or corn puree. It was believed to have aphrodisiac powers and to give the drinker strength.

The Aztecs sacrificed 1% of their population every year, or about 250,000 people.

Popcorn was first domesticated in Mexico 9,000 years ago.

Corn was first domesticated in Mexico 9,000 years ago from a wild grass. The oldest specimen of popcorn was found in New Mexico, and is about 5,600 years old. It is speculated that popcorn was introduced to the pre-Columbian North America by the Iroquois, with the process being observed by European settlers on the eastern part of the continent. Popping of the kernels was achieved manually through the 19th century, being sold on the east coast under names such as 'Pearls' or 'Nonpareil'. The term 'popped corn' first appeared in John Russell Bartlett’s 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms. Popcorn was an ingredient in Cracker Jack, and in the early years of the product was popped by hand

Mexico's 34th President ruled for less than an hour, and then quit.

San Francisco was part of Mexico until the Mexican-American War in 1848.

Mexico is the world's fattest country.

Mexico has surpassed the United States as the world's fattest nation, with 32.8% of its population now classed as obese.
This worrying figure is higher than the percentage of obese US citizens, who weigh in at 32%.
The information comes from a report by the United Nations charting obesity rates across the world.
It reveals that 70% of Mexicans are overweight and childhood obesity figures have tripled in the last decade.

Illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. has decreased by 80% since 2000.

Mexico City boasts the largest taxi fleet in the world with 100,000 taxis running every day.

In 1917, Germany invited Mexico to join WW1 by attacking the U.S. in order to recover the lost territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

In January 1917 Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. The German Foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann invited revolution-torn Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States in the Zimmermann Telegram. In return, the Germans would send Mexico money and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona that Mexico lost during the Mexican–American War 70 years earlier. British intelligence intercepted the telegram and passed the information on to Washington. Wilson released the Zimmerman note to the public and Americans saw it as a casus belli—a cause for war.

There is only one gun shop in Mexico. 90% of the country's firearms are smuggled in from the USA.

In all of Mexico, there is only one gun store. The shop, known officially as the Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales, is operated by the Mexican military. The clerks wear pressed green camouflage. They are soldiers.
The only gun store in Mexico is not very busy.
To go shopping for a gun in Mexico, customers must come to Mexico City - even if they live 1,300 miles away in Ciudad Juarez. To gain entry to the store, which is on a secure military base, customers must present valid identification, pass through a metal detector, yield to the security wand and surrender cellphones and cameras.

The first great civilization in Mexico were the Olmec, established from 1500 B.C. to 400 B.C.

The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico following a progressive development in Soconusco. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that Olmec derive in part from neighboring Mokaya and/or Mixe–Zoque.
The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished in the area since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE, Early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz.
They were the first Mesoamerican civilization and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed.[3] Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies.

Yucatan, Mexico, was named after a misunderstanding. Spaniards asked the locals what was the place called. They replied "Yucatan," which in their language means "I don't understand you."

Every year, residents of Naco, Arizona, join residents of Naco, Mexico, for a volleyball match at the fence that separates the U.S. and Mexico.

Residents of Naco, Arizona join residents of Naco, Mexico for a volleyball match every year during the fourth "Fiesta Bi-Nacional" at the fence that separates the U.S. and Mexico. The two communities used to be one with people passing freely across the road, but that all changed years ago when a 13-foot-high border fence formally split Naco's US and Mexican sides.

The only country to protest against the German annexation of Austria of 1938, right before WW2, was Mexico.

At a conference in Washington, several months ago, the Austrian ambassador to the United States mentioned that Mexico was the only country that formally protested the March 11, 1938 incorporation of Austria into Nazi-Germany. He was right and it reminded me of that fateful day when I lived in Vienna. Mexico’s demarche also prompted me to think about the responses of other countries to the takeover and of the actions of the Austrian and German governments. Mexico submitted its protest to the League of Nations in Geneva on March 19, 1938. The League of Nations records show that no other country acted. On June 11, 1938, Chile expressed its regret that Austria had disappeared as a member of the League of Nations and the representative of the Spanish Republican government at the League accused Nazi Germany on the same day, stating that “they have devoured Austria; they are trying to reduce Spain to ashes; they menace the very existence of Czechoslovakia.” On September 21, 1938, six months after the annexation, the League of Nations revealed that in March the Soviet Union had unsuccessfully attempted to rally Britain and France to join the USSR to prevent Austria’s demise.

Mexico was named "New Spain" when Hernan Cortes conquered the territory from the Aztecs.

In Canada, Mexico, India, Russia and Israel, bank notes have Braille-like markings on them for the blind.

Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and became a Republic until it joined the U.S. in 1845.

75% of all sesame seeds grown in Mexico end up on McDonald's hamburger buns.

Fast-food restaurants use buns with tops sprinkled with sesame seeds. About 75% of Mexico's sesame crop is purchased by McDonald's for use in their sesame seed buns worldwide.

There is a town in Mexico where people have a huge fist fight to ask the gods for a good rainy season.

The Mexican Town That Fist Fights to Summon Rain Our VICE Mexico team took us to La Esperanza. A little town in the nowadays violent state of Guerrero where indigenous people have the very lovely tradition of beating the shit out of each other in order to ask the gods for a good rainy season.Their host, Lucia Anaya, got to be a part of a full day of drinking mezcal, dancing, praying, and inflating turkey stomachs like balloons. Then, the people ...

After an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City in 1985, nearly all newborn babies survived a collapsed hospital for 7 days without nourishment, water, warmth or human contact.

The Golden State Fence Company, hired to build part of the US-Mexico border wall, was fined US$5M for hiring illegal immigrant workers.

Sugary drinks kill more people than violent crime in Mexico.

Mexico is renowned for being one of the most dangerous countries in the world, so it might sound strange to hear that sugary drinks pose a bigger threat to life here than violent crime.
Sugar-sweetened beverages such as Coca-Cola, Gatorade and homemade drinks known as "agua fresca" kill far more people every year in Mexico than criminal gangs.
A study by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University estimates a staggering 24,000 Mexicans die each year from diabetes, cancer and heart disease that are linked to sugary drinks.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016