Chilapa de Álvarez
Chilapa de Álvarez, informally known as Chilapa, is located in Chilapa de Álvarez Municipality in the Mexican state of Guerrero 54 kilometers east of state capital Chilpancingo. It is a old town; the Spanish designated the town as Chilapa de Santa Maria de Asuncion in 1522, in the late 19th century it was renamed Chilapa de Álvarez in honor of Mexican president Juan Álvarez. Traces of human occupation in the area date to at least 1200 BC. Chilapa is noted for Aztec market. Local culinary specialities of Chilapa are pozole, pan de chilapa bread, homemade mezcal; the municipal cathedral has a mechanical figurine of Juan Diego, who appears at a window in the cathedral spire and drops rose petals onto the plaza below. Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México - Chilapa de Álvarez Web page with many photos of Chilapa de Alvarez - Chilapa Web
Municipalities of Mexico
Municipalities are the second-level administrative divisions of Mexico, where the first-level administrative division is the state. As of the establishment of two new municipalities in Chiapas in September 2017, there are 2,448 municipalities in Mexico, not including the 16 delegaciones of Mexico City; the internal political organization and their responsibilities are outlined in the 115th article of the 1917 Constitution and detailed in the constitutions of the states to which they belong. All Mexican states are divided into municipalities; each municipality is autonomous. This concept, which originated after the Mexican Revolution, is known as a municipio libre; the municipal president can not be reelected for the next immediate term. The municipal council consists of a cabildo with several regidores. If the municipality covers a large area and contains more than one city or town, one city or town is selected as a cabecera municipal while the rest elect representatives to a presidencia auxiliar or junta auxiliar.
In that sense, a municipality in Mexico is equivalent to the counties of the United States, whereas the auxiliary presidency is equivalent to a township. Nonetheless, auxiliary presidencies are not considered a third-level administrative division since they depend fiscally on the municipalities in which they are located. North-western and south-eastern states are divided into small numbers of large municipalities, therefore they cover large areas incorporating several separated cities or towns that do not conform to one single conurbation. Central and southern states, on the other hand, are divided into a large number of small municipalities, therefore large urban areas extend over several municipalities which form one single conurbation. Although an urban area might cover an entire municipality, auxiliary councils might still be used for administrative purposes. Municipalities are responsible for public services, street lighting, public safety, supervision of slaughterhouses and the cleaning and maintenance of public parks and cemeteries.
They may assist the state and federal governments in education, emergency fire and medical services, environmental protection and maintenance of monuments and historical landmarks. Since 1983, they can collect property taxes and user fees, although more funds are obtained from the state and federal governments than from their own collection efforts. Since the Conquest and colonization of Mexico, the municipality became the basic entity of the administrative organization of New Spain and the Spanish Empire. Settlements located in strategic locations received the status of city and were entitled to form an ayuntamiento or municipality. After Independence, the 1824 Constitution did not specify any regulation for the municipalities, whose structure and responsibilities were to be outlined in the constitution of each state of the federation; as such, every state set its own requirements for a settlement to become a municipality. The Constitution of 1917 abolished the jefatura política, the intermediate administrative authority between the states and converted all existing municipalities into municipios libres, that is, gave them full autonomy to manage local affairs, while at the same time restricting the scope of their competencies.
However, in 1983 the 115th article was modified to expand the municipalities' authority to raise revenue and to formulate budgets. Data from the 2015 Intercensal Survey by INEGI. Data from Los Municipios con Mayor y Menor Extensión Territorial by the Instituto Nacional Para el Federalismo y el Desarrollo Municipal Mexico City is a special case in that it is not organized as a municipality, but as a federal district as the capital of the federation, it is administered through the Government of the Federal District and it has its own unicameral Legislative Assembly. For administrative purposes, the Federal District boroughs, they are not identical to municipalities, but since 2000, they enjoy a certain degree of political autonomy since residents within a borough directly elect a local borough head of government. However, boroughs do not form local councils, are not constituted by a group of trustees, do not have regulatory powers, most of which are exercised by the Federal District's government.
