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{{UK}} 5,125<ref>[http://www.ime.gob.mx/redesmexico/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3157:icomo-es-la-comunidad-mexicana-en-gran-bretana&catid=62:bloggranbretana&Itemid=115 ime.gob.mx; Mexicanos en Reino Unido]</ref> }}
{{UK}} 5,125<ref>[http://www.ime.gob.mx/redesmexico/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3157:icomo-es-la-comunidad-mexicana-en-gran-bretana&catid=62:bloggranbretana&Itemid=115 ime.gob.mx; Mexicanos en Reino Unido]</ref> }}


'''Mexican people''' constitute the [[nation]]al and [[ethnic group]] native to the country [[Mexico]]. Mexican nationality is relatively young, stemming back only to 1821 when Mexico achieved independence of the [[Spanish empire]], and it consists of many, separate regional and ethnic groups such as the various indigenous peoples and European immigrants. The majority of Mexicans are [[Mestizo]]s which makes up the core of the Mexican cultural identity.<ref name="INMEGEN"/>
'''Mexican people''' constitute the [[nation]]al group from the country of [[Mexico]]. Mexican nationality is relatively young, stemming back only to 1821 when Mexico achieved independence of the [[Spanish empire]], and it consists of many, separate regional and ethnic groups such as the various indigenous peoples and European immigrants. The majority of Mexicans are [[Mestizo]]s which makes up the core of the Mexican cultural identity.<ref name="INMEGEN"/>


The most spoken language by Mexicans is [[Mexican Spanish]], but many also speak languages from 68 different indigenous linguistic groups and other languages brought to Mexico by recent immigration or learned by Mexican immigrants residing in other nations. The majority of Mexicans live in Mexico, but there is a sizable [[diaspora]], especially in the [[United States]].
The most spoken language by Mexicans is [[Mexican Spanish]], but many also speak languages from 68 different indigenous linguistic groups and other languages brought to Mexico by recent immigration or learned by Mexican immigrants residing in other nations. The majority of Mexicans live in Mexico, but there is a sizable [[diaspora]], especially in the [[United States]].

Revision as of 23:51, 11 February 2010

Mexicans
Mexicanos
File:Octavio Paz.gif
File:Marco rito.jpg
File:María Félix.jpgFile:Jorge Negrete.gif
Pictured:
Emiliano Zapata, Octavio Paz, Benito Juárez, Porfirio Diaz, Moctezuma II, Marco Rito-Palomares, María Félix, Carlos Fuentes, Jorge Negrete
Total population
≈120,000,000[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
 Mexico 111,211,789[1]

 United States 9,900,000[2]

 Canada 36,225[3]

 Spain 14,399[4]

 Guatemala 11,481[5]

 Bolivia 9,377[6]

 Germany 8,848[7]

 Argentina 6,750[8]

 United Kingdom 5,125[9]
Languages
Spanish, English and 62 indigenous linguistic groups including Amerindian languages which aren't within the Mexican Republic.

Mexican people constitute the national group from the country of Mexico. Mexican nationality is relatively young, stemming back only to 1821 when Mexico achieved independence of the Spanish empire, and it consists of many, separate regional and ethnic groups such as the various indigenous peoples and European immigrants. The majority of Mexicans are Mestizos which makes up the core of the Mexican cultural identity.[10]

The most spoken language by Mexicans is Mexican Spanish, but many also speak languages from 68 different indigenous linguistic groups and other languages brought to Mexico by recent immigration or learned by Mexican immigrants residing in other nations. The majority of Mexicans live in Mexico, but there is a sizable diaspora, especially in the United States.

History

The Mexican people have varied origins and an identity that has evolved with the succession of conquests among Amerindian groups and by Europeans. The area that is now modern-day Mexico has cradled many predecessor civilizations, going back as far as the Olmec which influenced the latter civilizations of Teotihuacan (200 B.C. to 700 A.D.) and the much debated Toltec people who flourished around the 10th and 12th centuries A.D., and ending with the last great indigenous civilization before the Spanish Conquest, the Aztecs (March 13, 1325 to August 13, 1521). The Nahuatl language was a common tongue in the region of modern Central Mexico during the Aztec Empire, but after the arrival of Europeans the common language of the region became Spanish.

