Mexico

In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contactwith Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory wouldeventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War andterritorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation ofthe 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from theInstitutional Revolutionary Party. Since 2006 the country has been in the midst of a drug war which has caused 60,000 deaths.[13]

Mexico has one of the world's largest economies,and is considered both a regional power and middle power.[14][15][16][17] In addition, Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment OECD (since 1994), and considered an upper-middle income country by the World Bank.[18] Mexico is considered a newly industrialized country[19][20][21][22] and an emergingpower.[23] It has the thirteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) partners, especially the United States.[24][25] Mexico ranks sixth in the world and first in the Americas by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with 31,[26][27][28] and