Together, Mexico, the United States and Canada form the  subcontinent of North America. Mexico borders the United States to the north and Guatemala and Belize to the south. To the west and south lies  the Pacific Ocean and to the east the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

The Aztec empire is often the first thing people think of when they talk about Mexico. It conjures up images of huge pyramids, brightly coloured costumes, and a brave people who fought hard to resist their conquest by the Spanish. Visitors to today's Mexico City are thrilled to see remains of the beautiful Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

The word "Mexico" comes  from the other name for the Aztecs which was Mexicas. Their original home  was in Aztlán, thought to be a place in the west or northwest of Mexico. The old  word for Mexico, the place where the Mexicas lived, was "metztlixcictlico", and is made up of three sounds in the old Nahuatl language spoken by the Aztecs:

1. Metztli means moon
2. xictlii means umbilical or centre
3. co means place

Metztlixcictlico, then, means place in the centre of the moon (or belly button of the moon) . The Aztecs called Lake Texcoco the lake of the moon and in the centre was Tenochtitlan, their capital city (now  called Mexico City). When the Spanish arrived in 1519, they found it difficult  to pronounce the whole name metztlixcictlico, so the word became shortened to just Mexico.

A  legend says that their god of the sun, Huitzilopochtli, guided them to find a new place to live. He said they would know they had arrived when they saw an eagle standing on a nopal cactus with a snake  in its beak. This would be the sign for them to start building their new home. This is also the today's Mexican national emblem.  They left Aztlán in the 12th century, settling in various places before finally, in the 13th Century, arriving in the Valley of Mexico.

They fought some of the other peoples who occupied this territory, and were eventually taken prisoners by several tribes who had joined forces against them.  Later, the Mexicas were freed and left to live in a poorly populated area of  marshland near a group of lakes, the largest of which was Texcoco.

Diversity is the word that best describes Mexico's people and geography. Over 50 different Indian Groups, each with its own language comprise 28% of Mexico's 100 million inhabitants. The country boasts snow- capped volcanoes, jungle clad beaches, deserts, archaeological ruins, modern cities, upscale resorts and isolated villages .

Mexico is an amazing country with a past of some of the worlds greatest civilisations and a present of an amazing people. Throughout Mexico you can see evidence of it's magnificent history, from the ancient ruins of early in pre-Hispanic time to the forts, convents and churches of the time following the Spanish Invasion.