Mexico, our diverse neighbor to the south, is the third most populous country of the Western Hemisphere, ranking only behind the United States and Brazil. Although it is impossible to characterize an entire country with a selection of just five Web sites, today's tour is a sampling of Mexico's history, culture and geography.
This National Geographic feature written by Michael Parfit highlights the challenges that Mexico faces today. "Mexico is struggling. This country, 756,000 square miles of deserts, forests, highlands, volcanoes, endless seashores, and trembling earth, populated by 95 million people, is classified in the jargon of world economics as a developing nation." Join Parfit as he flies from one end of the country to the other, or follow the seven daily dispatches of photojournalist Richard Olsenius as he explores Mexico City.
"The Constitution calls our country the United Mexican States because it consists of thirty-one states and the Federal District, which have joined together to form a federation." Created by the office of the Presidency of the Republic of Mexico, this site introduces Mexican history, government, and biodiversity, and includes a page of current news (such as President's Bush recent visit.)
Based on two recent exhibitions at the Getty Research Institute, this site " presents nineteenth-century photographs suggestive of the romance and the reality of European imperial dreams in Mexico. Images of failed French attempts to establish an empire in Mexico in the 1860s are juxtaposed with images of the ruins of ancient empires." This summer the online exhibition will expand to "document Mexico's emergence as a modern, industrialized nation over the latter half of the nineteenth century, culminating in the tumultuous decade-long revolution that began in 1910."
"Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrated on May 5 by Mexicans and Mexican Americans. Its name is Spanish for Fifth of May. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of a Mexican army over a French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The Mexican army, led by General Ignacio Zaragoza, won the battle even though the French force was better armed and three times as large." This special Word Book feature is a compilation of related encyclopedia articles, including History of Mexico, Modern Mexican Culture, and Hispanic Americans. Each section includes an interactive quiz.
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Flags of MexicoMexico A Country Study | Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries |
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