Most public services are organized by the Federal District if some responsibilities are carried out by the boroughs. Still, at the federal level, the boroughs are considered a second-level territorial division for statistical data collection and cross-municipal comparisons. Other municipalities in Mexico have chosen to use a similar administrative internal organization. All municipalities of Baja California delegaciones; the municipality of Mexicali for example, is divided into 14 boroughs besides the City of Mexicali, which comprises the municipal seat and three additional metropolitan boroughs. The Municipality of Santiago de Querétaro is subdivided into seven boroughs. Nonetheless, the heads
National Institute of Statistics and Geography
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography is an autonomous agency of the Mexican Government dedicated to coordinate the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information of the country. It was created on January 1983 by presidential decree of Miguel de la Madrid, it is the institution responsible for performing the population census every ten years. The job of gathering statistical information of the Institute includes the monthly gross domestic product, consumer trust surveys and proportion of commercial samples; the Institute headquarters are in Aguascalientes, Mexico. With the enactment of the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information Law, on April 16, 2008, INEGI changed its legal personality, acquiring technical and management autonomy, its new denomination is National Institute of Statistic and Geography, but it preserves the acronym of its former name. INEGI’s main objective is to achieve that the National System of Statistical and Geographical Information, bring to the society and to the government, quality information, pertinent and relevant, to contribute to the national development, under accessibility, transparency and independence principles.
To this goal, its attributions are: Regulate. Regulate the statistical and geographical activities. Produce statistical and geographical information. Provide the Public Service of Information. Promote the knowledge and use of the information. Maintain information up to date; the INEGI is governed by a government board. It’s integrated by the Institute President, four vice presidents, who are designated by the President of Mexico with Chamber of Senators approval. INEGI collaborates with American and Canadian government scientists, along with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to produce the North American Environmental Atlas, used to depict and track environmental issues for a continental perspective. Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística Survey of Occupation and Employment Eduardo Sojo Garza-Aldape National Institute of Statistic and Geography official website Cuéntame – INEGI’s educational section National System of Statistical and Geographical Information Digital Map of Mexico Interactive National Atlas of Mexico Orthophotos display Geoespatial information to damage assessment and reconstruction support: Stan and Wilma hurricanes
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez called Acapulco, is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 380 kilometres south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico's history, it is a port of call for shipping and cruise lines running between Panama and San Francisco, United States. The city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo. Acapulco is Mexico's largest beach and balneario resort city; the city is one of Mexico's oldest beach resorts, which came into prominence in the 1940s through to the 1960s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco was once a popular tourist resort, but due to a massive upsurge in gang violence and murder since 2014 it no longer attracts many foreign tourists, most now only come from Mexico itself, it is the deadliest city in Mexico and the third-deadliest city in the world, the US government has warned its citizens not to travel there.
In 2016 there were 918 murders, the homicide rate was one of the highest in the world: 103 in every 100,000. In September 2018 the city's entire police force was disarmed by the military, due to suspicions that it has been infiltrated by drugs gangs. A health crisis has developed due to large quantities of uncollected refuse building up in the streets; the resort area is divided into three parts: The north end of the bay and beyond is the "traditional" area, which encompasses the area from Parque Papagayo through the Zócalo and onto the beaches of Caleta and Caletilla, the main part of the bay known as "Zona Dorada", where the famous in the mid-20th century vacationed, the south end, "Diamante", dominated by newer luxury high-rise hotels and condominiums. The name "Acapulco" comes from Nahuatl language Aca-pōl-co, means "where the reeds were destroyed or washed away"; the "de Juárez" was added to the official name in 1885 to honor Benito Juárez, former President of Mexico. The seal for the city shows broken reeds or cane.
The island and municipality of Capul, in the Philippines, derives its name from Acapulco. Acapulco was the eastern end of the trans-Pacific sailing route from Acapulco to Manila, in what was a Spanish colony. By the 8th century around the Acapulco Bay area, there was a small culture which would first be dominated by the Olmecs by a number of others during the pre-Hispanic period and before it ended in the 1520s. At Acapulco Bay itself, there were two Olmec sites, one by Playa Larga and the other on a hill known as El Guitarrón. Olmec influence caused the small spread-out villages here to coalesce into larger entities and build ceremonial centers. Teotihuacan influence made its way here via Cuernavaca and Chilpancingo. Mayan influence arrived from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and through what is now Oaxaca; this history is known through the archaeological artifacts that have been found here at Playa Hornos, Pie de la Cuesta,and Tambuco. In the 11th century, new waves of migration of Nahuas and Coixas came through here.
These people were the antecedents of the Aztecs. In the 15th century, after four years of military struggle, Acapulco became part of the Aztec empire during the reign of Ahuizotl, it was annexed to a tributary province named Tepecuacuilco. However, this was only transitory, as the Aztecs could only establish an unorganized military post at the city's outskirts; the city was on territory under control of the Yopes, who continued defending it and living there until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1520s. There are two stories about; the first states that two years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernán Cortés sent explorers west to find gold. The explorers had subdued this area after 1523, Captain Saavedra Cerón was authorized by Cortés to found a settlement here; the other states that the bay was discovered on December 13, 1526 by a small ship named the El Tepache Santiago captained by Santiago Guevara. The first encomendero was established in 1525 at Cacahuatepec, part of the modern Acapulco municipality.
