Discovery Channel
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Born in the wake of empire, conquest and revolution, Mexico today is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. Its capital city—the second-largest after Tokyo—is bursting with twenty million people and rivals the whole of Australia in terms of numbers.
Home to the New World's largest Catholic church and diocese, ninety percent of Mexicans call themselves Catholic. Yet nothing can be less orthodox than rituals celebrating Day of the Dead, or spectacles honoring the patron saint of the country, the Virgin of Guadalupe. Deep in the heartland, the largest indigenous community in the Americas practice rituals that hearken back to ancient Mayan beliefs.
While Mexico is surrounded by 6,000 miles of coastline, up in the north, Mexico rubs shoulders with the world's mightiest superpower along 1,950 miles of shared borderlands. This is a crossroads for migrants seeking work in America, yet traffic flows both ways. Twenty billion dollars a year are sent back to Mexico by laborers, fueling the country with their second-largest revenue stream; and more American expatriates settle in Mexico than in any other country. From the famous single cry, 'Viva Mexico!' that sweeps the country every Independence Day, to the spectacle and pageantry summoned by reverence for the Virgin of Guadalupe, Discovery Atlas, Mexico Revealed is a journey into the heart of the ancient and the modern, the restless and the pristine.
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More on Mexico:
100 Places: Mexico, Veracruz (VIDEO)
Mexico's Water Shortage Turning into Food Crisis
Green City Guide: Mexico City
Mexico To Clean Up Its Air By Clamping Down on Auto Emissions
