Mexico is a country of approximately 1,972,550 square kilometers (764,000 square miles, almost three times the state of Texas) located in North America. It shares a 3,141-kilometer (2,000-mile) border with the United States and southern borders with Guatemala and Belize. Geographically, Mexico is very diverse, with two large mountain ranges, active volcanoes, and high plateaus, in addition to several freshwater lakes, arid desserts, low coastal plains, jungles, and rain forests. Mexico's population of approximately 105 million is as diverse as its geography. Roughly 60 percent of Mexicans are mestizos of mixed European and Amerindian heritage. Thirty percent of the population is from one of the country's nearly sixty different indigenous groups. The remaining 10 percent is made up principally of people of European descent, with smaller numbers from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Spanish is the official language of Mexico, although Mayan dialects and Náhuatl are commonly used in indigenous communities...