(View from Chapultepec Castle)
As an "alpha" global city Mexico
City is one of the most important financial centers in North America. It is
located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the
high plateaus at
the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres (7,350 ft). The city
consists of sixteen boroughs.
The 2009 estimated population for the city proper was
around 8.84 million people, and has a land area of 1,485 square kilometres
(573 sq mi). According to the most recent definition agreed upon by
the federal and state governments, the Mexico City metropolitan area population
is 21.2 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in
the western hemisphere and the fifth largest
agglomeration in the world.
Mexico City has a gross domestic product (GDP) of
$390 billion US$ in 2008, making Mexico City the eighth richest city in the world. The city
was responsible for generating 21% of Mexico's Gross Domestic Product and the
metropolitan area accounted for 34% of total national GDP.
The city was originally built on an island of Lake Texcoco by
the Aztecs in
1325 as Tenochtitlan, which was almost completely
destroyed in the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan, and subsequently
redesigned and rebuilt in accordance with the Spanish urban standards. In 1524,
the municipality of Mexico City was
established, known as México Tenochtitlán, and as of 1585 it was
officially known as La Ciudad de México (Mexico City). Mexico City
served as the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of
the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved,
the Federal
District was created in 1824.
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