Mexico City (or México D.F. in Spanish) is the capital of Mexico
and it is the biggest city in the world. Over 16 million people live in Mexico
City nowadays. The population of the whole country is 88 million. Can you believe
it? One of the most interesting things about this country is that it is the
largest “Spanish-speaking” country in the world and, at the same
time, 62 other native languages are spoken there as well.
Mexico is a beautiful country whose natural frontiers are the United States
in the North, Belize and Guatemala in the South, the Gulf of Mexico in the East
and the Pacific Ocean in the West. It has wonderful beaches and majestic volcanoes,
like the Popocatepetl. But Mexico is also full of culture and traditions that
stem from ancient civilizations such as the Aztecs and the Mayans. They shaped
Mexico together with the Spanish customs that were brought there by the conquistadors.
That is why Mexicans are mestizos, a mix between indigenous peoples
and Europeans.
Mexico City is in the center of the country, surrounded by mountains. Its ancient
name before the conquest was Tenochtitlan and the Aztecs were living in it.
But when Hernán Cortés explored the area afterwards, he found
Teotihuacan. It is 40 kilometers away, northeast of Mexico City. Teotihuacan
is a magnificent city whose name means “the place of the gods” and
was inhabited until the 8th century. Nobody knows what happened to the people
who lived there or why they left! If you visit the ruins now to sleuth around,
you will see two pyramids (similar to the Egyptian ones) dedicated to the Sun
and the Moon. Do you have pyramids where you live? Have you read about pyramids
in other countries?