Mexico

Mexico City is the political, financial and cultural nerve center of Mexico, and to understand the country one should spend some time here. Perhaps more than any city on earth, it is at the intersection of the first and third worlds, with all the ills, thrills and surprises that suggests.

Before the 20th century

As early as 10,000 BC, people and animals lived around Lago de Texcoco, the lake that then covered much of the floor of the Valle de México. After 7500 BC the lake began to shrink, hunting became more difficult, and the inhabitants turned to agriculture. A federation of villages evolved around the lake by 200 BC, but the biggest one, Cuicuilco, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption that occurred around AD 100.

The next major influence in the area was Teotihuacán, 25km (16mi) northeast of the lake. For centuries Teotihuacán was the capital of an empire stretching to Guatemala and beyond, but it fell in the 7th century. Of several city-states in the region in the following centuries, the Toltec empire, based at Tula, 65km (40mi) north of modern Mexico City, was the most important. By the 13th century the Tula empire had fallen too, leaving a number of small statelets around the lake to spat over the Valle de México. The Aztecs emerged as the winners.

Wrecked during and after the Spanish conquest, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán was rebuilt as a Spanish city. The native population of the Valle de México shrank drastically - to fewer than 100,000 within a century of the conquest, by some estimates. But the city itself emerged by 1550 as the prosperous and elegant (if unsanitary) capital of Nueva España. Broad, straight streets were laid out and buildings constructed to Spanish designs with local materials such as tezontle, a light-red volcanic rock that the Aztecs had used for their temples. Hospitals, schools, churches, palaces, parks and a university were built. But right up to the late 19th century the city suffered floods caused by the partial destruction in the 1520s of the Aztecs' canals. Lago de Texcoco often overflowed into the city, damaging buildings, bringing disease and forcing thousands of people away from their homes.

On October 30, 1810, some 80,000 independence rebels had Mexico city at their mercy after defeating Spanish loyalist forces at Las Cruces, just west of the capital. But leader Miguel Hidalgo decided against advancing on the city - a mistake that cost Mexico 11 more years of fighting before independence was achieved.

Modern history

Mexico City entered the modern age under the despotic Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico for most of the period from 1877 to 1911, managing to attract much foreign investment. He had railways built to the provinces and the USA. Industry grew, and by 1910 the city had 471,000 inhabitants. A drainage canal and tunnel dried up much of the Lago de Texcoco, allowing further expansion.

After Díaz fell in 1911, the Mexican Revolution brought war and hunger to the city's streets. In the 1920s, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco and other young artists were commissioned to decorate numerous public buildings with dramatic, large-scale murals conveying a new sense of Mexico's past and future.

By 1940, 1.7 million people lived in Mexico City, and factories and skyscrapers started shooting up left, right and center. The supply of housing, jobs and services couldn't keep up with the growth, and shantytowns were born on the city's fringes. Despite continued economic growth into the 1960s, political and social reform lagged behind. Student-led discontent came to a head as Mexico City prepared for the 1968 Olympic Games. Ten days before the games began, 5000 to 10,000 people gathering in Tlatelolco, north of the city center, were encircled by troops and police. To this day, no one knows how many people died in the ensuing massacre, but the number is estimated to be in the hundreds.

Mexico City kept growing at a frightening rate in the 1970s and began to develop some of the world's worst traffic and pollution problems, only slightly alleviated when the metro system opened in 1969, and again by attempts in the 1990s to limit traffic. Despite a devastating earthquake that killed over 10,000 people in 1985, people have continued to pour into the city.

The poverty and overcrowding that always existed alongside the city's wealth were exacerbated by the recession of the mid-1990s, which left hordes of people living on the margins of subsistence. One effect of the crisis was a huge jump in crime, and subsequent recovery was very gradual.

In 1997, the Distrito Federal was granted political autonomy and elected its own mayor for the first time. The new administration was widely seen as honest and well-intentioned, and made the first serious efforts to combat police corruption, a major factor in high crime levels.

Recent history

In 2000 Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the left-leaning PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), was elected mayor. Capitalinos overwhelmingly approved of 'Amlo.' His initiatives included an ambitious makeover of the Centro Histórico and the construction of an overpass for the city's ring road.

While López Obrador was narrowly defeated in the presidential election of 2006 (an outcome he fiercely contested), his former police chief Marcelo Ebrard won a sweeping victory in Mexico City, consolidating the PRD's grip on the city government. Also registering an overwhelming takeover of the Federal District's legislative assembly, the PRD passed a flood of progressive initiatives, including same-sex marriage and the legalization of abortion and euthanasia. Though Ebrard doesn't inspire the fervor demonstrated by Amlo's followers, his initiatives may have longer-lasting effects.

Top Accommodation

Top Restaurants

In Mexico City, the weather is temperate and warm all year, and mainly dry. It can be cool on winter nights, and afternoon showers are common from June to September. Winters never really dip much below 10°C (50°F), while even May, the hottest month, doesn't get much above 27°C (81°F).

Average weather

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Transport

Getting there and away

Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez, 6km (4mi) east of the Zócalo, is Mexico City's only passenger airport and the largest airport in Latin America. Flights go to the US, Canada and Europe.

Buses go to and from various destinations all over Mexico.

Getting around

Mexico City has an inexpensive, easy-to-use metro, and an equally cheap and practical bus system plying all the main routes. Taxis are plentiful, but some are potentially hazardous - people have been beaten, robbed and sexually assualted by cab drivers. Always call for a taxi rather than hailing one, and make sure to get the driver's license plate and name from the dispatcher so that you know you're getting into the right car.

Cycling is a pleasant way to see the city, especially as the weather is clement and the ground flat, but watch out for potholes and loco drivers.

Health & Legal Requirements

Dangers and annoyances

Mexico City is generally portrayed as an extremely crime-ridden city, so first-time visitors are often surprised at how safe and human it feels. While crime rates remain too significant to downplay - 33 muggings, 30 carjackings and four taxi holdups a day in 2008 - there is no need to move around in fear. A few precautions greatly reduce any dangers.

Robberies happen most often in areas frequented by foreigners, including the Bosque de Chapultepec, around the Museo Nacional de Antropología and the Zona Rosa. Be on your guard at the airport and bus stations, and remember to keep your bag between your feet when checking in. Avoid empty pedestrian underpasses. Crowded metro cars and buses are favorite haunts of pickpockets. Stay alert, keep your hand on your wallet and you'll be fine.

Unless absolutely necessary, avoid carrying ATM cards, credit cards or large amounts of cash. Most importantly, if you become a robbery victim, don't resist. Hand over your valuables rather than risking injury or death.

A more immediate danger is traffic, which statistically takes more lives in the capital than street crime. Obvious as it sounds, always look both ways when crossing streets. Some one-way streets have bus lanes running counter to the traffic flow, and traffic on some divided streets runs in just one direction. Never assume that a green light means it's safe to cross, as cars may turn into your path. Take the 'safety in numbers' approach, crossing with other pedestrians.