In 1531, a number of Spaniards, most notably Juan Rodriguez de Villafuerte, left the Oaxaca coast and founded the village of Villafuerte where the city of Acapulco now stands. Villafuerte was unable to subdue the local native peoples, this resulted in the Yopa Rebellion in the region of Cuautepec. Hernán Cortés was obligated to send Vasco Porcayo to negotiate with the indigenous people giving concessions; the province of Acapulco became the encomendero of Rodriguez de Villafuerte who received taxes in the form of cocoa and corn. Cortés established Acapulco as a major port by the early 1530s, with the first major road between Mexico City and the port constructed by 1531; the wharf, named Marqués, was constructed by 1533 between Diamond Point. Soon after, the area was made an "alcadia". Spanish trade in the Far East would give Acapulco a prominent position in the economy of New Spain. Galleons started arriving here from Asia by 1550, in that year thirty Spanish families were sent to live here from Mexico City to have a permanent base of European residents.
Acapulco would become the second most important port, after Veracruz, due to its direct trade with the Philippines. This trade would focus on the yearly Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade, the nexus of all kinds of communications between New Spain and Asia. In 1573, the port was granted the monopoly of the Manila trade; the galleon trade made its yearly run from the mid-16th century unt
Mexico
Mexico the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States. Covering 2,000,000 square kilometres, the nation is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million people, the country is the eleventh most populous state and the most populous Spanish-speaking state in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and Mexico City, a special federal entity, the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the state include Guadalajara, Puebla, Tijuana and León. Pre-Columbian Mexico dates to about 8000 BC and is identified as one of five cradles of civilization and was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its politically powerful base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain.
Three centuries the territory became a nation state following its recognition in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence. The post-independence period was tumultuous, characterized by economic inequality and many contrasting political changes; the Mexican–American War led to a territorial cession of the extant northern territories to the United States. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, two empires, the Porfiriato occurred in the 19th century; the Porfiriato was ended by the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system as a federal, democratic republic. Mexico has the 11th largest by purchasing power parity; the Mexican economy is linked to those of its 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement partners the United States. In 1994, Mexico became the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts.
The country is considered both a regional power and a middle power, is identified as an emerging global power. Due to its rich culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas and seventh in the world for number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Mexico is an ecologically megadiverse country, ranking fourth in the world for its biodiversity. Mexico receives a huge number of tourists every year: in 2018, it was the sixth most-visited country in the world, with 39 million international arrivals. Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus group of the UN, the Pacific Alliance trade bloc. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely the Valley of Mexico and surrounding territories, with its people being known as the Mexica, it is believed to be a toponym for the valley which became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result, although it could have been the other way around.
In the colonial era, back when Mexico was called New Spain this territory became the Intendency of Mexico and after New Spain achieved independence from the Spanish Empire it came to be known as the State of Mexico with the new country being named after its capital: the City of Mexico, which itself was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Traditionally, the name Tenochtitlan was thought to come from Nahuatl tetl and nōchtli and is thought to mean "Among the prickly pears rocks". However, one attestation in the late 16th-century manuscript known as "the Bancroft dialogues" suggests the second vowel was short, so that the true etymology remains uncertain; the suffix -co is the Nahuatl locative, making the word a place name. Beyond that, the etymology is uncertain, it has been suggested that it is derived from Mextli or Mēxihtli, a secret name for the god of war and patron of the Mexica, Huitzilopochtli, in which case Mēxihco means "place where Huitzilopochtli lives".
Another hypothesis suggests that Mēxihco derives from a portmanteau of the Nahuatl words for "moon" and navel. This meaning might refer to Tenochtitlan's position in the middle of Lake Texcoco; the system of interconnected lakes, of which Texcoco formed the center, had the form of a rabbit, which the Mesoamericans pareidolically associated with the moon rabbit. Still another hypothesis suggests that the word is derived from Mēctli, the name of the goddess of maguey; the name of the city-state was transliterated to Spanish as México with the phonetic value of the letter x in Medieval Spanish, which represented the voiceless postalveolar fricative. This sound, as well as the voiced postalveolar fricative, represented by a j, evolved into a voiceless velar fricative during the 16th century; this led to the use of the variant Méjico in many publications in Spanish, most notably in Spain, whereas in Mexico and most other Spanish–speaking countries, México was the preferred spelling. In recent years, the Real Academia Española, which regulates the Spanish l