After the Conquest of Mexico, the Spanish re-administered the former Aztec empire and expanded their own empire beyond the former boundaries of the Aztec, adding more territory to the Mexican sphere of influence which remained under the Spanish Crown for 300 years. Cultural diffusion and intermixing among the Amerindian populations with the European created the modern Mexican identity which is a conglomerate of regional indigenous and European cultures which evolved into a national culture shortly after the Mexican War of Independence and was more defined after the Mexican Revolution when the Constitution of 1917 officially established Mexico as a pluricultural nation founded on its indigenous roots.

Definitions


Mexicano (Mexican) is derived from the word Mexica which is what the Aztec called themselves. The term Mexicano as a word to describe the different peoples of the region of Mexico as a single group emerged in the 16th century. In that time the term did not apply to a nationality nor to the geographical limits of the modern Mexican Republic. The term was used for the first time in the first document printed in Barcelona in 1566 which documented the expedition which launched from the port in Acapulco to find the best route which would favor a return journey from the Philippines to New Spain. The document stated: "el venturoso descubrimiento que los Mexicanos han hecho" (the adventurous discovery that the Mexicans have made). That discovery led to the Manila galleon trade route and those "Mexicans" referred to Criollos, Mestizos and Amerindians alluding to a plurality of persons who participated for a common end: the conquest of the Philippines in 1565. (Gómez M., et al. 56)

Race and Ethnicity

Judging Mexicans based on racial classification is never precise or accurate due to the various standards of measurement employed in classification which are often based on ambiguous standards and definitions. The percentages will inevitably overlap when comparing different sources because through some standards of classification certain individuals can classify in one group while in another study with different criteria they would be classified under another group.

We do know certain things when we employ interdisciplinary standards ranging from historical accounts to genetic studies. The Mexican National Institute of Genomic Medicine recently conducted research into mapping certain genetic markers that are found in the Mexican population. Their studies, along with other sources, have revealed that Mexicans are indeed racially diverse with about 80%-90% being Mestizos and having approximately even admixture of Native American and European heritage.[10][11] Some researchers also believe that there are no "pure races" among the ethnically Mexican population,[12] that is to say, among Mexicans who are Mexican by heredity excluding recent immigrants who have been naturalized as Mexican citizens.

Indigenous

Various estimates claim between 12%-30% of Mexicans are indigenous peoples (indígenas).[1][11][13] To be classified as indigenous under the Mexican government's standards they use a political, linguistic and cultural criteria to judge whether or not the indigenous people still retain their traditional cultures and languages as well as their political autonomy within the Mexican national territory.

The 2nd Article of the Mexican constitution gives the criterion for the classification of indigenous people:[14]

"The Mexican nation is one and indivisible. The nation has a multicultural composition originally based on its indigenous peoples who are those who descend from the populations that inhabited the territory of the present nation at the beginning of the colonization and who still retain their own social, economic, cultural and political identity or part thereof. The awareness of their indigenous identity should be the fundamental criterion for determining to whom the provision of indigenous peoples applies. Those communities that are members of an indigenous people are those who form a social, economic and cultural unit of development and is established in a certain territory and who recognize their own authorities in accordance with their own customs."

When this strictly cultural/political method of classification is used the number of people classified as indigenous significantly drops to around 12% or less, but when racial/genetic factors are included and cultural affiliation is disregarded, as it's often done by foreign observers and researchers, the number dramatically increases to around 30%, more or less. Despite the high esteem in which the indigenous people are held in the mainstream consensus, and their importance to the foundation of Mexicans's identity, the indigenous peoples are still the most marginalized group which has resulted in various revolts such as the Zapatista Rebellion and the Caste War of Yucatán.

Whites

It is estimated that 8-15% of Mexicans identify themselves or are classified as Criollos, or "White Mexicans."[1][11][13][15] Some Criollos still retain and/or identify more with European cultures and customs while others practice more local customs and traditions. The northern regions of Mexico, such as the states of Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon particularly the city of Monterrey, hold the greatest European genetic admixture with roughly 50-61% European admixture among the regional population.[16] With successive generations the population is becoming more homogenized with the indigenous population as more people from south and central Mexico move north.[17][18]

Other

About 0.1% (or 100,000) Mexicans have African descent. These are mostly the descendants of slaves brought by the Spanish. Significant communities of afro-Mexicans can be found in regions within the states of Guerrero and Veracruz. East Asians make up less than 1% of the population. Many are of Korean and Japanese descent. Others are of Filipino and Chinese descent due to the Acapulco-Manila trade where the Spaniards brought over people from East Asia into Mexico. There are large Chinatowns in Mexicali, Baja California.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Mexico
See also: Mexican Spanish
Mexico is home to some of the worlds oldest writing systems such as Mayan Script. Maya writing uses logograms complemented by a set of alphabetical or syllabic glyphs and characters, similar in function to modern Japanese writing.

