What are some interesting facts about Mexico

That´s right! We all call it Mexico, but the real name of this country is the United Mexican States, or how they name it in Spanish: “Estados Unidos Mexicanos”.

But that´s not it, the original name of Mexico was very different, it was “Meshtleeko”, but due to the hart time the missionaries had while trying to pronounce many of the words, they decided to insert an x on every word that included “sh”.

Nowadays, everyone calls it Mexico or how many Mexican locals say: “Mejico”.

Due to its unique beaches, landscapes, culture and history, Mexico has become the 7^th most visited country in the world in 2020

In the last years Mexico has increased its number of tourists, and now it´s receiving around 42million visitors per year. Also, Mexico is on the top 15 countries with a highest income from the industry of tourism.

Actually, the capital didn´t change and it´s located in the same place, what changed was its name. One of the curious facts about Mexico is that the majority of the people believe that Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX) has been always the capital of the country, but until 2016 this city was known as Distrito Federal (DF).

One of the political facts about Mexico it´s related to its Independence Day, which is not 5 de Mayo. Although all around the US many people see 5 de Mayo as the day of the Mexican independence, the real date is September 27th 1821 and the day of celebration in Mexico is Sept 16^th, as it´s when the war started.

Cinco de Mayo represents the battle of Puebla when Mexico won against the French army and it´s only celebrated in Puebla, but not in the rest of the country.

The Mexican culture have been changing a lot through the history, many nationalities and civilizations have been living through the country and that has provided a mixed culture.

The mix of indigenous, African, and Spanish people is known as mestizaje. There has also been migrants from China, Japan, Syria, Lebanon, South Korea and other countries of America, as you can imagine each of the civilizations tried to stabilised their own traditions, and that´s why Mexico has such a huge cultural diversity. 

In the 1920s and 30s a new movement known as the muralist movement appeared. It came after the revolution, and many Mexican artists decided to do huge paintings in walls of public buildings all around Mexico trying to represent a new and different Mexico.

The paintings represented the Mexican history and culture, some of the most recognised artists were Orozco, Siqueiro, and Rivera.

Although Mexico is not one of those countries known for having the best Scientifics or for making huge progress on Science or any other subject, they still have people who have made great discoveries and some of them have even won a Nobel prize.

Being more concrete, there has been three occasions when a Mexican have won the award. The first one was Alfonso García Robles in 1982 for his work about nuclear non-proliferation in international law. In 1990, Octavio Paz won the literature award and last of all, in 1995 José Mario Molina won the Chemistry Nobel price.

Although the US has most of the best universities in the world, they don´t have the record of having the oldest university in North America, as this one is located in Mexico.

The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico is not only the oldest in North America, but also the second oldest in all America. Imagine how old it is, that it was founded by the king of Spain in 1551. Nowadays, it´s name has changed to National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and it´s considered one of the best universities on earth.

We all knew that Mexico is a beautiful country with incredible locations, not only natural but also man-made monuments, what you may didn´t know is that Mexico with 35, is the country in Latin America with most UNESCO World Heritage Sites and it´s listed on top 7 in the world.

Some of these incredible landmarks and places are Chichen Itza, Teotihuacan, Campeche, Oaxaca and the Copper Canyon

Who has never heard of soap operas? Everyone have, right? Mexico is the largest producer and exporter of soap operas in the world, they are watched in many countries around on earth.

Other than that, since 1940, Mexico started to boom in the film industry and became the largest exporter of Spanish films, and nowadays they are still doing a great job.

Due to the huge history and culture of Mexico, they have their own specific festivities and celebrations. The one that it´s commonly known all over the world is the day of the dead, as it´s a popular tradition on 1^st and 2^nd of November to honour the once who passed away in the past.

Other important celebrations in Mexico are Day of our Lady of Guadalupe, Independence Day, Guelaguetza Dance Festival and the Saints’ Week

Religion is one of the most important things in Mexico. They are the second largest catholic population, but what matters is the way they live their religious and how important is to them.

The Vatican and Mexico always have had a great relationship and each of the popes always have Mexico on the must visit places.

It may not be such an interesting fact nowadays, but 2,000 years ago it was something crazy. The Greeks didn´t know about its existence, and the civilizations in Babylon Sumeria only believed on it partially.

The importance of the zero in mathematics and the numeric system is huge, and its discovery allowed the Mayans have a better understanding of how everything works.

We have heard many times about ancient civilizations who made sacrifices due to its religion believes, but I guess it´s still hard to believe on it in the modern times.

The Aztecs were one of those populations who sacrificed people, and actually, about 1% of the population was sacrificed every year. The main reason why they did it was to honour their gods…It´s for sure one of the most shocking facts about the history of Mexico.

In most of the cities you will easily understand everything if you can speak in Spanish as it´s the major language and the one is spokes all around the country. But if you visit some small villages, you will find out that there are around 350 dialects in Mexico.

One thing is true is that only 68 of the languages are considered official and around 63 of those are indigenous!

We are from Spain, and of course, we can already tell you that the Spanish accent or the way each of the Hispanic region talks is very different one from another, and Mexico has its own expressions as well.

The way Mexican people talk have become very popular all over the world. For example, what´s up in Spanish from Spain would be “¿Qué pasa?”, but in Mexican they say “¿Qué pedo?”

“Güey” or “no manches” are also typical Mexican expressions.

It´s true that Mexico is way bigger than Spain and it´s also true that in Mexico there are around 129 million people living and in Spain it´s only 46 million, but it´s very curious to think that Spain is not the largest Spanish speaking country, and it´s Mexico instead.

As we were saying, Mexican burritos have become an international dish due to its delicious taste and imagine how popular they are now that even the UNESCO have recently named them as a cultural heritage of Mexico.

