Mexico / Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development

by C. Reginald Enock

TYPICAL SIDE STREET IN MEXICAN VILLAGE: THE TOWN OF AMECA AND CLOUD-EFFECT ON POPOCATEPETL.

The area of this state is 12,200 square miles, sustaining more than a million inhabitants. Agriculture, and industries and manufacture depending thereon are the source of wealth and property; mining occupies a relatively small place, although minerals abound, and onyx and coal are famous among them. The valley of Puebla draws its varied sources of life largely from the Atoyac river, whose hydrographic basin forms a fertile region probably superior to any in the Republic. Level tracts of land and undulating valleys are irrigated freely from this river, giving huge crops of cereals, and numerous mills producing textile fabrics are actuated by the water-power it affords. The slopes of the mountains to the north are covered with forests whose stores of timber are a little-exploited source of wealth at present. The southerly region forms a tropical zone where the products corresponding to its climate abound—as cotton, coffee, sugar-cane, and others. Here the state extends to the borders of Guerrero and Oaxaca.

The city of Puebla is the second in the Republic and contains nearly 95,000 inhabitants. It is an important seat of Mexican civilisation, of which the Republic is justly proud and, indeed, its state of prosperity and consequent advanced civilisation are noteworthy. The productions of the numerous industries and factories in the district are exported to all the main centres of the Republic, especially the textile fabrics, and also to Central and South American countries. The central portion of the state is traversed by several main lines of railway, as the International and the Mexico and Vera Cruz, whilst the Mexican Southern unites it with Oaxaca and the Tehuantepec Railway. The archæological remains of Cholula—the prehistoric ruins elsewhere described—lend much interest to the diversified and beautiful State of Puebla.

We have now to consider the Atlantic, or Mexican Gulf littoral States.

Tamaulipas is one of the frontier states bordering upon the United States; its northern frontier adjoining Texas, from which it is divided by the Rio Grande or Bravo. On its eastern side it is washed by the Gulf of Mexico, its littoral extending along the Gulf for more than 260 miles—from the estuary of the Rio Grande or Bravo, to that of the Panuco river at Tampico. Topographically, the state consists of the coast plains, occupying about two-thirds of its area, and the mountainous or hilly region of the eastern slope of the Eastern Sierra Madre, of the remainder. The area is 29,340 square miles, and the population 190,000. The rivers of the state are numerous, notably the Conchas, the Soto la Marina, and the Tamesi, all falling into the Gulf of Mexico; and great lagoons—as the Laguna Madre, 125 miles long—border upon the coast, separated from the sea, in some places only by a ridge of narrow sand-dunes. The Laguna Madre has become dried up, however, due to the silting up of its channels.

The climate varies much, the coast being hot and in places unhealthy, subject to the diseases peculiar to those regions, although it has been found that drainage and sanitary measures have worked a remarkable change at the formerly unhealthy port of Tampico. The mountainous regions of the Sierra Madre bound the state on the west, with a cool climate and temperate uplands, and the climate as a whole is considered superior to that of Coahuila.

The development of this state has not kept pace with that of its neighbours, due to lack of railways, capital, and labour. But it is a region of rich and varied natural resources, whether in minerals or agriculture. The beautiful valleys of the temperate region are capable of a greatly extended agricultural development, and valuable forests extend over both mountains and plain-land. The vegetation of the region is very varied. All the tropical and some of the temperate zone fruits are raised, as well as corn, coffee, and chocolate, whilst india-rubber is a product of the state. Of timber a great variety exists, including oak, cedar, mahogany, pine, beech, ebony, &c. An important industry is the growing of fibre-producing plants, especially the henequen and ixtle, and there are many haciendas engaged in this remunerative branch of agriculture. Active irrigation work is required in this state, from the numerous streams which cross it, as agriculture must be largely dependent upon this, and there is no doubt that this will be accomplished as more attention is drawn to the resources of the region and capital attracted thereto. Mining is carried on to some extent, especially in copper, whilst the petroleum and asphalt deposits are a source of wealth to their owners. But, so far, mining is little developed and, although the possibilities for the production of minerals are generally little known, there is no doubt that they are extensive. The capital of the state is Victoria, with a population of some 10,000 inhabitants. It is connected with the seaport of Tampico, on the Gulf of Mexico—the main seaport of the state and, indeed, the second in importance upon the coast—by the Monterrey and Mexican Gulf Railway. Another of the principal gateways of the Republic exists in this state—that of the frontier town of Laredo, at which point the Mexican National Railway crosses the Rio Grande into Texas. With its little-known regions and considerable possibilities, the State of Tamaulipas, although somewhat off the main routes of travel, is a region of much interest. It offers some attraction to tourists in its sea-bathing and Tarpon fishing upon the coast.

Vera Cruz, the famous and historical state of the Gulf of Mexico, the gateway of the Conquistadores and the principal route of entry of the European traveller of to-day, lies along the shore of Mexico for a length of 435 miles. It extends from the Panuco river at Tampico, curving round the Gulf shore to the south and east, past the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, to the border of Chiapas and Tabasco. Its area is 29,000 square miles, and its population falls somewhat short of a million inhabitants.

The topography of the state is that remarkable one typical of the physical structure of Mexico—of hot coast plains, temperate higher regions, and the cold uplands of the Sierra Madre mountains and the great tableland of the interior. The rugged character for which this region is famous lies beyond the coast plains, which, except in a few places, are sandy and undulating, but, as elevation is gained, these give place to a region of tropical vegetation so exuberant as is encountered in few other regions.