Mexicans are linguistically diverse, with many speaking European languages as well as various Indigenous Mexican Languages. Spanish is spoken by approximately 92.17% of Mexicans as their first language making them the largest Spanish speaking group in the world[19] followed by Colombia (45,273,925), Spain (41,063,259)[20] and Argentina (40,134,425). Although the great majority speak Spanish de facto the second most populous language among Mexicans is English due to the regional proximity of the United States which calls for a bilingual relationship in order to conduct business and trade as well as the migration of Mexicans into that country who adopt it as a second language.

Mexican Spanish is distinct in dialect, tone and syntax to the Peninsular Spanish spoken in Spain. It contains a large amount of loan words from indigenous languages, mostly from the Nahuatl language such as: "chocolate," "tomate," "mesquite," "chili," and "coyote".[21]

Mexico has no official de jure language[22], but as of 2003 it recognizes 62 indigenous Amerindian languages as "national languages" along with Spanish which are protected under Mexican National law giving indigenous peoples the entitlement to request public services and documents in their native languages.[23] The law also includes other Amerindian languages regardless of origin, that is, it includes the Amerindian languages of other ethnic groups that are non-native to the Mexican national territory. As such, Mexico's National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples recognizes the language of the Kickapoo who immigrated from the United States,[24] and recognizes the languages of Guatemalan Amerindian refugees.[25] The most numerous indigenous language spoken by Mexicans is Nahuatl which is spoken by 1.7% of the population in Mexico over the age of 5. Approximately 6,044,547 Mexicans (7.1%) speak an indigenous language according to the 2000 Census in Mexico.[26] There are also Mexicans living abroad which speak indigenous languages mostly in the United States but their number is unknown.[27]

See also

Works cited

Gómez M., et al. Historia de México: Texto de Consulta Para Educación Media Superior. Mexico: Limusa, 2006.

References

  1. ^ a b c CIA World Factbook - Mexico
  2. ^ conapo.gob.mx; Mexicanos en Estados Unidos
  3. ^ statcan.ca; Mexicanos en Canadá Censo de 2001
  4. ^ Mexicanos en España INE 2007
  5. ^ Investigación de la Migración Internacional en Latinoamérica (IMILA).
  6. ^ Bolivia - Censo de Población y Vivienda 2001
  7. ^ Statische Bundesamt Deutschland
  8. ^ Argentina - Población extrenjera residente en Argentina de 2000-2008
  9. ^ ime.gob.mx; Mexicanos en Reino Unido
  10. ^ a b www.inmegen.gob.mx
  11. ^ a b c convergencia.uaemex.mx pp.12
  12. ^ Lisker R, Rameriz E, Gonzalez-Villapando C, Stern MP (1995) Racial admixture in a Mestizo population from Mexico City. Am J Hum Biol 7:213–216.
  13. ^ a b World Statesmen - Mexico
  14. ^ Mexican Constitution
  15. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica - Mexico - Ethnic groups
  16. ^ http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2009/05/11/0903045106.DCSupplemental/0903045106SI.pdf#nameddest=ST1
  17. ^ Cerda-Flores RM, Garza-Chapa R (1989) Variation in the gene frequencies of three generations of humans from Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Hum Biol 61:249–261
  18. ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2767673
  19. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/558113/Spanish-language
  20. ^ www.ine.es Spanish population 2009
  21. ^ http://www.todaytranslations.com/language-history/spanish-language-history
  22. ^ http://www.normateca.gob.mx/Archivos/34_D_1247_22-06-2007.pdf
  23. ^ http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/257.pdf
  24. ^ "Kikapúes — Kikaapoa". CDI México. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
  25. ^ "Aguacatecos, cakchiqueles, ixiles, kekchíes, tecos y quichés". CDI México. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
  26. ^ http://www.inegi.org.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/censos/poblacion/poblacion_indigena/Hablantes_Nahuatl.pdf
  27. ^ http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1918941,00.html
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