Top 10 Interesting Facts About Mexico
Hello Guys:
Today I am going to be continuing on my own personal quest to document countries I really want to visit one day with this Article the top 10 facts about Mexico right here on most amazing top 10 now Mexico is a land of rich history famous food and one of only two countries in the world with the letter X in its name see we're only in the intro and we've already got bonus facts like that's popping up I'll let you guys try and figure out the other country that has letter X in its name as we jump right now.
1 Some people claim that Mexico is home to the smallest volcano in the world in Pueblo city lies quacks and moat a a tiny geyser that is just 43 feet tall and 75 feet across it was created during a volcanic eruption almost 1000 years ago but is now considered in active this is actually good for tourism though because it means you can now climb down into this pint-sized volcano on a spiral metal staircase it's so small in fact that it sits neatly in a suburban neighborhood in Puebla right in the middle of the houses and roads now scientists think that is harmless these days it's not going to blow at all but the big volcano that created it it's starting to become a bit more active in recent years and some say that if that when it erupts then the smallest volcano in the world might not be so small anymore moving on now.
2 It wouldn't be a video about Mexico if we didn't mention it's food yes the country is a rich blend of all kinds of different cultures new and old that have merged over the years to create some of the most popular dishes in the world I'm sure you guys will have heard of some of these we've got salsa there's tacos there's enchiladas and has guacamole and they've all been exported to homes and restaurants in every country on the planet with people just falling in love with the authentic Mexican cuisine but it's not just modern meals that the world has to thank Mexico for the Aztecs of Mexico are credited with the creation of corn on the cob and they were the first ones to really properly grow maize and the use of chilies in meals but perhaps what their most famous for is the invention of chocolate yes that's right 3,100 years ago the Aztecs were trying to make beer but they ended up making chocolate by accident that sounds like a win-win situation to me if they failed at making beer they would make chocolate well they're definitely one because that's possibly the best mistake in history who's with me alright moving on.
3 Now you might be wondering what's the deal with a Mexican flag what is that little thing in the middle what's the meaning of it well firstly let's talk about the colors because even the colors have symbolism the green on the flag represents Mexico's independence from Spain the white is a reference to the country's Catholic faith and the red represents the blood of the national heroes who died for Mexico especially in its fight for independence now the figure in the middle comes from the Aztecs the legends say that when the Aztecs were looking for a place to build their great new city the gods are told them to build where they saw an eagle on a pear tree eating a snake they saw exactly this apparently on a marshy lake and established what we know today as Mexico City cool flag you gotta love a cool flag well you might not love a cool black but I do and speaking of Mexico City it's a very unique place that holds quite a few records so let's talk about it why not firstly it's huge Mexico City is the largest metropolitan area in North America and a six largest in the world it also has the most taxicabs in the world 100,000 of them fill the streets there this also helps it to be the most congested city in the world when it comes to traffic its congestion level is at 59 percent which means it takes drivers 59 percent longer to get anywhere compared to a non congested plate basically if you're stuck in traffic you're not going anywhere Mexico City is also slowly sinking into the ground at a rate of 10 centimeters a year why because it's actually built on a lake yes large parts of the city were constructed on the dried-out bed of a big lake which isn't the best foundation for a city I'm not an architect and even I know that it was built on the ruins of Aztec city 10 not Hitler which was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521 they renamed it Mexico City and eventually the whole country was named after this city I could go on all day about this place but I won't maybe I should do a video about Mexico City have any of you guys been there what do you think of it if you have been there I'm jealous let's move on moving on to.
4 Mexico holds the record for having the shortest presidency of all time On February 19th 1913 there was a military revolt against the government that overthrew president Francisco Madero according to the Mexican Constitution the presidency had two paths to the next in line which was the foreign minister Pedro last urine he then spent the next hour signing papers to make the leader of the military the president but during that time he was officially the 34th President of Mexico for one hour as he was signing those papers that's the shortest presidency of any country ever he woke up went to work became president resigned that day and then came home what a day all right guys you can see there are many great things to say about Mexico.