Despite everyone believes Mexican people eat burritos all the time, what you probably didn´t know is that they are only eaten in the North of the country.

This is probably one of those unusual facts about Mexico that you didn´t expect, but it´s true, there are around 59 types of corn in Mexico.

Actually, Mexico is one of the best countries to try corn, not only for the incredible amount of types they have, but also because they don´t make any modifications on it and keep them natural. Try as many kinds as possible!

Have you ever heard about the beer brands “Corona” and “Sol”? Both are international and very popular all over the world. Actually, these two brands are the main reason why Mexico is the largest beer exporter on earth.

Other than these two types of beers, there are more famous brands in Mexico, you may have heard about Pacifico, Victoria or Indio.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards to Yucatan, the name of the region was “Mayab”, and the one of the most strange facts about Mexico occured.

It is said that Yucatan was named that way because of a misunderstanding, apparently, one of the Spaniards conquerors asked about the name of the peninsula, and the Mayan indigenous answered saying “Yucatan” which means something like  “I don’t understand you”. The Spaniards thought that was the answer and decided to name it like that.

Another random fact about Mexico is that in 2008 they had to apply a new rule that obliges everyone to not shave or put any make-up on while they were driving.

It happened in the Mexican city of Torreon, they had to impose fines due to all the accidents that were happening on the road for this matter.

Of course, it didn´t happen always and many other people were very nice, but when we spent a year in the US, we heard many bad comments from US citizens criticising the Mexican immigrants.

Later on, we read and apparently, US citizens are the largest immigration group in Mexico, it is said that more than 750,000 US citizens are living in Mexico nowadays. Which means that there are more US immigrants in Mexico, than Mexican immigrants in the US

Unfortunately, it is known that there is a huge percentage of harassment and violence to woman in many areas of Mexico and as it happens in other countries, the public transports are one of the worst areas.

Although there is still much to do and improve on this matter in Mexico, in 2002 and in 2008 Mexico installed new trains and buses for only women as a way to protect them from being abused on these zones.

With over 129 million people living all over the country, Mexico is the 10^th most populous country in the world, this means that in Mexico you will find around 1.65% of the total world population.

On the other side, imagine how big is Mexico that being the 10^th most populous country, it´s only the 144^th most densely populated country in the world. In Mexico you will be able to find some very crowded areas and others with no people at all.

You can say all you want about Mexican people, but do never say they are lazy, as they are one of the hardest workers population.

Literally, Mexicans have the third longest average working schedule, the medium is 43 hours per week (2250 per year), but some of them even work between 48 to 50 hours per week…Crazy right?

If you had an idea of Mexico being a very poor country, you better take it our of your mind because the economy of Mexico it´s said t be “booming” in the last decades.

Mexico is a huge country and that means they have a lot of resources, plus, the car and the tourism industries are doing a great job lately. Many economic experts say that Mexico could be an economic potential in the future.

A very incredible fact about Mexico is that they are the largest silver producers in the world, and this number may sound crazy, but Mexico is able to produce around 5,600 Megatons of silver per year (which is impressive).

Of course, this is very important for their economy as many tourists and people from all over the world choose Mexico as a country to buy silver, not only for their cheap prices, but also because they are experts making jewellery with it. 

In terms of wildlife, Mexico is one of the 12 countries in the world that is considered megadiverse, and that’s because just in Mexico, you will find about 10% of the world´s diversity.

The nature of Mexico is impressive, it has amazing tropical sceneries, jungle areas and also a huge diversity under the sea, all this provides a better environment for animals and plants.

This is one of those quick facts about Mexico, but did you know that the chihuahua has its origins in Mexico?

It is said that the chihuahua is a descendent from the Techichi, which was a companion dog during the Toltec civilization of Mexico.

With around 2 million square kilometres (1,964,375 km² being more concrete) is the 14^th largest country in the world. This means that Mexico occupies around 1.32% of the total.

Although it´s a very large country, it´s only the 3^rd largest in Latin-American, and the 5^th largest in all America, after Canada, United States, Brazil and Argentina.

One of the mind-blowing facts about Mexico is that it´s capital “Mexico City” is sinking every year around 12 cm.

The Aztecs built The Great Tenochtitlan on a sacred location, as it´s where the Cenotes and the water were located, but when the Spaniards arrived didn´t keep this in mind and decided to build over the Aztec constructions. That place is nowadays Mexico City and it´s having some serious sinking issues every year.

If you have “climbing a volcano” on your “to do list before dying”, then we truly recommend you visiting Puebla in Mexico, as there you will find the smallest volcano on earth and it´s pretty accessible and easy to climb.

The volcano is about 13 meters high (43 feet tall), it will take you less than a few minutes to climb it and there are even stairs to do it. Accomplishing that goal have never been easier.

Photo by: Poromiami / CC BY-SA

One of the lesser know facts about Mexico is that they were the ones who created the birth control.

His name is Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas, and he is the creator of the birth control, it occurred when he was just a 25-year-old Mexican chemist. He performed the first synthesis of norethisterone and later it 1951 the control pills were created.

Another of the amazing facts about Mexico is that they invented the colour tv, if it wasn´t because of Mexico, we would probably have watched it in black and white for a longer time.

In this case, the author of this invention was Guillermo González Camarena. He created a chromosomic adapter for the tv, of course, nowadays that system would look very old but, in those times, it was something huge.

Despite what many people say, Mexican kids sometimes do get Christmas presents, the only difference is that their huge present celebration is during the 6^th of January when the three wise men give them the presents.

This happens in many Hispanic countries, and the great advantage they have is that sometimes they get presents in both days, the 25^th of December and the 6^th of January. It´s probably one of the most interesting facts about Christmas in Mexico, but there are many other traditions that are very unique over there.