5 It's quite difficult to talk about Mexico without talking about the country struggle with corruption and crime the Mexican drug cartels are world famous for their brutality with each other and with the police that they fight against there has been an ongoing war there for over a decade as the cartels fight to control the trade of drugs in the country and the transportation of it to the rest of the world the sad thing is many civilians have been caught in the crossfire along the way the government revealed in the first nine months of 2011 12900 and three people were killed in drug-related violence it doesn't even take into account the thousands of people that go missing every single year it's an inescapable but ugly truth that the drug cartels are a daily reality for many Mexicans in 2012 it was estimated that 450,000 Mexicans work for a drug cartel in some way and a further 3.2 million people's livelihoods depend young people turn to them often how's the best source of income in a country that has been really struggling economically in recent times and many people are saying that the government's approach to the whole situation just isn't working anymore something has to change coming.
6 The official language of Mexico as you guys probably know is Spanish but that's not the only one there are many many others s must put Mexico at 6th place in the world for unique languages with 297 individual languages being spoken the main immigrant language there is English and the main foreign languages include the likes of German and Greek Italian and Arabic but the biggest bulk.
7 Indigenous languages these are the tongues that were spoken by people long before the Spanish arrived in Mexico there are an estimated 68 different indigenous languages these range from the most spoken one such as the Nahuatl language with over 1.3 million speakers to the aggregate a language that apparently has just 27 speakers in Mexico I wasn't even aware that there were so many languages in Mexico I'm probably learning more than you guys from this Article be honest alright moving on if I asked you guys to picture the pyramids you would probably think of these ones the ones in Egypt.
8 The biggest pyramid is actually said to be in Mexico the Pyramid of Cholula has a base that spans 450 meters that's almost twice the length of the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt now if you look at pictures of it you might struggle to even see this giant pyramid that's because most of the complex is now actually under a hill with only a small church that's visible on top below though there are layers of a pyramid complex the earliest of which are said to be over 2,000 years old and were built as a temple to an Aztec God new layers were then built over the next six hundred years when taking all of these different parts into account the Guinness Book of Records named it as not just the largest pyramid ever built but also the largest monument ever built in the world some people argue that it doesn't really count as the biggest because it's made of a different part but I've never personally picked a fight with a Guinness Book of World Records and I'm not gonna start today that pyramid wins in my books moving on to.
9 Did you know the Mexico used to own large parts of the United States Mexico has experienced great shifts in its borders over the years at one point the first Empire of Mexico used to control about 5 million square kilometers of land ranging from Costa Rica in the south right up to California in the north after Mexico lost the Mexico American War with the US and 1848 it had to hand over many of its bomber territories including California Nevada Utah most of Arizona about 1/4 of Colorado and a small section of Wyoming do any of you guys live in the areas that I just mentioned if you do you can say to anyone that where you live used to be part of the first Mexican Empire and not everyone can say that I certainly can and finally we've reached.
10 Now this is a bit of a roundel one but I thought it was a really cool fact and we just well you know we don't mind being random here that's amazing top ten so in Mexico it is legal for some people to actually pay their taxes through artwork that they make yes the government set up a program called payment in kind the only one of its kind in the world and this allows artists to pay their federal income taxes with original pieces of art as they create the program was launched in 1957 when famous Mexican artist David Siqueiros asked the government to allow him and his friend to pay their tax debt in art to avoid going to jail for tax evasion amazingly you might think they agreed and set up this program almost 60 years on the public collection has nearly 7,000 paintings sculptures and graphics from some of the country's most well known artists a committee then decide if the work is fit and if they like it they send out to fill up museums all over Mexico or they might even loan it out for museums in other countries it sounds crazy but it's true I think it's really cool now that's something you could say about a lot of things in Mexico it looks like one of the most vibrant and unique places in the world and personally doing this has only made me want to go even more but what about you guys do you want to visit maybe you've already visited are you watching this from Mexico shall we do a top-10 about the country you guys are from whatever your comments and thoughts and suggestions are leave them in the comment section below.
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